I used to remember getting the bus every Saturday with a save away bus pass in the 80s to Birkenhead and I remember the market being insanely busy. I never ventured further than outdoor/indoor market because it had it all! Once in a while I’d stray to Argos, Dixon’s, Currys, Beatties and Tandy but nothing could beat the hustle bustle of the market.
@pp3k073 жыл бұрын
My god saveaways! I used to be extra careful with those things so I could doctor it for the next day ;)
@ThePigeon_Army2 жыл бұрын
You don’t wanna visit now. Only about 5-7 stalls are still open.
@SamM-oh2cx2 жыл бұрын
@@pp3k07 LOL me too! I would buy one save away (scaveaway) and cut out the day, month and date as clean as I could and I would doctor each previously rubbed out date with an un rubbed cut out! My most success was on the Mersey ferry and the trains, had less success on buses as some driver’s would take your scavaway off you and examine it and if it wasn’t peeled down, they would peel it down or keep it and kick you off the bus which then resulted in me pulling the emergency kill engine switch as a thank you!! Happy days, happy memories!
@PhDPhony Жыл бұрын
I probably bumped into you LOL
@SamM-oh2cx Жыл бұрын
@@PhDPhony it’s mad to think you possibly did and I / we would never have known! 38 years ago and it still feels like it was only yesterday!
@jemmace25866 ай бұрын
This is a really well balanced and realistic video of pretty much every town and city market today in Britain. Great work.
@GD-ez6vb Жыл бұрын
Four years later and wow, this Phil Davis has made a massive difference. He's done...erm, he's done...oh, that's right - nothing. Another toothless, unimaginative, ineffective Council womble. Well done phil
@samdub2 жыл бұрын
It’s virtually the same for Halifax and Bradford in West Yorkshire, and dare I say it most northern markets!
@beakytzw2 жыл бұрын
I worked there in Coleman's. I remember getting breakfast from Betty's Butties and fruit and veg from the guys in the stall across from the one I worked in they were mental and always busy. Savaway bus pass would take you all over Merseyside and only cost a quid. What a life, now it's a dive and a shame.
@windsorSJ3 жыл бұрын
First step to getting more people shopping in Birkenhead? Free car parking, simple.
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
The council won't do that. They are lining there own pockets and probably injecting Birkenhead cash into Hoylake or West Kirby or somewhere like that!!??. I bet them 2 councillors live in Thurston or somewhere like that??.
@fergie2507693 жыл бұрын
I worked in birkenhead market in the 90s...it was packed every day! Living in greece now but still excited to get shopping back in birkenhead/ liverpool
@mattyy1013 жыл бұрын
Stay in greece lol
@mikefurber46778 ай бұрын
A well-made and balanced video. I grew up in the town and, like most of my contemporaries, moved away because there weren't the opportunities. I understand the anger of some of the people in the video at B'Head's decline, but the reasons for the de-industrialisation of the north are complex and some of the problems are insoluble. On a recent visit to Birkenhead, I could see a slight resurgence based on the small local trading that's mentioned in this video. A city like Cambridge, (where I live now) has such high overheads that all the local businesses are forced out of the centre - this is an advantage that Birkenhead has and it makes it fertile for local business creativity. I hope the market survives - makes me nostalgic for the stall that used to sell ex-jukebox vinyl.
@kevinlawes5912 жыл бұрын
Used to love going to the book/magazine stall with my nan used copys of dandy/beano and topper 5p a go! Loved it!
@annmarie88853 жыл бұрын
Very sad to see this,I remember in the 1970s you could hardly move in the market cus it was so busy lots of wonderful memories though.
@daveyboy197615 жыл бұрын
I remember as a kid the place was bustling, you could get everything you wanted there. Now, it just looks awful. I wonder if there will be a mysterious fire like there was with the old cinema on Conway St, give the council the excuse to bulldoze and give us a monstrosity. Wirral Council are a shambles and out of touch with the Wirral public. Birkenhead deserves better and Wirral deserves better!
