St Johns Market has gone through several vast transformations over the years but it still remains a big part of everyday life in Liverpool.
Amazing black and white photos unearthed by the Liverpool ECHO archive team chart the history of the famous St Johns Market that has been at the centre of the city's community and shopping habits for decades.
With Victorian roots, having officially opened as a fully fledged roofed market in 1822, the market has long been the place to purchase everything from groceries, to jewellery, clothes, gifts, and even kids' toys.
Read more: Amazing 1983 clip shows Craig Charles' first TV appearance years before Red Dwarf
The vast building between Great Charlotte Street and Market Street, designed by John Foster junior, was divided into five huge shopping avenues.
For a time the original St Johns roofed market was the largest of its kind in Britain but it was sadly deemed surplus to requirements and demolished in 1964, the original site becoming the St Johns Shopping Centre.
The demolition of the original 140-year-old building was for some regarded an act of "civic vandalism."
The most striking part of the large indoor market was St Johns beacon which is now known as the Radio City Tower.
Take a look through this amazing gallery of images tracking the history of St Johns Market
The shopping centre which was subsequently opened by Queen Elizabeth II herself, in 1971.
While that centre was being built, the market moved to a temporary new home on Great Charlotte Street, opposite Blacklers store before becoming part of the shopping centre itself.
Her Majesty visited St Johns Shopping Centre and Market again in 1982.
In July 2013, St Johns underwent a £1.6m refurbishment to completely renovate the food court and modernise the lower-ground area as well as the atria around the escalators and the first floor balustrading.
In June 2016, a £2m refurbishment saw the market spread over two floors around a central atrium, increasing in the number of stalls in the market from 90 to approximately 120.
In an attempt to update the premises from what was considered a dated, 1970s look, the new market was refurbished to look brighter and sleeker with modern-looking stalls.
T he ECHO has launched a 56-page nostalgia supplement in print. It's packed with photos from the recent past and the not-so-recent, from shopping, fashion and music to the Albert Dock – plus an elephant on parade in Woolton. You can order a copy here.
