At the 2023 United Kingdom local elections, the population of Liverpool city centre was 36,770 based on the five electoral wards that officially make up the city centre.[1] Over 6 million people live within an hour of Liverpool City Centre and by 2022, almost 80million people visit the City Centre every year.[2][3]
Liverpool was granted borough status in 1207 and the original seven streets of the settlement now form part of the central business district of Liverpool city centre. Many of Liverpool's most famous landmarks are located in the city centre and in 2019, Liverpool was the fourth most visited city in England for domestic visitors and the fifth most visited city in the UK for international visitors.[4]
Liverpool's most recent Local Plan is designed to guide the long-term spatial development of the city from 2013 to 2033. It will assist Liverpool City Council in making planning decisions for development proposals and provides detailed advice to city planners on where specific types of development should be built, for example, housing, shops, offices, transport and other infrastructure facilities.[9]
Contained within the Local Plan is a policies map that delimits the boundaries of Liverpool City Centre. Based on this definition, the perimeter of Liverpool City Centre is as follows:
Bramley-Moore Dock, Regent Road, Boundary Street, Luton Street, Northern Line rail track, Chadwick Street, Chisenhale Street, Vauxhall Road, Ford Street, Scotland Road, Byrom Way, Hunter Street, Islington, Salisbury Street, Langsdale Street, Shaw Street, College Street South, Brunswick Road, Low Hill, Hall Lane, Mount Vernon Green, Irvine Street, Mason Street, Grinfield Street, Crown Street, Upper Parliament Street, St James Place, Stanhope Street, Gore Street, Hill Street, Sefton Street, Brunswick Way, Waterfront Perimeter.
Therefore, using the Local Plan definition for the purposes of planning policies and redevelopment, Liverpool City Centre includes the following areas based on their specific characteristics, role and function:
Liverpool City Centre from above with official Local Plan boundary in red
Knowledge Quarter (which comprises the Fabric District, London Road area and Paddington Village)
Main Retail Area
Marybone
Pall Mall
Pumpfields
Ten Streets
The Waterfront and its fringes
Local Government
Another definition of Liverpool city centre can be found in local government.
At the 2023 United Kingdom local elections, a radical redesign of Liverpool's city map took place which included changes to the city's ward boundaries, the creation of new ward areas and a reduction in the overall number of elected city councillors.
Further changes to the way in which the city was managed came in July 2023 with the introduction of 13 new neighbourhoods across the city. The modernised neighbourhoods were formed through the amalgamation of the newly created electoral wards and were designed to better manage community services such as housing, waste management, the highway network, parking, or anti-social behaviour.
The new City Centre neighbourhood incorporates 5 electoral wards: Brownlow Hill, Canning, City Centre North, City Centre South and Waterfront South. Combined, they have a total population of 36,770.[10][11][12]
The Gustav Adolf Church (Scandinavian Seamen's Church) in the Baltic Triangle
The Baltic Triangle is defined by Liverpool City Council as the triangular shaped slice of the city bounded by Liver Street, Park Lane, St James Street, Hill Street, Sefton Street and Wapping.[15]
The area is home to a range of repurposed warehouses and industrial units which have been converted into offices and studios for a growing number of creative and digital businesses, hotels, a number of live music venues, independent food and drink traders. The area is also known for its street art and the Cains Brewery Village which accommodates coffee shops, markets and bars.[18]
Canning (Sometimes referred to as the Georgian Quarter or Abercromby)
The Cavern Quarter takes its name from The Cavern Club on Mathew Street, where The Beatles played 292 times in the 1960s. Mathew Street itself is a major tourist attraction, especially for Beatles and Merseybeat related tourism. A number of Beatles themed hotels and museums can be found in and around the street.[23]
Chinese sailors and immigrants first settled close to the docks in Cleveland Square, however, following World War One and demolition of the original neighbourhood, a new Chinatown began to emerge slowly inland. Some time in the 1940s, the community began to settle en masse in to tenements on Kent Street, Pitt Street and Upper Frederick Street. This was helped in part by Liverpool's position as a reserve pool for Chinese Merchant sailors in the British Merchant Navy.
By the 1970s, Nelson Street became the centre of Chinatown and the community and businesses extended into nearby Berry Street, Duke Street, Upper Pitt Street and Great George Square.
