Liverpool experienced turmoil and upheaval during the 1980s. Unemployment and economic uncertainty led to widespread dissatisfaction, culminating in public demonstrations such as the 1981 Toxteth Riots. The population also declined rapidly from 1,276,000 in 1970 to 885,000 at the end of the 1980s. Factories closed, drug usage soared, and buildings along Dock Road were left as eerie, monolithic reminders of what once was. In 1983, Liverpool elected its first Labour council, which vowed to defend the city from unjust cuts under the Thatcher government.
During the 1980s, the far-left Militant group dominated Liverpool City Council under the de facto leadership of Derek Hatton (although he was only Deputy Leader). The city council incurred heavy debt as it fought the central government’s proposal to reduce funding for local services. The District Auditor finally removed 49 of the city’s Councilors for refusing to cut the budget, refusing to make good the deficit, and forcing the City Council into bankruptcy. In an effort to make the Labour Party electable again, Neil Kinnock was keen to remove the militant tendency from the party, including Hatton’s conduct. Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government was deeply unpopular in Liverpool, with the Conservative share of votes consistently low in most local council and parliamentary elections throughout the 1980s. Liverpool’s people were resilient, and glimpses of light were found despite this upheaval.
#1 A youth wearing a balaclava and holding bottles, during rioting in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, 5th July 1981.
#2 A man sleeping on waste ground in Liverpool, June 1982.
#3 A man taking his dog for a walk in Liverpool, 1982.
#4 Clayton Square, Liverpool. 15th December 1983.
#5 Lord Street, Liverpool. 10th July 1980.
#6 Huddled up against the winter snow, shoppers in a strangely quiet Church Street during the morning, 11th February 1985.
#7 Sugar factory is shutting down in Liverpool, 1980s
#8 The Cotton Picker Public House on the corner of Roscommon Street and Portland Place, in Liverpool, 1982.
#9 Aerial view of Liverpool Docks, Merseyside, 17th August 1980.
#10 Gerard Gardens, Liverpool, 1980s
#11 Liverpool Albert Dock re-development 1st August 1983.
#12 The South Docks, Liverpool, now almost completely silted up since the docks closed in 1972 and dredging operations stopped, 27th February 1982.
#13 Stanley Dock in Liverpool, showing the Hartley Warehouse building (left) and the tobacco warehouse building (right), 5th April 1989.
#14 Stanley Dock in Liverpool, showing the tobacco warehouse building, 5th April 1989.
#15 Tenants for Britain’s oldest council house.
#16 Police mounted on horses patrol the area around Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, 6th September 1989.
#17 Yellow Submarine construction, Liverpool, 1984
#18 A typical Edge Hill alley way, Liverpool, 17th August 1981.
#19 Alleyway in Toxteth, Liverpool, 1980.
#20 Aerial view of Albert Dock, Liverpool, Merseyside, 17th August 1980.
#21 Aerial view of Kings Dock part of the Liverpool South Docks system which became redundant in 1972. It covers 14.6 Hectares, 19th January 1987.
#22 Aerial view of Liverpool Docks, Merseyside, 17th August 1980.
#23 St George’s Hall, St John’s Gardens and Lime Street Railway Station, Liverpool, Merseyside, 1980.
#24 Horse Racing – Grand National Steeplechase – Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool, 1980s
#25 Upper Parliament Street and the Racquet Club in Liverpool , 1980s
#26 Empty slums, Liverpool, 1980s
#27 A small child outside her home in Liverpool, 1982.
#28 Clayton Square, Liverpool. 17th January 1986.
#29 Clayton Square, Liverpool, 10th November 1988.
#30 Residents of the Toxteh neighborhood after the race riots on July 7, 1981 in Liverpool.
#31 Christmas Shoppers, Church Street, Liverpool, 14th December 1987.
#32 Factory in Liverpool, 1981
#33 Liverpool teenagers outside the city’s Anglican Cathedral, May 1981,
#34 Graffiti on the side of a house in Liverpool, July 1983.
#35 A young boy with a black eye standing on the street in Liverpool, 1982.
#36 A small sign on the wall of some flats in Liverpool – We Support Our Labour Council – 1983.
