Lost city centre subway 80s and 90s shoppers will remember

Liverpool city centre. March 9, 1971
Liverpool city centre. March 9, 1971 -Credit:Mirrorpix


Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a now lost subway made walking into the heart of Liverpool easier for commuters and shoppers.

In the mid-noughties, Lime Street underwent a major transformation - from the remodelling of the station to the demolition of Concourse House next to it. At the time, there was also an underpass which ran beneath Lime Street straight to St Johns Shopping Centre that many will remember using.

In 1967, work on the pedestrian subway began during a period of considerable redevelopment of central Liverpool, which included the building of St Johns Shopping Precinct. Tunnelling under Lime Street while the traffic continued flowing overhead was deemed impracticable and so the subway was cut out of the roadway in sections and later covered over, the Liverpool ECHO previously reported.

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Before its official name was chosen, many ECHO readers wrote into the newspaper to suggest names for the subway. Some gave a nod to the city's history, including King John's Way, a reference to King John's charter founding Liverpool in 1207, and Codman's Way, after the Codman family who operated the Punch and Judy show on Lime Street for over 130 years.

Other suggestions included Lime Kiln Way, Sublime Way, Whackers' Way, Judy Jigger, but the official name was eventually chosen by Liverpool Council, who called it Market Subway. But some saw this as a missed opportunity to choose a name more linked to Liverpool's heritage.

Liverpool city centre. March 9, 1971
Liverpool city centre. March 9, 1971 -Credit:Mirrorpix

One angry ECHO reader said: "The name Market Subway chosen for the subway under Lime Street has no originality or style. Why not make it 'Sublime Way' which gives it a bit more class and at the same time reminds us under which street we are walking?"

Either way, Market Subway didn't stick and very few people remember its official name. Pedestrians could access the subway directly outside Lime Street Station via a long ramp or set of stone steps.

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The subway led beneath the flowing traffic of Lime Street and pedestrians could then take an escalator straight up into St Johns Shopping Centre. Originally, the subway itself was designed to be an interesting walk and not just a tunnel, with spaces for shops to occupy.

But things did not get off to a great start for the shopkeepers took units inside the subway. By September 1971, only three of the five units had been let with shop owners asking for reductions in their rent due to the number of people using the subway being well below the expected level.

With work on St Johns precinct still ongoing there were problems also exiting the subway. In addition, there had been reports of theft and vandalism in the secluded underpass shortly after the first shop opened.

A busker plays his guitar in the subway
A busker plays his guitar in the subway -Credit:Getty Images

In January 1974, the Liverpool ECHO ran a story under the headline 'Fear Stalks The Subways'. The chairman of Liverpool and Bootle Police authority commented subways in the city posed a threat of vandalism and muggings.

It was reported the chairman had been requested to ask police at a council meeting to keep a special watch on the pedestrian subway at Lime Street Station. At the same time, a tobacconist in one of the subway units was given his rent free for a year after having to install roller shutters to combat vandalism.

Interviews in the subway conducted by the ECHO just after the chairman had made his comments found that women in particular were afraid of using the subway after the shopping centre closed for the night leaving the underpass in "semi-darkness".

From the 1970s through to the late 1980s, several incidents of crime in the subway, including theft and robbery, were reported in the Liverpool Echo. However, many people also remember the subway for its characters, and in particular the buskers, that used to frequent it.

The subway was eventually closed as many areas of Liverpool city centre were transformed during the Capital of Culture in 2008. As the Lime Street Gateway was remodelled, the underpass to St Johns was shut and filled in.

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