Chinatown today includes many Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, wholesalers, travel agencies, legal and accountancy firms. Some of the services include the Liverpool Chinese Business Association, Che Gong Tong Chinese Association (UK), See Yep Chinese Association, Wah Sing Chinese Community Centre, Liverpool Chinese Gospel Church, Hoy Yin Chinese Association and The Pagoda Youth Orchestra, which is the largest Chinese youth orchestra in Europe. The Nook House, a pub at the heart of Chinatown, had a long history associated with the Chinese community.[26]
Nelson Street looking up to the Chinese Arch
Liverpool's Chinatown arch is the largest arch of its kind outside of China at 15 meters tall and was a gift from Liverpool's twin city Shanghai. It features 200 dragons and five roofs.[27]
Liverpool's four universities also attract a growing number of Chinese students. With almost one in five of its students of Chinese origin, Liverpool University is ranked amongst the top three UK universities with more than a quarter of their fee income coming directly from Chinese students. It has one of the highest number of Chinese students in the UK.[28][29]
In recent years, due to this growing population of Chinese students and their desire to socialise closer to the university campus, many Chinese businesses have spread out across the City Centre in places such as Myrtle Parade near the University of Liverpool and further along Berry Street towards Renshaw Street. This has contributed to a reduction in focus on the traditional Chinatown by younger Chinese people.[30]
Liverpool's "commercial district" is a term given by business to distinguish Liverpool's business and commercial centre from the rest of the city centre.
It is centred on Old Hall Street and is the financial heart of Liverpool. Many businesses and companies have a strong presence in the area. Since the mid-2000s many new building and redevelopment projects have taken place in the commercial district, which is now home to some of the tallest buildings in North West England. Some notable properties within the commercial district include the headquarters of the Post & Echo and offices of Unisys, HM Passport Office, BT and Maersk Line. With 36,000m2 (390,000sqft) of floor space, New Hall Place is the largest office building in Liverpool, The Plaza is another large office building in the commercial district which is occupied by a number of different companies. The table below shows the tallest buildings within the commercial district (excluding buildings in neighbouring Prince's Dock or Pier Head – a more detailed list of the tallest buildings and structures in the remainder of Liverpool city centre can be seen here).
Until the late 18th century, the area would have been on the periphery of the city, however, during the mid 19th Century up until circa 1900, Liverpool's wealthy merchants and entrepreneurs helped to build the series of museums, art galleries, libraries, hotels, gardens and monuments (see also Monument to the King's Liverpool Regiment and Wellington's Column).
The buildings were designed to become major public educational, civic and cultural institutions of monumental proportions to reflect Liverpool's status as the second city of the British Empire. The group was later complimented by the Art DecoQueensway tunnel entrance in 1934.
Most of the buildings in and around William Brown Street are built in the stone faced classical style. The pavements are made of Yorkstone and the street furniture, although varied, is often of historic interest to complement the buildings.
St George's Plateau has been the focus of many of the most significant events in the city's history. In the present day, it is most often used for staging public events, political demonstrations or as the starting point for important marches in the city. Events have included Christmas markets, political speeches of national importance, Remembrance Day events, an assembly point for Liverpool's annual Pride march and a live show to a crowd of 30,000 people to mark Liverpool's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
The area has a longstanding history with independent businesses associated with the fabric and textiles industry. Thus, for the purposes of urban planning, it has been labelled as 'The Fabric District'.
In recent history, the area has been criticised for falling into decline and neglect. The long term plan aims to regenerate the area for mixed uses with a focus on makers, manufacturing, and tech based businesses. This will be complimented by retail, leisure and residential.
A market operates several days per week on Monument Place.[37][38][39]
The Knowledge Quarter is a name adopted by Liverpool City Council for a 450 acre district which has developed as an important place for some of the world's most influential players in science, health, technology, education, medicine and culture based industries.
The Knowledge Quarter comprises several interconnected areas including the vicinity around London Road, the Fabric District, Islington and Paddington Village.
The locality contains a concentration of establishments and institutions whose purpose revolves around bio-sciences, health-related research, new scientific discoveries, preventing and fighting infectious diseases, developing new medicines and innovation in digital and sensor technology.
Liverpool One alone attracts over 22 million visitors per year and provides 1.65million square feet of retail space based around an open-air complex of over 170 stores, bars and restaurants, a fourteen screen cinema, indoor golf courses and a five acre park. It spans across Paradise Street, South John Street, Peter's Lane, Hanover Street and Chavasse Park.
