Fascinating footage has been unearthed of one of Liverpool's main shopping streets 10-years before it was pedestrianised.
Home to the likes of Primark, TK Maxx, and M&S, Church Street remains one the of the busiest shopping locations in Liverpool city centre. The street takes its name from the old St Peter's Church which was demolished in 1922 but stood where the entrance to Liverpool One is now.
Church Street has seen some of the most well-loved, and well-missed, retailers come and go in its long history, including Littlewoods, Woolworths and George Henry Lee. Before work on the street's pedestrianisation began in March 1974, seeing cars and buses alongside the hustle and bustle of shoppers was part of day-to-day life.
READ MORE: Grim footage shows final years of infamous tower blocks where 'life was intolerable'
READ MORE: Tunnel with bricked up windows and doors under Liverpool city centre street remains a mystery
Recently, rare footage has been unearthed from the Getty archives showing crowds of shoppers on Church Street in 1964. The video is only brief, around 30-seconds long, but offers a fascinating slice of life as to how life operated on the busy street before its pedestrianisation began a decade later.
The video appears to start in the middle of Church Street as the camera starts to pan around. A number of the street's lost stores are clearly visible, including the Joan Barrie wedding dress and fashion shop, Jackson the Tailor, Dolcis and Lewis Separates.
For beautiful, historic images from the past have a look at memorylane.co.uk/ and see what you can discover
The video also shows crowds of shoppers negotiating the traffic, while buses stop off at Church Street along their route. A traffic policeman is seen standing at the junction waving people, laden with shopping bags, across the road at a zebra crossing.
For more nostalgia stories, sign up to our Liverpool Echo newsletter here.
The camera then spins to take a look up what appears to be Parker Street, also not yet pedestrianised, which would eventually lead to St Johns Shopping Centre six-years later. While some of the layout of the streets and buildings seems somewhat familiar, its strange when you compare how different the area looks nearly 60-years on.
Do this story awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
The archive footage itself doesn't name the street in the video, stating only it was "a busy high street in Liverpool". However, several of the views and landmarks appear to confirm its Church Street location, as does cross-referencing with other archive photographs from the period and records of store addresses contained in the British Newspaper Archive.
READ NEXT:
- Unusual snack people remember from their childhood in Liverpool
- 15 things people from Wirral can't help but point out to visitors
- Liverpool woman was one of the first black women to join the RAF
- Merseyside's lost bakeries famous for strawberry tarts and 'best workers in the world'
- Amazing photos show Edge Lane's Hollywood Bowl before it opened in 1990
