From dereliction and despair – to an inner city community being reborn.
Powis Street was once the soot-blackened star of hit BBC drama Peaky Blinders – playing the part of Watery Lane, the 1920s Birmingham home of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and Co – but just look at it now!
These before and after photographs help tell the good news story of how new life is being breathed into the Welsh Streets in Toxteth.
ECHO chief photographer Colin Lane has been documenting this area for many years, and his then and now images highlight a staggering transformation, which remains ongoing.
Half of Powis Street, itself, has been completed and is now occupied – and Martin Ellerby, head of new business and innovation for the build-to-rent developer Placefirst, took us for a look around this famous Liverpool location and its near neighbours, including Voelas Street and Rhiwlas Street.
New resident Mary-Jo Langhein, who moved into a three-bedroomed house in Powis Street with her fiancé, Martin Slaven, in April, told us: “Martin came across it online and it just looked stunning. The rooms are amazing.
When Martin saw the breakfast bar he said ‘We need that!’
"What they have done with the windows is great, and when Martin saw the breakfast bar he said ‘We need that!’
“It’s also in a great location – so close to Princes Park, and just 20 minutes walk to the city centre.”
While, holding their beloved five-month-old Pomsky puppy, Mercury, she added: “While a lot of rental places don’t like dogs, that isn’t the case here.”
Fittingly, among the cards on show in the couple’s living room is one saying Home Sweet Home – while they will soon have more reason to celebrate, as they are getting married in August.
After working and living on boats and yachts, deckhand and bosun Mary-Jo, 26, who comes from South Africa, and engineer Martin, 30, from Scotland, wanted to make a new life for themselves on dry land – and with friends in Liverpool, this seemed an ideal place.
Regarding their street’s famous past, Mary-Jo said: “Our friends have told us about Peaky Blinders and the history of Powis Street, but we didn’t know about that – we need to watch the show!”
'There is a real buzz around this area now'
Walking through the Welsh Streets, from the company’s base on High Park Street, Martin Ellerby, from Placefirst, said: “I am super proud of what is happening here. There is a real buzz around this area now. I really think its time is starting to come.”
He hailed the “fantastic brickwork” in Powis Street, and the bright and cheerful plants and flowers on Voelas Street, together with the greenery in the communal areas at the back of the streets.
It’s all impressing a lot of people, as it has – so far – resulted in 12 national and regional property awards.
There has been a real team effort. In March last year, Plus Dane Housing and Liverpool City Council announced plans for a £17.4m regeneration of the Welsh Streets, to include the extensive remodelling and refurbishment of 127 properties. Barbara Spicer, chief executive of Plus Dane Housing, said at the time: “Our plans complement those of Placefirst perfectly and will result in a vibrant, sustainable community.”
And the city council’s planning committee recently approved Placefirst’s plans for 52 new homes – a mix of one, two, three and four bedroom homes across a number of sites in the Welsh Streets – 39 will be built on vacant infill sites on Voelas Street and Wynnstay Street, with the remaining 13 located on South Street.
Cllr Lynnie Hinnigan, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool and cabinet member for housing, said: “The regeneration of the Welsh Streets community is one of the city’s great success stories of the past decade and required a huge amount of partnership working to transform a collapsed scheme into an award-winning development.”
While James Litherland, planning and development manager at Placefirst, said: “Approval of the new-build homes will complete the circle of our original masterplan and ensure the Welsh Streets offer a diversity of homes to meet families’ diverse needs.”
The Welsh Streets – a community with a rich history, which is becoming a modern-day wonder.