@unmasked88619 ай бұрын
Very well put together this. My mum keeps saying that Birkenhead was thriving when she was growing up 80s/90s with the bars/clubs and the market. There's nothing there now really, the place is a ghost town. Needs to change, adding to the beautiful park already there that was the idea behind NYC's Central Park.
@philgriffiths39395 жыл бұрын
Such arrogance from these councillors
@dinnerwithfranklin24513 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this interesting show.
@ashleelmb4 жыл бұрын
I was a Birkenheader born n bred but I never liked the place or the people. I never fitted in because everyone had such a chip on their shoulder and work there was scarce. Such a depressing area. The local council have robbed the local people for years with parking charges and speed cameras everywhere so is it any wonder why such a delicate local economy has suffered? I left 10 years ago and I've had a better life. I have no regrets.
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
People tend to have chips on there shoulders when there is no hope!!!. I too did the same and left 30 years ago but I am looking at going back home if only just to be with my family. Family is everything. The people of Birkenhead need to pull together and try to inject there own investment into the town if the council will not help. I know what you mean by you feel like you didn't belong!!. But not all of the people of the Wirral are narks. Most of them are but not all lol. But surely something can be done to help a people who so badly need to be lifted up??.
@ashleelmb3 жыл бұрын
@@speakerscorner7 Maybe. But I'm not going to return to try and change it all because I don't have that kind of power or influence. So it's down to the people themselves to be the change. But I don't think it will ever change there.
@mattyy1013 жыл бұрын
@@ashleelmb Am from Moreton & it's quite nice :>
@ashleelmb3 жыл бұрын
@@mattyy101 Moretons a better area in regard to less crime tbf. I knew a family in Moreton through my mother and when we visited, it seemed okay tbh.
@steveferry56292 жыл бұрын
breaks my heart, the bloke who said no money, no industry nailed it.
@aderrrt4 жыл бұрын
The same council that allowed the memorial playing fields at Ingleborough Road to be developed for housing when there are numerous brown field sites in Birkenhead. Why? ...you don't need me to tell you. When you have a council that is prepared to allow football and money to over-ride the memory of the 88 gallant young men who gave their lives for this worthless shower then common decency has failed.
@flagofnorthmacedonia51205 жыл бұрын
I was in there yesterday. I remember 10 years ago, it was thriving and busy. It saddened me to see so many places closed OMG, the shop at 3:40 is my favorite place to buy fish!
@pp3k073 жыл бұрын
"We need to re-invent the Market" I thought that was the reason nothing ever gets done. Always trying to get credit for "re-inventing" instead of just REPAIRING. WBC are the scourge of this Town.
@bigZCNC2 жыл бұрын
Remember as kid the market being packed it was stuggle to get in or out. Live in NZ now. Revisted Birkenhead last month. Guys sitting on a Sofa outside their shop on the mainstreet. Stores shut up and weeds growing everywhere. I was looking forward to sampling rollmops and the cold beef pies with gelatin sold in the market. Alas all gone.
@Kane_Robo Жыл бұрын
That stall that sold them grey wolf fleeces and blankets will always stand strong haha
@Paul_owie3 жыл бұрын
Only one thing to say, so sad. Back in the 80s it was buzzing. Every stall was open and doin' plenty of business. Used to sit off in the cafe, 'Millies' after doin our buying. I bought most of my clothes from Birkenhead market, especially jeans
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
Alright Paul how you keeping these days lad. Haven't seen you since the 80s !!. I lived a few doors up from you on the ford estate..
