New Brighton in late summer – a little sun, a handful of visitors, and offshore breeze.
In 1830, a Liverpool merchant, James Atherton, purchased 170 acres of land at Rock Point, which enjoyed views out to sea and across the Mersey and had a good beach. His aim was to develop it as a desirable residential area and watering place for the gentry, similar to Brighton, one of the most elegant seaside resorts of that Regency period, hence the name “New Brighton”. Substantial development began soon afterwards, and housing began to spread up the hillside overlooking the estuary.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, New Brighton developed as a very popular seaside resort serving Liverpool and the Lancashire industrial towns, and many of the large houses were converted to inexpensive hotels. Designed by the noted architect of seaside structures Eugenius Birch, the New Brighton Pier opened in 1867.
The promenade from Seacombe to New Brighton was completed by 1901.
The New Brighton Tower, the tallest in the country, was opened in 1900 but closed in 1919, largely due to lack of maintenance during World War I, and had been dismantled by 1921.
After the Second World War, the popularity of New Brighton as a seaside resort declined dramatically. However, the Tower Ballroom continued as a major venue, hosting numerous concerts in the 1950s and 1960s by local Liverpool groups such as The Beatles, and international stars.
The Tower Ballroom continued in use until it was destroyed by a fire in 1969.
New Brighton’s Art Deco Lido, was opened on 13 June 1934 by Viscount Leverhulme. When it was built, it was the largest lido in Britain, at a cost of £90,000, designed byWallasey County-Borough Engineer L St. G Wilkinson
The saltwater pool survived until 1990, when it was damaged during a storm and later demolished
The New Palace and Adventureland on the famous Promenade at New Brighton, Wirral, offers a tremendous range of family fun-filled entertainment and activities.
The traditional family amusement arcade, The Bright Spot, has something for everyone including state of the art video driving, adventure and shooting simulators, dance games, plus the always popular slots and ‘pushers’, as well as mini-bowling and toy-grabbers.
Special mention must go to long time New Brighton resident Photie ManTom Wood.
Opened in 1971, the site consists of about five hundred acres
Technological changes, such as containerisation, caused the loss of numerous jobs on the docks. In the 21st century, the dock handles mainly containers, oils, timber, fruit and vegetables, grain and animal feed.
Designed by John Foster Jr, construction of the present tower began in 1827 by Tomkinson & Company using blocks of interlocking Anglesey granite using dovetail joints and marble dowels.
The lighthouse was in continuous use until it was decommissioned in October 1973, having been superseded by modern navigational technology.
In 1803 Liverpool merchants concerned about a possible invasion by the French during the Napoleonic wars put forward the idea of a fort at New Brighton. Naturally there weredisputes about how it was to be financed and consequently construction didn’t get under way until 1826.
It was completed three years later. It was built out of red sandstone blocks on a base of sandstone rocks, confusingly known as the Black Rocks.
Designed by a Captain John Sikes Kitson of the Royal Engineers, it had room for 100 men plus officers with adequate provisions and armaments. It had eighteen guns, sixteen of which were thirty two-pounders and they faced the Rock Channel that was the main entrance for shipping to the Mersey at that time. The ships passed nine hundred yards from the guns and the fort soon became known as the “Little Gibraltar of the Mersey”.
The fort was decommissioned by the War Office 1956 and passed through various hands until it was sold to the Darroch family who are the current custodians.
Almost a year on and I’m back again and you’re still here.
Still awaiting the wrecking ball and a rubble trouble future.
Back in 2025 the reports of your demise were premature.
Back in 2023 you were, even then, tired and ready to go home – to car park heaven.
It’s 2026, are we to bury you or praise you?
Fresh plans have been unveiled for one of the Northern Quarter’s most significant redevelopment projects, with the latest proposals for the long-awaited transformation of the Church Street multi-storey car park now entering a second round of public consultation.
The council-owned car park, which has occupied the site since 1970, has long been viewed as one of the area’s least-loved landmarks, and in recent years has found itself frequently at the centre of antisocial behaviour in the area. Developer Glenbrook is now proposing to replace it with a new mixed-use neighbourhood featuring around three hundred homes, including 20% affordable housing, alongside commercial units, public squares, green spaces and a community hub.
Almost high on a hill overlooking Liverpool Bay, and the Irish Sea on the edge of the Mersey Estuary, there stands two separate private high rise housing developments.
Portland Place interwar Seaside Moderne, built between 1938 and 1939.
Further along the road The Cliff – two Seventies high rise blocks, with double decker garages.
I was asked by SMBC to take folks on a short Stockport walk – beginning at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery and concluding at the Stockroom, a distance of less than a mile.
Designed in Neoclassical Greek Revival style with central tetrastyle Corinthian portico, the order loosely based on Temple of Apollo at Bassae
The Gallery has a long history of exhibitions from some of the art world’s finest artists. Today the gallery boasts an extensive exhibition program, which gives emerging artists a chance to showcase their work.
The capitals of Chapel’s Corinthian columns, surround the site of the Cockleshell Hero memorial 2017 – sculptor Luke Perry.