Bold Street is the focus of more independent shops and services. In total, some 9,300 people are employed in retailing in Liverpool City Centre.[42][43]
The Lisbon pub on the corner of Stanley Street and Victoria Street has catered for the LGBT community since well before the 1970s. During the 1970s, the area in and around Stanley Street became more relevant as an LGBT neighbourhood with the opening of Paco's Bar, Jody's and The Curzon.[44]
Prior to this, the established meeting places for the largely underground gay community were in a number of venues surrounding Queen Square, however, due to their demolition to make way for the new St Johns Shopping Centre, the community began to give more focus to Stanley Street. By the 1980s and 1990s, the Stanley Street gay village continued to grow with the opening of more gay bars and clubs.[45][46]
In 2011, Liverpool became the first city in the UK to officially recognise its gay quarter with rainbow street signs. New street signs featuring a rainbow arch were unveiled on Stanley Street, Cumberland Street, Temple Lane, Eberle Street and Temple Street to acknowledge the significance and history of the area for the city's LGBT community.[47][48][49]
In 2012, the gay district was rebranded as the Pride Quarter with support from the LCR Pride Foundation and Marketing Liverpool. Thirteen LGBT venues located in the quarter celebrated its establishment with an indoor festival.[50]
Today, Liverpool's Pride Quarter attracts thousands of people every week from all over the UK and beyond who come to experience the varied nightlife.[51]
Ropewalks is the area bounded by Hanover Street, Back Bold Street, Leece Street, Roscoe Street, Upper Duke Street, Great George Street, Great George Square, Upper Pitt Street, Kent Street, Lydia Ann Street and Hanover Street.
Due to Liverpool's growth as a major international seaport in the 18th Century, which included the world's first commercial enclosed dock, merchants of the town expanded their trade in a wide variety of commodities. Such a boom in trade led to merchants needing premises for homes, warehouses and associated uses. Due to its topography and proximity to the docks and Custom House, Ropewalks was a practical place to lay out streets that would accommodate grand merchant's residences, cultural institutions and shops. Interconnecting and narrower streets would contain the industries, warehousing and poorer housing.
Due to the long, straight, parallel design of some of the streets, they became useful for laying down and making ropes to assist in shipbuilding. These particular streets are known as ropewalks, hence the area has since been styled as such.
In the 20th Century and present day, Ropewalks has evolved in to a cultural hub for independent shops, international restaurants, world food stores, bazaars, galleries and as a centre for nightlife.
Cultural venues in the area include FACT Liverpool, Bluecoat Chambers, Epstein Theatre, and the Church of St Luke (also known as the 'Bombed Out Church') at the top of Bold Street. Concert Square and surrounding Seel Street, Fleet Street and Slater Street form one of the most popular areas for Liverpool's nightlife.
In a 2019 survey, university students in the United Kingdom ranked two Liverpool universities amongst the top five for nightlife, with Concert Square being cited as a factor.[52][53][54][55]
Regeneration of the Waterfront is ongoing and as such, each dock is at a different stage of redevelopment. Some are presently underused or disused with a series of plans in the pipeline.
Kings Dock is home to the ACC Liverpool Arena, Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre Liverpool complex. Surrounding them is the Wheel of Liverpool as well as hotels, restaurants, bars and apartments. The future plan for King's Dock is to develop more leisure, hotel, residential and offices.[65]
Liverpool Waters is a 60 hectare section of the Liverpool Waterfront which encompasses Princes Dock, Central Docks, Clarence Docks, the Northern Docks and King Edward Triangle.
In present times, the docks are the subject of a £5billion regeneration project, said to be one of the largest in Europe. Spearheaded by The Peel Group, the project seeks to revive the docks into a five neighbourhood mixed use city district for residential, business and leisure space.[69][70]
Since the early 1990s, agencies within Liverpool (including the City Council) have been actively promoting city centre living. The city centre population has consistently grown from around 10,000 residents in 1991; 13,500 in 2001; 15,271 in 2006; 29,060 in 2016 to almost 40,000 residents in 2023. Although there are some differences in how sources define the city centre's boundaries.
The rapid increase in Liverpool city centre's population has occurred during periods where Liverpool's employment growth has outstripped national performance in England as a whole. A notable increase in the city centre's population took place in the decade between 2006 - 2016 when the population almost doubled. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, Liverpool had the fastest growing city centre in England between 2002 and 2015, where its population boom was exceptional even amongst the wider trend for city centre living across the entire country.
Various factors have been attributed to the significant increase in population. The reasons include the success of Liverpool city centre's economy, urban regeneration, a growth in new build apartments, student developments and the increasing appeal of the city's four universities, higher education establishments, cultural offerings and nightlife. A growing immigrant community and an increase in families from outside the UK has also contributed to the increase. More young professionals have also chosen to move to Liverpool city centre who have been encouraged by greater employment opportunities in the public sector, hotels, restaurants, banking and finance. Such an increase in jobs has in turn created a market for more restaurants, bars and shops.[79][80][81][82]
Liverpool city centre contains a large amount of headquarters and major branch offices for companies and organisations who operate nationally and internationally. The following list is for those based in the city centre only. There are also many headquarters based in the wider city of Liverpool and Liverpool City Region.