@Paul_owie3 жыл бұрын
@@speakerscorner7 what a place to come across each other. 😊 I am ok I'm just sitting watching KZbin as usual. After looking at my comment, I just done a bit of editing, added a bit more info. 😊 great days until the mid 80s
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
@@Paul_owie Yeah m8..am up in Scotland m8. Have been since 91. Came here for work but like everywhere else it's all closing down.. It is a bit better up here tho than down there m8. Am in Aberdeen like.. 30 years up here had just been like the blink of an eye.. I've had good times here though.. I think I want to come back down that way. Maybe somewhere out the way tho like neston or somewhere like that??. Close enough to just jump in a car and drive to my family and do things with me daughter and grandkids. I've been watching heaps of things on KZbin on Birkenhead and it's good to reminisce.. Can't believe how bad it is down Birkenhead market and the pyramids though. I remember when you was down town nearly every day 😂😂.. You was always buying clothes down the market..
@Paul_owie3 жыл бұрын
@@speakerscorner7 enjoyed reading your story yeah good old days definitely gone have you seen any stuff on New Brighton? It's a bloody shopping centre now. I'm living in Prenton at the moment just over the road from the Swan
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
@@Paul_owie Sorry Paul..I posted that twice by mistake. I wrote a post out and I thought I had lost it and then done anther post similar and posted it so you read my message twice lol. Sorry bout that.. New Brighton?? Not sure mate. What one is it? What's it called??. I lived in Virginia road for a while.. So horrible it was. It was a doss house where people basically just got a big giro and she just asked for a tenner.. So had heaps on her books. Give me the name of the video Paul an I will watch it.
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
I noticed charitys, pubs, £ shops, gone from Birkenhead Town, now thay does not seem very optimistic, one other issue is each time a new store opens it is the same things as other stores, I have noticed them and them again; tattoo, barbers, nail, phone shops open then shut down again and again, it is as there is to many of them in Birkenhead, unless they had a u.s.p how are they going to compete with shops that already exist, also obviously online purchases can actually be cheaper and more convenient at times, sure not all the time but unfortunately I think online will eventually destroy all brick stops.
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
All shops should be in one place basically a mall, because it makes no sense to have them miles away form each other, people don't want to walk miles to get to a shop etc
@philipcurnow79905 жыл бұрын
A very fine report. Leisure time is the key and many markets are now must go places. Give people a reason and they will go. There's no point relying on footfall from M&S etc. The fishmonger is totally correct. The guy Phil is also correct but you wonder if the execution of the plan is beyond the capabilities of those who could make it happen at an administrative level. I hope they prove everyone wrong.
@ceza1217193 жыл бұрын
I worked for the Market for a nuber ov years and it was due to it being placed under private management separate from local councils hi rents and no matanice and no money spent on it God love the store owners there all really good people
@gunterstryke56575 жыл бұрын
I remember having a wee once in Birkenhead. Good times
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
Was it in the doorway or an actual toilet...
@brianscoffield5843 жыл бұрын
It’s much bigger than this. Our whole culture and way of life has been systemically destroyed over the last few decades. Government, both local and national should get out of the way and let people get on with their lives. But they won’t. Thanks for the vid.
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
An the government wonders why half the town is on pip??? It's cause they have abandoned Birkenhead. There's no money down there. I moved to Scotland 30 years ago but I want to come back to live out the rest of my life..
@bitterdrinker2 жыл бұрын
A very good documentary. Though one way of bringing people back would be to reduce or completely remove parking charges. These charges and the fanatical enforcement of fines have put many off going to Birkenhead for shopping.
@peterscotney15 жыл бұрын
pack up n walk away , its time to go !....i was a market trader years ago in the so called world famous BURY MARKET , the internet has killed these places off !
@summernulty623 жыл бұрын
i live like 10/15 minutes away from there at 12:41 i walk down there to go to the bus station for school but ive left school now im now year 12
@henkhemming66744 ай бұрын
turn it in to a farmers market with fresh seasonal products from local farmers
@deannagoldston427612 күн бұрын
I used to go every week (against my will) with me mum. Happy days, just didn't know it at the time.
