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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Jamie Greer

Town before Liverpool ONE and how it has changed the city centre

Liverpool ONE is a key part of the city centre, with many people struggling to remember what was there before.

Liverpool's flagship shopping centre is now centred around rejuvenated avenues such as Paradise Street, South John Street and completely new areas such as Keys Court.

Opening in 2008, it's becoming hard to remember a time before Liverpool ONE. Shopping in town used to be exclusive to areas such as Lord Street, Church Street, Bold Street and Williamson Square.

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For a younger generation many parts of town before L1 are hazy, but there are some shops which evoke strong memories.

Jen Fenner, 39, is co-founder and managing director of city centre based firm DefProc Engineering. Originally from Halewood, she said town was "very different" to what it is now.

Dodo's was a regular haunt, selling what Jen described as "all sorts of amazing, quirky dresses". So was Quiggins, the trendy indoor market which "everyone remembers".

But it's the old George Henry Lee's department store that sticks out to Jen the most. The department store, which was later taken over by John Lewis before it moved to Liverpool ONE, was a source of wonderment for younger Jen.

Jen explained: "I used to love that building because it was massive and you could just get lost in there. There's nowhere like that anywhere now.

The George Henry Lee's building on Church Street in October 1989 (Mirrorpix)

"The basement was full of kitchen stuff. It was like going to the depths of beyond. Because of how old the building was, it had modern parts and then really old Victorian toilets."

Jessica Green, 27, is from West Derby. She is the sales development executive for the Carlsberg Group.

She was also enamoured with department stores. She picked out the countless trips with her mum to the old BHS on Lord Street.

Jen said she was "excited" about Liverpool ONE because of how much of the city centre had declined due to various issues.

She cites the buildings on Hanover Street, including the curved Casartelli Building which is now the Alberts Schenke restaurant. She said: "That building was just a shell for as long as I can remember, and nearly the whole street was derelict. That's one of my first memories of town."

The GV Holiday Inn Hotel in 1986, which stood on Paradise Street (Mirrorpix)

"It was the same at the back of Seel Street, where Alma de Cuba is now. I went to Knowsley Community College and did an art project on all the old posters and graffiti."

There is agreement among both of them that Liverpool ONE has changed things for the better. Jess says she still shops with her mum. Now though, it's in Zara, despite the relentless queues inside and often outside the shop.

Jess even feels that her career at Carlsberg would have been limited without Liverpool ONE's development and flourishing. She argued: "Some of the stuff I've done with work would not have been possible 20 years ago."

The number of retailers coming to Liverpool, including many independent venues, has given her company more opportunities to invest in the city than ever before.

Paradise Street, for example, was once home to a Holiday Inn Hotel and a bus station. Now it boasts a plethora of retail and hospitality units, such as JD, The Cosy Club, Urban Outfitters, Starbucks and John Lewis.

Paradise Street now, as part of Liverpool ONE (Jamie Greer)

For Jess, town has undoubtedly "changed for the better". She also added that Liverpool ONE has had knock on effects, arguing that the shopping centre has helped facilitate the regeneration of other central areas such as the Baltic Triangle.

She said: "It's great to see more and more places being added to town. Even with covid, we feared there would be a big shift towards online shopping, but it's great to see there's still a demand for physical places."

Jen agreed, saying regeneration was "definitely needed". She said: "It's brought in so much tourism. I think more people come to Liverpool for the day now than they used to.

"it wasn't necessarily the shopping destination that it is now."

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