Not so popular Poplar Street
Unromantic Valentine Grove
The debate over slum clearance has been well aired over the last fifty years. There are many who believe the wholesale clearance of housing across Liverpool was an unmitigated disaster and that communities would have been best served by careful renovation of run-down properties. On the other side, there is the argument
that the housing stock was in such a poor condition that only demolition and rebuild would be appropriate if living standards were to improve. The residents of Valentine Grove along with their neighbours in equally inappropriately named Venus and Cupid Streets (off Larch Lea) had already departed when the photograph was taken in 1972.(Who thinks up such street names?). In nearby Poplar Street, the inhabitants were prepared to voice their indignation in a graphic and eye-catching way.
Perhaps not the most photogenic images – but such records are an important reminder of what the city was like and the kind of conditions its citizens endured.
These are just wonderful photos, thank you for sharing.
I like how ironic the street names seem compared to the bleak conditions in the pics.
There are many sides to the argument, but I consider the vast “parkland” that the planners instigated tore the heart out of Everton. Surely a better approach would have been to renovate the area where possible, only demolish the overcrowded slums.
I recommend Ken Rogers book “The Lost Tribe of Everton and Scottie Road” for a fuller description where he names those responsible for the destruction.
Apologies, I haven’t updated my website since 2005.
Chris
Hi Chris,
With hindsight, I think most people would agree. At the end of the 39-45 War, a different consensus had emerged (with all party support), with a new vision of the future fired with a (as it now appears) misplaced optimism in a new, modern city – with satellite towns such as Speke, Skelmersdale and Kirkby relieving the pressure on the worn-out areas of Liverpool. I really don’t think it was a black and white argument – and it is somewhat unfair to blame the planners and politicians. Many of the people moved out were delighted to live in new houses with bathrooms, hot water etc. Liverpool had some of the worst slums in the country – gerrybuilt housing that was past renovation in most cases. Radical action was called for – unfortunately the results were often disastrous.
I was brought up in Valentine Grove , in one of the houses in your picture, moving out in 1966. I never thought of it as a slum at the time and only started to realise what we’d been missing when my parents managed to buy a new house in 1966 , but how quickly we got used to hot running water and an inside toilet.There were lots of good times in Valentine Grove tho’