@merseyside_urbex2 жыл бұрын
That man at the start tried hitting me with a wet floor sign 2 days ago
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
Update:house of expensive = obsolete, used as a temporary july19 virus testing location until they do some massive Birkenhead regeneration plan
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
It was more than thriving.you literally could not walk down an Isle. It would take an hour to get to one end to the other. And if you lost your partner you was lucky to find them again!!. Them politicians tucked tail and ran. Like they always do.
@thefloatingapothecaryroman16 Жыл бұрын
Blast from the past. B area ticket 13 years old off to town on Saturday with mates. Late 80s. Market I thought reeked of fish. It was insanely busy. Shame Thanks to the likes of ebay, and Amazon etc.
@stevenlardes35403 жыл бұрын
Greedy councils charging for parking and again the greed that is charged for the tunnels deffinatly doesn't help birkenhead. Every corner there are now homeless beggars even pestering people as they que in the mcdonalds drive through in the rock retail park. Not all but lots of the locals in truth are rough and scruffy if im brutally honest so its not exactly a place most would want to travel for a day out.
@speakerscorner73 жыл бұрын
Last time I was down there they where saying that they where scrapping the tunnel tolls. Surely that tunnel is payed off by now??. The Birkenhead tunnel cost 7 half million to build. Surely it's paid for by now??
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
That food market near the sea just seems to be empty most the time, I bet when they open, people look and think "do you have thay product " no sorry " what about ... product" no sorry" the other bits just seem to sell things only a some people would buy, so basically they are better off just walking about 5 to 10 minutes away or less, to Birkenhead Town.
@mamapapalong Жыл бұрын
Is all about theme, Barras market did the Hong Kong market and done very well.
@ENG57593 ай бұрын
Like most towns across the North Birkenhead gave so much towards the growth of the empire, now look how the establishment treat us 😢
@katiecraze78642 жыл бұрын
I've only just seen this, 3 years later 😬🤣 But that fella was right, he's on cloud 9! How do they expect to run something like that when even a small market can't get the workers 💁 It's a simple solution really .... Less fees, more stability and security, update it yes but have a variety of things that people want from a market. Utilize the space more efficiently. The shops with shutters down, want to attract more people, make it attractive 💁
@katiecraze78642 жыл бұрын
Also just want to add, nobody wants luxury that they're going to go bloody bankrupt over... If you're willing to sell High fashion brands for a tenner then yeah 💁🤣
@buffplums Жыл бұрын
That politician is so out of touch… people in Liverpool get on the ferry to Birkenhead… you can’t do that… and why would anyone want to come to Birko from Liverpool?
@Robert-vw3od8 ай бұрын
Unfortunately, supermarkets selling more products and then online has been the death of towns like Birkenhead . I remember how the town was in the 70s 80s and early 90s.
@markriding1267 Жыл бұрын
The old market didn't burn down...it was burnt down🤫 Took the planners a couple of attempts too,it was grade2 listed .... it was standing in the wrong place for the carbuncle now standing on the site.
@whitecompany1811 ай бұрын
They did the same thing with the great eastern pub (listed building) in New ferry. Was boarded up a couple of years (metal council security sheets) then one day they all came off, days later some of it got burned but in days the whole building was pulled and in a couple of weeks new houses stood in its place.😒 shenanigans
@mealdealsfr41962 жыл бұрын
6:23 best shop at the market and funniest person I still go there
@AdamMcGrath2 жыл бұрын
I'm Birkenhead born 'n' bred and I remember the market being mad busy when I was a kid in the 80's. The problem with Birkenhead as a shopping centre is that it will always be competing against online/other providers so ultimately it will lose the battle UNLESS the council stops charging tunnel or parking fees (which will never happen) or they turn it into a more "exclusive" boutique-style place (along the lines of Liverpool One) to try to bring in more affluent buyers from outside, but that would also fail because of the economic climate+situation that the locals are inside. Nobody needs or even WANTS to visit Birkenhead anymore. Why? Because it's a frigging dump LOL And as for the idea of spending a billion quid to move its location...That is NEVER gonna happen, it's just typical bullsh*t promises from politicians who don't care and have no intention of ever implementing this plan...they have to say something to try to appease the vendors, but you can see in this video just how much the bigwigs wanted to chat with the "real" people LOL It's all crap and the market will close up forever in the next decade, and Birkenhead will continue to decline EVEN MORE (if that were possible!) Ahhh, good old Birkenhead...what a sh*thole!!! How could anybody ever improve this place? Seriously???
