Builders completed signage and renovations around Hill Dickinson Stadium as the venue prepared to host its first league match. Cruise-ship passengers disembarked from the Regal Princess and walked 20–25 minutes along Regent Road to view the new ground, prompting plans for stadium and dockland tours from cruise-ships. The surrounding area, once an industrial wasteland of scrap metal yards, disused docks and derelict pubs, is seeing renewed investment in apartments, bars and street lighting. The Titanic Hotel and Ten Streets creatives contributed to revival, but the stadium has been the primary catalyst after years of stalled relocation plans and site selection.
Builders were working on the signage high up on Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday while renovations were being carried out inside one of the bars opposite Everton's magnificent new ground. It would have been a predictable scene of final preparations for the first league game at the 800m venue but for an unusual sight in this part of town: holidaymakers.
They were cruise-ship passengers to be precise, dozens of them. Instead of disembarking the Regal Princess and turning right towards the Royal Albert Dock and city centre when it docked in Liverpool, as one might expect, they had turned left and walked 20 to 25 minutes along Regent Road to visit the finest new addition to the Premier League. They would have sailed past it on entering the River Mersey too.
Nothing to see here apart from scrap metal merchants, disused docks and the empty shells of pubs that once thronged with business. You either drove through Regent Road or worked there. But as the builders, the bars, the new apartments, and even something as simple as new street lighting indicate, life is slowly starting to return to this area. While acknowledging the impact of The Titanic Hotel and the creatives in the Ten Streets area, Everton's stadium is the catalyst for that change.
Collection
[
|
...
]