BROMBOROUGH DOCK, 1990:
Closed the year before, this aerial photo shows the dock just before work began on filling it in. The meandering water channel is the River Dibbin, still wide enough at this time for barges to pass under the A41 road bridge to where Lever built a secondary dock closer to his factory.
When the wider part of the dock seen in the centre of this photo was filled in, the riv
NEW CHESTER ROAD SCHOOL, 1990:
The school opened its doors in August 1915 for the education of children aged 5 to 13. This lasted until 1926 when Grove Street Primary School was built to cater for children of primary school age. This school then became a secondary school with separate entrances for boys and girls - and segregated playgrounds.
In 1969, a new school was built in Higher Bebington R
NEW CHESTER ROAD SCHOOL, February 1991:
The former school stood empty for over two years until it was demolished to make way for new housing (Portbury Close, Portbury Way).
NEW CHESTER ROAD SCHOOL, February 1991:
The end of an era for a school which many older residents will remember.
BEACONSFIELD ROAD, circa 1996:
Beaconsfield Road and its adjoining Streets (Poolbank Road, Elmbank Road, Willowbank Road) were all developed in the early 20th century by a local brickworks owner. He recognised that with increasing prosperity in the late 19th century, the middle-classes were increasingly being able to scrape enough money together to afford to buy their own homes. He therefore hit
TONY BLAIR VISITING NEW FERRY, 20 February 1997:
Ahead of the 1997 General Election on 1st May 1997, Labour Leader Tony Blair visited New Ferry to make sure that local people would vote for his party, Labour won the election, sweeping John Major's Conservatives into being the opposition for the next 13 years.
THE POETS' ESTATE, LONGFELLOW DRIVE, circa 1997:
These maisonettes had been built on former allotments next to New Ferry Park in the 1960s. When first built, they were decent homes with modern facilities which tenants loved. But within 10 years, as happened with many such developments in the country, they became unpopular due to their layout. The upper floor flats seemed to isolate tenants from t
SHOREFIELDS, 1998:
This land was originally the grounds where visitors to the New Ferry Swimming Baths once sat on their towels inbetween their dips into the water. The trees provided welcome shade in the long hot summer months, particularly in the days before trustworthy suncreams were developed.
Wimpey Homes redeveloped the pool site with new houses from 1986 to 1992, but the Council insisted
MEL ROBERTS (THE BUTTERFLY MAN), 1999:
Mel Roberts was known locally as "The Butterfly Man". Not a native of New Ferry, he settled here in the 1960s and grew to love the place. He helped to set up the Butterfly Park in the early 1990s and worked both there and in New Ferry Residents Association's shop/drop in centre until he died in 2004. He was one of the founder members of the Residents Assoc
KWIK SAVE STORE, seen from the rear at WOODHEAD STREET c.1999:
The 1990s saw very little investment in New Ferry. It was only at the start of the decade that some derelict shops on New Chester Road were pulled down and, in 1991, Kwik Save built their new store between New Chester Road and Woodhead Street car park. The store was subsequently taken over by Gateway, then Somerfield, and finally Co-o
NEW FERRY DISTRICT CENTRE, 1998
In this aerial shot from the late 1990s, we can see the district centre, and the precinct (Bebington Road) in particular. The large roof of what was then still Kwik Save stands out. Of note is the block of buildings on the right (at the junction of Bebington Road and Boundary Road) that were destroyed in the explosion in 2017. The bowling green at Boundary Road/Circular Drive was still in use by local bowlers.