@Doc-1492 ай бұрын
“we should be acting like community shops - these big stores won’t be here in 5yrs” - well they will, because they are, and now this guy “Nigel” knows why there’s no point competing with them, otherwise everyone would have been like him and learning what an exercise is futility is all about; perhaps his peers already knew!??
@Red-Revolution7083 ай бұрын
Thatcherism. Thatcher said : “Turn the screw on Liverpool harder” .
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
It definitely needs to be like that other market or something else
@austinisfullpleasedontmove6537 ай бұрын
City council killed it. Bury it. Great job council you killed it. Shame.
@davewhiteside66982 жыл бұрын
Can someone please do something with the volume control for this essential video. It's set too low and even when I turn up my laptop volume, it's still too low, I can't make out what's being said. Thank you
@colinstewart14322 жыл бұрын
A good report Elizabeth. Now do a follow-up report contrasting Birkenhead with other local areas which have fared better and why. You should do more stuff like this. I like your approach and you look great btw 😔
@llewellynwilliams19563 жыл бұрын
so weres he from not a local guy talks out is ares
@andreasbehringer69673 жыл бұрын
audio is very very very quiet... oh so quieeeeet..
@redlioness66272 жыл бұрын
It's the way they speak these days, they speak so low that they end up with a creaky and croaky voice that you struggle to hear and sometimes understand, people today just mumble using a lazy speech.
@Betty771683 күн бұрын
I don't think that Birkenhead wants to succeed, I think the Council is intent on running it down - I've left so many messages for the Regeneration Project and the Market, no-one calls me back - and there have been countless heads of the Project, they've all one by one stepped down!
@Robert-vw3od8 ай бұрын
When people talk about Wirral waters - it’s absolutely absolutely dreadful. They are building the slums of the future by the docks.
@buffplums Жыл бұрын
Rotterdam V Birkenhead… hardly comparable… culture versus ‘goin for a Bevvy when I get me dole…’ …
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
That other market has people who don't talk pigeonon unlike Birkenhead market...
@benjijack2228 күн бұрын
SO SAD THANKS WIRRAL BOROUGH COUNCIL!! SHAME ON THEM ALL!!!!!!!!
@carolwilliams73683 жыл бұрын
When I was a child Birkenhead market was always busy, now it’s dead, such a shame 😢
@phil-zz5hk2 жыл бұрын
internet shopping has totally destroyed the high street . ebay and amazon are so easy . and safe .
@austinisfullpleasedontmove6537 ай бұрын
Black Dahlia has a channel
@oddity46503 жыл бұрын
Yes many many useless shops well not useless but places that people will less likely go, that and empty shops, probably as it cost to much to get more to use them
@terrydobbins92810 ай бұрын
Phil Davies a waste of space true and its still the same today ,No change ,but hey we now have new council office buildings
@mackmack44992 жыл бұрын
The place is dead now but it never use to be
@lefthandlee Жыл бұрын
That's the point of this film ha
@thecovidprisoner3 жыл бұрын
If it was nearly dead then sure as hell will be after this Kung Flu BS
@wk4max2634 жыл бұрын
Birkenhead....the One eyed town!...lol
@ianmurphy13915 ай бұрын
I used to collect the rubbish of the market stalls in birkenhead in the late 80,s,great job,dead busy the market qas,sso sad now
@neilarmstrong6082 Жыл бұрын
few dinosaurs there
@bobhope190 Жыл бұрын
It's even worse now its like a ghost town now so so sad 😞