#37 Shirley Williams of the Social Democratic Party getting her election campaign underway as she tours shopping areas during the Crosby by-election, 1981
#38 Exterior shot of Liverpool Cathedral, St James’s Mount, Liverpool, 1st December 1987.
#39 Aerial view of Liverpool Docks, Merseyside.17th August 1980.
#40 John McShane, chairman of the Gerard Community Housing Tenant Participation scheme, standing outside a new house being built on Rose Hill, 22nd January 1986
#41 Bold Street, Liverpool, 31st October 1989.
#42 BoldStreet, Liverpool, 2nd October 1986.
#43 Lord Street Liverpool, Merseyside, 10th July 1980.
#44 Lord Street Liverpool, 15th October 1986
#45 Blacklers Department Store seen here in the early 1980s Liverpool’s answer to New Yorks Macy’s occupies the corner of Elliot Street and Great Charlotte Street, Merseyside.
#46 Local children and their friends gather on Elswick Street, Dingle, to see the cast and crew of the BBC hit comedy Bread filming for the next series, 10th July 1988.
#47 The construction site that will become the International Garden Festival, 29th April 1983.
#48 The BBC in Elswick Street, Dingle filming the hit comedy “Bread” 11th July 1987.
#49 Police outside the Nite Owl Club in Davies Street the morning after a fierce fight at the club left one man in hospital fighting for his life, 16th November 1981.
#50 Lord Gifford talks to local resident Delroy Burris in Granby Street, Toxteth, 29th November 1988.
#51 General view at Stanley Dock in Liverpool, showing the tobacco warehouse building, 5th April 1989.
#52 John and Dorothy Crawley outside their West Derby home, Tue Brook house.
#53 Chapel Street, Liverpool, 6th December 1983.
#54 Maybrick house in Liverpool, 1989
The late 19th century home of James and Florence Maybrick in Riversdale Road, aigburth, Liverpool, Florence, an American lady, was convicted n 1899 of murdering her husband by administering Arsenic and sentenced to death, This was commuted to life-imprisonment, and she was eventually released and returned to America.
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#55 Roe Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, 1989
#56 Bill Shankly Liverpool manager funeral 1981
#57 Bill Shankly Liverpool manager funeral 1981
#58 Shops at Cavern Walks, 14th February 1987.
#59 The set of the Liverpool based soap opera Brookside on September 19, 1984.
#60 Two women walk past the burnt wreck of a fire engine following a night of rioting in the Toxeth area of Liverpool, England, 7th July 1981.
#61 A crowd in the street stand in a brick-strewn road, beside a damaged shop, smoke pouring from the damaged facade, and a leaning lamppost in the Toxeth area of Liverpool, England, July 1981.
#62 Street Traders in Church Street Liverpool, 26th July 1988.
#63 Street Traders in Church Street Liverpool, 26th July 1988.
#64 London Road Liverpool, 19th August 1983.
#65 Blackers Department Store shortly after it was announced that the store was closing, 1988
The decline of Liverpool's answer to New Yorks Macy's has been customers favouring shopping centres over the old-fashioned department stores. As the store closes the new Clayton Square shopping mall takes shape on the corner of Elliot Street and Great Charlotte Street.
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#66 Lord Street Liverpool, 1988.
#67 The BBC in Elswick Street, Dingle filming the hit comedy “Bread” 11th July 1987.
#68 Police outside the Nite Owl Club in Davies Street the morning after a fierce fight at the club left one man in hospital fighting for his life, 16th November 1981.
#69 Church Street, Liverpool, 1981
#70 Toxteth Riot, 6th July 1981
Police officers try to clear broken glass from Park Road outside a burning looted shop, so that the fire brigade can control the fire. The riots were sparked following the interception by police of motorcyclist Leroy Cooper in Selbourne Street. A crowd gathered, name-calling grew into jostling and within minutes there was a full-scale fracas that saw three police officers hurt and a young local man, arrested on assault charges. Police mounted extra patrols in the area and early the following evening, July 4, they came under attack from a crowd armed with bricks and petrol bombs. The subsequent nine days of disorder saw hundreds of police and public injured, one man dead, 500 arrested, 70 buildings destroyed and damage estimated at 11m pounds.