The former Edgeley milkman James Conway took part in the Royal Marines’ most famous wartime raid, where he was one of the twelve men who paddled more than eighty miles in canoes up the Gironde to plant limpet mines on shipping in the German occupied French city of Bordeaux in 1942.
Although much simpler than continental Baroque architecture, English Baroque designs were equally heavy, sensual and decorative.
Across the road the former Stockport Infirmary l832 Grade II listed – architect Richard Lane.
Currently named Millennium House, home to the Department of Works and Pensions.
Around the back of the Town hall we find Stopford House built in 1975 and designed by JS Rank OBE, Director of Development & Town Planning, Stockport Council.
The painting has recently been much improved by the folks from Merseyway Workshop along with local volunteers.
Formerly a large coal yard, replaced by a huge leisure facility and now a hotel and office complex, with a municipal swimming pool attached.
Next door the former Royal Mail sorting office.
The transformation of a building once dubbed Stockport’s ugliest has been completed, now known as The Mailbox.
When it was built in the 1970s, it was given extra reinforcement due to the risk of IRA letter bombs. The sorting office closed and moved sites in 2010, from when the building was vacant for nearly a decade.
The state-of-the-art development is now home to 117 ‘stunning’ new one and two-bedroom apartments and 12,500 square feet of commercial space. There is an atrium at its heart a roof terrace with views across the town centre.
It also has an eighteen -metre high green ‘living wall’ covering the front and other parts of the exterior, which with 114,500 plants is the largest of its kind by surface area in the North of England.
The Stockport Garrick Theatre was founded on 24th of October 1901, by engineer Edwin Heys and his fellow actors: fugitives from the disbanded dramatic society of Stockport Unitarian Church. Meeting in what was then The Church Coffee Tavern on St Petersgate, Heys and his friends resolved to found a new society ‘to perform the best plays by the most capable amateur actors and with the finest scenic effects’.
The society purchased its current building, an old mill occupied by an assortment of small businesses, in 1920. Since then, the building’s labyrinthine interior has undergone various refurbishments to enhance the society’s ability to produce theatre to the highest standards possible.
Next door the Hat Works – the UK’s only museum dedicated to the hatting industry, hats and headwear.
Occupying part of the Grade II listed Wellington Mill, a cotton mill of 1831 which became Ward’s Hat Works.
Both cotton spinning and hat making contributing to the economic development of Stockport in the C19th.
Across the way the long gone Carlton Cinema Architects:Francis Edison Drury and Joseph G Gomersall.
Opened on 28th July 1937.
In July 1948 the cinema was taken over by the Essoldo Cinemas chain. In 1954 the Essoldo became the town’s first CinemaScope cinema and for many years was the only cinema to offer full stereophonic sound. Richard Burton in The Robe was the first widescreen film to be shown, followed by Marilyn Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire.
At the height of the Davy Crockett craze, in 1956, Fess Parker made a personal appearance at the Essoldo.
It was converted into a twin screen cinema in 1971, by converting the balcony into Screen 2, it was taken over by the Classic Cinemas chain in 1972. Its final owners were the Cannon Group who ran the cinema from 1982 to its final closure on June 21st 1990.
The cinema was demolished in 1994 and a small park occupied the site for several years.
Further down the road the former Wellington Hotel.
Known variously as Ups ‘n’ Downs, Glitz, Bentley’s and the Bees Knees.
Finally, partial occupation by a forlorn Pound Shop – defying economic trends by closing.
Street art by Cats and That.
Next to the Transport Interchange aka the Bus Station.
In collaboration with Transport for Greater Manchester and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, the project redesigned a 10,000 sq m bus interchange, linking the rail station with new landscaped parks.
The development includes a fifteen-storey building with one hundred and ninety six apartments, commercial space, and parking. New parks and riverside spaces improve connectivity and enhance urban living, marking a transformative step in placemaking for Stockport.
Replacing the former Bus Station closed on Saturday 28th August 2021.
Down to the top of the Lowry Steps
LS Lowry snapped in 1962, the Viaduct in the not too distant distance – Grade II* listed structure and remains one of the world’s biggest brick structures.
Railway viaduct opened 1840 by GW Buck for Manchester and Birmingham Railway in brick and stone.
Twenty eight arches of total length over 540m – three spans at either end of 18ft, twenty two spans between of 63ft, and nearly 34m high above the river.
Said to contain eleven million bricks.
Stone moulded impost bands and rusticated faces to piers.
Premises To Let as of 13th May 2018 – on the 2nd April 2018 the licence has lapsed, so this proved to be a barrier to it re-opening.
A former pub in Stockport town centre could be knocked down to make way for a tower stretching 17-storeys high. Plans have been sent to Stockport council for consideration and would bring 76 new apartments to the town replacing The George on Wellington Road, based opposite Merseyway Shopping Centre and near Stockport Viaduct.
Talks over a deal for a bus depot off Daw Bank have broken down after the council refused to meet the operator’s financial demands, prompting the authority to use compulsory purchase powers to acquire the site.
