Stanley Street, in Liverpool 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...

, runs south between Dale Street

Dale Street

Dale Street Liverpool, England is a street in the Commercial Centre conservation area. The street together with Castle Street, Old Hall Street, Victoria Street and Water Street are the main commercial streets and occupy area of the medieval town of Liverpool...

 and Whitechapel. As well as being home to numerous businesses ranging from Estate agent

Estate agent

An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...

s to Solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

s, some residents live in apartments in upper floors of some of the buildings. As part of Big Dig

Big Dig (Liverpool)

The Big Dig was a collection of various civil engineering projects in Liverpool to regenerate the city.The scheme was a ten-year plan for the city's 2008 European Capital of Culture status. The city gained a new shopping centre Liverpool One...

, the southern half of the street between Whitechapel and Victoria Street was repaved in 2007, and is used as a taxi-rank serving Liverpool's central shopping district.

History

There are several Grade II Listed buildings in Stanley Street (see Listed buildings in Liverpool), due to their local historical importance. Many of the buildings are former warehouse

Warehouse

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...

s, and are testament to Liverpool's industrial past. Stanley Street was also the location for Liverpool's first synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

,, in existence in the 1750s. The synagogue no longer stands, but a special commemorative plaque was unveiled in 2008 in Whitechapel, close to the original spot of the synagogue.

The Beatles

Stanley Street also gains considerable interest from Beatles fans, due to its close proximity to the Mathew Street

Mathew Street

Mathew Street is a street in Liverpool, England, best-known worldwide as the location of the Cavern Club, where The Beatles played on numerous occasions in their early career...

 Quarter (home of The Cavern Club

The Cavern Club

The Cavern Club is a rock and roll club in Liverpool, England. Opened on Wednesday 16 January 1957, the club had their first performance by The Beatles on 9 February 1961, and where Brian Epstein first saw The Beatles performing on 9 November 1961....

), and is the location of a statue in honour of Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby

"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...

, designed by London musician and artist Tommy Steele

Tommy Steele

Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...

. The statue is dedicated to "All the lonely people", and was donated to the City of Liverpool in 1982 as a tribute to The Beatles. A hotel called 'The Eleanor Rigby Hotel' is also located here. http://www.theeleanorrigbyhotel.com/

At the time when The Beatles were performing in Liverpool, Stanley Street was the site of Hessy's Music Store, one of the city's biggest music retailers. It was here that Mimi Smith

Mimi Smith

Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith was the maternal aunt and parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. Mimi was born in Liverpool, England and was the oldest of five daughters. She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital, and later worked as a private secretary...

 (John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

's aunt), bought Lennon his first guitar in 1957 . The street has also been home to an independent radio station, Radio City.

Local Gay Community

Stanley Street is also very much a focal point for Liverpool's LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 community and is home to a cluster of gay bars and clubs between Dale St and Victoria Street. Stanley Street is the main street in the Liverpool Gay Quarter

Liverpool gay quarter

Liverpool's "Gay Quarter" is a relatively modern term to identify the gay scene in Liverpool....

.

In response to campaigns from members of Liverpool's LGBT community, including Councillor Steve Radford

Steve Radford

Steve Radford is a British politician, and is leader of the Liberal Party.Radford is also a long-standing Liverpool city councillor, representing Tuebrook and Stoneycroft Ward. He is leader of the three-strong Liberal group on Liverpool City Council.Radford has been the Liberal candidate in four...

, of Liverpool based Liberal Party (UK, 1989)

Liberal Party (UK, 1989)

The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom political party. It was formed in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party who felt that the merger of the party with the Social Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democrats, had ended the spirit of the Liberal Party, claiming that...

,, Liverpool City Council

Liverpool City Council

Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Joe Anderson.-Domain:...

, is considering the partial pedestrianisation of Stanley Street, between Victoria Street and Dale Street. With the use of rising automatic hydraulic bollards from 10pm-5am at weekends, it is hoped the scheme will enhance the night time leisure experience of Liverpool Gay Quarter

Liverpool gay quarter

Liverpool's "Gay Quarter" is a relatively modern term to identify the gay scene in Liverpool....

. Many in Liverpool's gay community hope that Stanley Street could eventually become Liverpool's answer to Canal Street (Manchester)

Canal Street (Manchester)

Canal Street, the centre of the Manchester Gay Village, is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England. The pedestrianised street, which runs along the west side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants...

, home to Manchester's Gay Village. It is hoped the bollards will be in place by April 2009.

The longest established gay venue on the corner of Stanley Street/Victora Street is 'The Lisbon', housed in a Grade II listed building, just below street level. Its unique ceiling is arguably its most admirable feature, and is often the first thing people notice when inside. The other bars on Stanley Street tend to be newer additions to the gay scene.