As of 2019, Liverpool's tourism industry was worth nearly £5billion per year and by 2022, annual visitor numbers in the City Centre reached approximately 80 million people.[184][185][186]
Liverpool is home to the largest number of museums and galleries outside of London and by 2022, it had more of the United Kingdom's most visited cultural institutions than any other city in Northern England.[187][188]
In 2023, Liverpool hosted the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine. It is estimated that the event would bring an extra 100,000 tourists to the city.[189]
The large programme of events was a catalyst for economic investment and acted as a springboard to redevelop the city, renovate important cultural buildings, bolster Liverpool's reputation as an international cultural destination and increase tourism. 2008 saw large scale regeneration with the completion of numerous tall buildings in the Commercial District as well as the opening of Liverpool One, the Liverpool Arena and Liverpool Cruise Terminal.[191]
Numerous exclusive bars can be found around the Royal Albert Dock and Pier Head,[194] whilst Concert Square is a more popular destination for students and young adults.[195] The Cavern Club, which was made famous by The Beatles, is situated in the 'Cavern Quarter' in and around Mathew Street.
In the decade 2012 – 2022, the number of employees in Liverpool's night time industries has risen and by 2022, the city employed 125,889 people in the night time economy. This represents 24% of the city proper population and 48% of employment in Liverpool as a whole. Sectors with the highest proportion of night time workers include accommodation, food and drink.
Data from the Liverpool BID Company showed that in 2022, 6pm had the highest hourly footfall in the City Centre, Saturday was the highest day of the week for footfall and October was the highest month of the year for footfall. The data was tracked using cameras throughout the City Centre to track the movement of people between 6pm and 6am.[201][202][203]
Liverpool has been awarded the Purple Flag every year since 2010 which is an international award to towns and cities who achieve high standards of excellence in managing the evening and night time economy. Liverpool has received praise for its impressive use of outdoor space, the provision of safe spaces and crime initiatives.[204][205][206]
Transport
Merseyrail train which connects Liverpool city centre to its metropolitan area
Liverpool city centre has a transport network that is connected locally, nationally, and internationally by road, rail and sea.
Sandhills station serves the Northern fringe of the City Centre whilst Brunswick serves the Southern fringe. There is a new station planned to serve the Baltic Triangle area of the City Centre.[215]
Liverpool City Explorer, Liverpool FC Explorer and Beatles Liverpool Explorer by Maghull Coaches offer open top tours of the city by double decker bus.[216]
Maritime transport connects Liverpool city centre directly with the rest of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, Ireland and around the world.
Daily ferry crossings operate between Liverpool and Dublin and vessels transport both passengers and cargo. Ferries from Liverpool to Belfast, Northern Ireland, depart from The Stena Line Liverpool Port at Twelve Quays terminal, Birkenhead.[218]
Direct ferries between Liverpool city centre and the Isle of Man are provided by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and operate during the summer season from a terminal adjacent to the Pier Head.[219][220]
The Mersey Ferry operates regular crossings between the Pier Head and the Wirral Peninsula for commuters, tourists and special events. Ferry trips are also provided from Liverpool city centre to the Manchester Ship Canal.[221]
Liverpool Marina allows yachts, powerboats, canal boats, narrow boats, barges and rigid inflatable boats from around the UK and the world to arrive directly in to central Liverpool.[224]
Other
The only major forms of transport not readily available in Liverpool city centre are via trams and air, although trains and buses link Liverpool city centre to Liverpool John Lennon Airport in Speke.
Liverpool city centre contains the campuses of four universities and a significant number of higher education providers offering students degree level courses.[225][226]
Combined, they have a student population of somewhere between 60,000 – 70,000 as of 2023. A large number of these students live in accommodation in the City Centre.[238][239]
The University of Liverpool is largely sited around Mount Pleasant. Some of the buildings possessed by the University of Liverpool in Liverpool city centre include the Harold Cohen Library, the Liverpool Guild of Students and the Victoria Building. Liverpool John Moores University has two campuses in Liverpool city centre, one at Byrom Street and one at Mount Pleasant also.
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, northwest England. It had a population of 496,770 in 2022. The city is located on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, adjacent to the Irish Sea, and is approximately 178 miles (286 km) from London. Liverpool is the fifth largest city in the United Kingdom, the largest settlement in Merseyside and part of the Liverpool City Region, a combined authority with a population of over 1.5 million.