Despite protracted negotiations, Stockport Council and Stagecoach have failed to reach an agreement over an important piece of land the authority needs to deliver Stockport 8, a £350m, 1,300-home regeneration scheme.
Leaving Wellington Road we head for the Merseyway Precinct – 1965 architects Bernard Engle & Partners.
Stockroom is an exciting new creative and cultural centre in Stockport, designed for getting together, getting involved or just popping by for a brew. It has been developed with and for local people and the creative community to build an exceptional communal resource for entertainment and learning.
There’s room for everyone: to make noise, meet friends or find some peace, play, take part, think or do new things.
Part of Stockport’s £1 billion transformation, Stockroom is an ambitious £14.5 million cultural and creative centre that will breathe new life into the heart of the town.
Located in previously disused retail units, Stockroom has been brought to life through funding from UK Government’s Future High Streets Fund, which aims to rejuvenate town centres across the country.
Otherwise open to access the Library service and archives, eat drink and play, use a computer, or a lavatory, read whilst relaxing in a comfy chair, stay cool or warm, stare into space either upstairs or downstairs.
Whatever floats your personal boat, though currently unsuitable for floating actual boats.
Mention must be made of near neighbours the Merseyway Workshop – the plant planters who we met up at Stopford House.
The Merseyway Workshop is a community focused, inspiring place for innovation and collaboration.
A DIY-style hub on Stockport’s pedestrianised high-street. Offering open use of creative workshops, drop-in activity sessions and skill exchanges.
Working in clay and wood, access to a fully equipped B&W darkroom and so much more.
One short mile or so a cornucopia of history – layer upon layer of exciting architecture.
Just as I had done in Scarborough, just the other day.
I arrived by train just in time for the rain, took a look around Prestatyn town, waiting out the passing clouds.
The coast was overcast but dry, the pale marine light and light breeze caressing the wet concrete promenade.
This is a contested coastline, the concrete a first line of resistance to rising sea levels.
There is a history of serious flooding, particularly the area around Tywyn.
On 26 February 1990, the sea defences were breached for four hundred metres at Tywyn when a ferocious storm coincided with hide tide and a surge of water one and a half metres high. Lifeboats and helicopters were brought in to evacuate residents as seawater swept past the railway and flooded houses and caravans. Roughly ten square km of land were inundated.
The Central Rhyl Coastal Defences Scheme forms part of the Welsh Government’s £291m Coastal Risk Management Programme, which is responding directly to the challenges posed by climate change.
Dechrau a diwedd – Beginning and End 2009 by CAMM Design
The name of the sculpture acknowledges the nature of the Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail and Prestatyn as a point of departure or arrival. The trail is symbolised by a stylised representation of the sun. To either side of the sun sculpture are paved areas, and large blocks to provide seating.
The light continually changes over the placid surface of the Irish Sea, the off shore wind turbines spin slowly, seemingly silent on the distant horizon.
There was rain blowing in from the Orme – I cut and ran at Bae Cinmel, boarding the bus for Bae Colwyn.
So here we are at RIBA North to take a closeup wide angle view of the past.
In 1969, the Architectural Review magazine launched Manplan, a ground-breaking and often uncompromising assessment of Britain’s built environment at the end of the sixties.
Combining pioneering graphic and print techniques with powerful photojournalism, the attention grabbing magazine sought to question and critique architectural ideas at the time.
Photography lay at the heart of the series- through striking black and white reportage, Manplan revealed how architecture and urban planning shaped people’s daily lives, highlighting social issues that continue to be relevant today, such as inadequate housing, community, and loneliness.
Workers’ housing in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with Dunston Power Station behind.
Image: Tim Street-Porter Architectural Press Archive RIBA Collections.
Bold in tone and innovative in style, Manplan reframed conversations on urban development and brought attention to socially conscious design within the built environment.
The Wide-Angle View exhibition reflects on its legacy and highlights the powerful role photography and design can still play in communicating and challenging over half a century on
Constructed in phases between 1961 and 1980 to a plan by Darbourne & Darke.
The estate was among the last of the high-density public housing schemes built in London during the postwar period, and is referred to as one of the most distinguished. Notably, seven years before the Ronan Point disaster ended the dominance of the tower block, Lillington Gardens looked ahead to a new standard that achieved high housing density within a medium rather than high-rise structure. It emphasised individuality in the grouping of dwellings, and provided for private gardens at ground and roof levels.
Blackburn Corporation office tower and shopping centre.
Image: Peter Baistow
My visit in 2025 – the tower and shopping centre having been significantly remodelled.
Given the current government’s drive for new build housing and new towns, I feel that the time is right to reassess the role of our citizens planners and architects own shaping this new New World.
Let’s all plan The Plan.
In July 2025, the government published its five-step plan to deliver a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing. This plan committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, alongside a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of social housing.
Consideration should also be given to all the infrastructure that the housing may require – the schools, hospitals, libraries, shops, play areas et al.
No more shabby PFI, but substantial public buildings of real quality and distinction.
No more developer led, overseas capital fed, elite inner city out of town cookie cutter ghettoes.
