Life on 'concrete jungle' estate where windows were 'bulletproof glass'

The Radcliffe Estate in Everton
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


The Radcliffe estate was home to hundreds of families for the 11 years it stood in Everton, including Phil Whitehead, 49, who now lives in Anfield. The Everton estate was modelled off urban Liverpool and a Cornish fishing village and was built in the mid 1970s on a stretch of land between Shaw Street and Everton Road.

The estate was made up of 512 closely-built homes as part of ambitious plans an architect had for the land. However, it was the design of the development which is said to have led to its downfall just 11 years later when it was earmarked for demolition.

By 1988 all of the houses on the estate lay empty and abandoned and the bulldozers were ready to move in. With such a short life span, it's easy to forget that the estate ever existed but it still holds strong and fond memories for those that used to live there.

READ MORE: Mum 'in a panic' after note put on front door until 'unexpected' phone call

READ MORE: 'We're risking everything to show Liverpool is the place to be'

Phil told the ECHO how he was born in 1975 and up to the age of four he lived with his grandparents in their flat on Gleave Square, Everton Road, with his mum and older brother. His mum then married his stepdad and when Phil was four they moved onto the Radcliffe estate.

He said: “The flat we lived in was located opposite the taxi mechanics garage at the back of Guilford Street and Lytton Street. I went to Everton Park Infants School, which faced Gleave Square flats.

“At about age six we moved from the flat on Radcliffe estate to "The Peoples Church," where my family worked as the caretakers. I used to clean the interior of the church on a Saturday, so that it was ready for the services.

The Radcliffe Estate in Everton
The Radcliffe Estate in Everton was designed to look like a Cornish fishing village. It opened in the mid 1970s and lay empty eleven years later

“In between the church there used to be a car park that used to be uphill and there was a footpath that ran all the way down it. I remember as kids we used to ride those toy car things down them, I’d push myself down the hill to the road at the bottom. I swear we used to get up to 40mph on this sit on car toy.

“I also remember that there were always fireworks in what used to be Everton Park. It got redeveloped but it used to be abandoned and you could see the fireworks from all the way across the Wirral side and all over from up there.”

However, it wasn’t always happy memories on the Radcliffe estate. Phil recalled how the front living room window in the church, where they lived, was made of bulletproof glass and every evening kids, who lived on the estate, would throw stones at it to try and break it. He said: “As a child, I used to call the Radcliffe estate a concrete jungle.

“It was a horrible place to live at times, there was so much crime on the estate. It was left to wrack and ruin, there was no upkeep, even when we lived in the church. We moved off when I was 10 but I have lived along the same bus route all my life, I’m a born and bred Scouser.”

Despite the obvious problems with the estate, when the ECHO revisited a previous story detailing a resident's experience of living there a number of people got in touch and shared their fond memories of the area.

Terri Kearns said: "I loved living on this estate. All the loveliest people lived here too." And Terence Bramhill said: "You had to live there to appreciate how we all got on and had each others backs and great times growing up the laughter the tears."

Margie Murphy added: "Best days ever loved it. We had a ball running away from the bizzys had my 2 kids there, not no argument nothing loads of good people wish it was still there." Shelagh Brady said: "Best days living there though and everyone knew each other too."

The ECHO previously spoke to John Harrison who first moved into his home on the Radcliffe with his wife Margaret and their five children in 1978. The three-bedroom home on Fitzclarence Way had one previous owner, who was a friend of the family, before the family moved in six months later.

John, 66, previously told the ECHO: "We lived on the end part of the estate towards Gregson's Well. We had good neighbours and we all got on well around our particular area. I've got six children now and they're all doing well, they've got good jobs. It was quite a decent grounding for them if you ask me.

"Even if [the estate] might have a bit of a bad reputation I thought it was unfounded. I think a couple of years before we left, that's when heroin started taking off and that's when the estate started going down.

"When heroin started being so rife it seemed to be that estate more so than anywhere else, it was one of the early estates that was rife with it."

When a fire ripped through the family's home in 1985 they were forced to move out and find somewhere else to live. John said he was shocked when the estate was demolished a few years later and he still has fond memories of his time living there.

He told the ECHO: "I was shocked because I thought they were good houses, obviously they were a little bit compact but I didn't mind compactness, you tend to get on with your neighbours better and it's a bit more social.

"When we had the fire because we were on the edge of the estate, the fire engines and emergency services could get there alright but apparently when you were a bit more inside the estate it was hard if there was a fire for the fire engines to get down the alleyways to it."

By 1987 crime was rife on the Radcliffe Estate and ninety homes had already been demolished in the face of vandalism and arson attacks. The dark, narrow alleyways between the houses became both hazardous fire traps and a hotspot for muggings.

A report from Liverpool City Council in June 1987 said councillors agreed the only solution to the problems was to demolish the estate. However, the demolition was met by delays while the remaining 29 families waited to be rehoused.

Phil added: “It got bulldozed and now there are new flats there. It was sad when it was knocked down because now the places I would go as a child aren't here anymore.”