Merseyside is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Liverpool.
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail serves 69 stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lines – the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The network uses 750 V DC third rail electrified lines having 75.0 miles (120.7 km) of routes, of which 6.5 miles (10.5 km) are underground. Since January 2023, Merseyrail commenced replacing its train fleet, withdrawing the Class 507 and 508 trains and introducing 53 new Class 777 trains. The network carried 25.5 million passengers in the 2022/2023 statistical period.
Dingle an inner city area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is located to the south of the city, bordered by the adjoining districts of Toxteth and Aigburth. At the 2001 Census, the population was recorded at 13,246.
The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed 7.5-mile (12.1 km) dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the river.
Liverpool Central railway station in Liverpool, England, forms a central hub of the Merseyrail network, being on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The station is located underground on two levels, below the site of a former mainline terminus. It is the busiest station in Liverpool, though considerably smaller than Lime Street station, the mainline terminus, and the busiest station to operate solely on the Merseyrail network. The station is the busiest underground station outside London serving 40,000 people daily. The station in passengers per platform is the busiest underground railway station in the United Kingdom outside of London at 3,979,547 per platform per annum and coming tenth out of all stations outside the capital, underground or overground.
Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres of land in the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by the department store John Lewis. Debenhams had previously been an anchor tenant until the closure of its Liverpool One store in March 2021, with Marks & Spencer taking its place in mid-2023. Additional elements include leisure facilities, apartments, offices, public open spaces, restaurants, and transport improvements. The completion of Liverpool ONE significantly boosted the local economy, while lifting Liverpool into the top five most popular retail destinations in the UK.
Liverpool City Region is a combined authority area in North West England. It has six council areas; five Merseyside metropolitan boroughs and the Cheshire unitary authority of Halton. The region had a population of 1,571,045 in 2022.
The Northern line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Wirral line. The cross-city route runs from Hunts Cross in south Liverpool then branches in the north to terminate at Southport, Headbolt Lane and Ormskirk (Lancashire).
Brunswick railway station serves the Toxteth district of Liverpool, England, on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. The station serves the nearby district of Dingle and is situated on a short section of track between two tunnels, between the now in-filled Toxteth and Harrington Docks. The station also serves businesses on the Brunswick Dock estate, which gives it name to the station. The residential area of Grafton Street is reached by steps or ramp from the southbound platform.
The Canada Dock Branch is a 4-mile 59 chain long railway line in Liverpool, England. The line's route is from the large Edge Hill rail junction in the east of Liverpool to Seaforth Dock to the north. The line was originally built by the London and North Western Railway terminating at Canada Dock, with a later branch extension added to Alexandra Dock and links onto the MDHC railway lines. The line is not electrified.
Walton railway station is a railway station in Walton, Liverpool, England, located to the north of the city centre. It is on the Ormskirk branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line.
The City Line is the brand name used by Merseytravel on suburban rail services in the Liverpool City Region starting eastwards from the mainline platforms of Liverpool Lime Street railway station.
Headbolt Lane is a railway station in Kirkby, Merseyside, England, which opened on 5 October 2023.
The Pride Quarter, also known as the Stanley Street Quarter, Liverpool Gay Quarter or Village, is an area within Liverpool City Centre, England. It serves as the main focal point for Liverpool's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The quarter is made up of mixed use developments including residential blocks, hotels, bars, nightclubs and various other businesses, many of which cater for the LGBT community. Aspects of the annual Liverpool Pride are also held in and around Stanley Street.
Liverpool in North West England, is a major British city with significant road, rail, and ferry networks, in addition to an international airport and a well-known dock system. As with most other major UK cities, Liverpool's transport infrastructure is centred on its road and rail networks. Public transport services within the city are controlled and run by Merseytravel.
The economy of Liverpool encompasses a wide range of economic activity that occurs within and surrounding the city of Liverpool, England.
The Baltic Triangle is an area of Liverpool city centre defined by Liverpool City Council as the triangular portion of the city bounded by Liver Street, Park Lane, St James Street, Hill Street, Sefton Street and Wapping.
The Liverpool Cruise Terminal is a 350-metre-long (1,150 ft) floating structure situated on the River Mersey enabling large cruise ships to visit without entering the enclosed dock system or berthing mid-river and tendering passengers ashore. The terminal was officially opened on 21 September 2007 by the Duke of Kent when the Queen Elizabeth 2 berthed at the terminal. The current terminal is composed mainly of a floating landing stage, with a small passenger terminal building, but a larger terminal is planned by the new operators Global Ports Holding.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Liverpool, England.
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