Smithdown Road is a street in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which forms part of the A562

A562 road

The A562 is a road in England which runs from Liverpool to Warrington.At Liverpool the road is known at first as Parliament Street, then Upper Parliament Street, Smithdown Road, Allerton Road, Menlove Avenue, Hillfoot Road, Hillfoot Avenue and Higher Road, before joining Speke Boulevard.It ends in...

. It is the location of Toxteth Park Cemetery

Toxteth Park Cemetery

Toxteth Park Cemetery is a graveyard on Smithdown Road, Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was opened on Monday 9 June 1856. It was the responsibility of the Toxteth Park Burial Board, which had been established by at least 1855....

 and Wavertree Playground

Wavertree Playground

Wavertree Playground, also known locally as The Mystery was one of the first purpose-built public playgrounds in the United Kingdom. It is based in the Wavertree area of Liverpool, England....

. Penny Lane junction, the subject of The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 song Penny Lane

Penny Lane

"Penny Lane" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney. It was credited to Lennon–McCartney.Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both songs were later included...

, is situated at the junction of Smithdown Road, Smithdown Place and Penny Lane. The road is also known for "The Smithdown Ten" pub crawl

Pub crawl

A pub crawl is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple pubs or bars in a single night, normally walking or busing to each one between drinking.-Origin of the term:...

 although the exact number of pubs in business varies. A song called Smithdown Road appeared on the second album of Liverpool band Tramp Attack

Tramp Attack

Tramp Attack are an English rock band from Liverpool.-History:Tramp Attack formed in Liverpool at the turn of the century, and the original lineup included the future leader of The Zutons Dave McCabe; as well as Hollyoaks and Brookside actor Kristian Ealey....

 inspired by the band's experiences of living there after leaving home.

Demographics

Smithdown Road, a long established student quarter is home to a large percentage of Liverpool's 55,000 plus university student population (alongside the City Centre

Liverpool City Centre

Liverpool city centre is the commercial, cultural, financial and historical heart of Liverpool, England.Unlike many other cities in the United Kingdom, a ring road doesn't distinguish the city centre from the remainder of Liverpool, although an inner ring road of sorts does exist, with the recent...

 and Kensington

Kensington, Liverpool

Kensington is an inner city area of Liverpool, England. It is located immediately to the east of Liverpool city centre, and is bordered by Everton to the north, Fairfield to the east and Edge Hill to the south....

). The street separates Toxteth and Wavertree, two of Liverpool's most ethnically diverse districts, Smithdown Road itself is the hub of Merseyside's Afro-Caribbean

British African-Caribbean community

The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...

 community, which is evident from the large number of shops and businesses situated along it. The area surrounding Smithdown Road is also home to a sizable South Asian

British Asian

British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...

 population, with a number of Mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

s and Gurdwara

Gurdwara

A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....

s being located in the area.

Smithdown Hospital

The Smithdown Hospital, located on Smithdown Road, is now demolished. It was also known as Sefton General Hospital.

Famous births

• Billy Fury
  Billy Fury
  Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
  
  
• April Ashley
  April Ashley
  ‎‎April Ashley is an English model and restaurant hostess. She was the first British person to be outed as a transsexual, which was by the Sunday People in 1961...
  
  
• Bill Harry
  Bill Harry
  Bill Harry is the creator of Mersey Beat, an important newspaper of the early 1960s, which focused on the Liverpool music scene...
  
  

External links

• Smithdown Road: A History, Liverpool Echo
  Liverpool Echo
  The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...