There’s hope a further £20m to spend on the town centre over the next decade may help turn things around
13:56, 15 Jun 2025Updated 14:02, 15 Jun 2025
Grange Precinct, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside circa 1985.(Image: Mirrorpix)
People in a town centre described as dead remain hopeful things could still be turned around after £20m was announced for the area.
This week, the UK Government announced 25 trailblazer neighbourhoods which will each receive up to £20m over the next decade as part of a new fund to drive change in areas. Though more details need to be published, the government said the money will “support communities to drive forward the changes they want to see in their neighbourhoods” including “improvements people can see on their doorstep, champion local leadership, foster community engagement and strengthen social cohesion.”
Three areas have been included in Merseyside including Bootle, Speke and central Birkenhead. The government said it would work to make sure “places that have been too easily left behind are no longer ignored.”
The announcement this week is the latest from the government in recent weeks of new funding for central Birkenhead. As part of a £1.6bn transport announcement, Birkenhead is set to get additional funding for bus and active travel routes through the Hind Street Urban Village.
The Hind Street project is a major redevelopment of land between Green Lane and Birkenhead Central train stations. The development will eventually see the removal of the Birkenhead tunnel flyovers that cut off the site from Birkenhead town centre, 1,600 new homes for people of all ages, as well as new green spaces, businesses, a school, and health services.
Wirral Council leader Cllr Paula Basnett said it was “an incredibly welcome boost for Birkenhead as we move forward with our plans to bring about the much-needed and long overdue improvements,” adding: “This additional funding will play a significant role in helping our efforts to make a real and positive difference to the town centre and surrounding areas and deliver for these communities.”
Birkenhead’s Labour MP and DWP minister Alison McGovern praised government money for housing and defence, adding: “I am especially pleased that central Birkenhead will receive targeted neighbourhood funding that will make sure that as Birkenhead’s economy grows, no one is left behind. Labour in power are taking the right decisions for the Wirral.”
Cllr Pat Cleary, who represents the Green Party, said the funding was positive and “not to be sniffed at” but might not be as game changing as hoped. Going forward, he felt working with those already working in Birkenhead needed to be the focus to deliver real results.
Pointing to Argyle Street where the council invested £51,000 improving shop fronts, he added: “I would argue those smaller funds have a much bigger bang for their buck. It’s recognising this and focusing on those organisations bringing others into the fold.
“They aren’t just there to make money. They have a genuine investment in the town and that is the kind of thing we want to foster, encourage, and support.”
Roadworks on Conway Street, one of Wirral Council’s regeneration projects in the town centre(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Birkenhead is no stranger to promises of regeneration. Roadworks currently take up some of the town centre as new paving and road layouts are put down and there have been no shortage of computer generated images of what the town will look like in the future.
The local authority has built two new office blocks while the old House of Fraser has been demolished. Several projects are in the pipeline including more changes to the waterfront and a new Birkenhead Market.
Speaking to people across the town, there was a strong feeling from people of all ages that the town centre needs more stuff to do. One woman told the ECHO she always went out in Liverpool, adding: “If you want to get young people in, it’s drinks, shops, and food, activities like mini golf. That will just get people in.”
People told the ECHO Birkenhead was much quieter than it used to be(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Iona Wattison told the ECHO: “Birkenhead is dead. At one time you could buy anything in Birkenhead. At one time, you could go into town in the 80s and you could buy anything. The market was thriving.”
Though Tony Simpson felt £20m would only scratch the service, he felt more investment was needed in the town especially around issues like drugs and crime. As part of any development going forward, he wanted to see social housing right in the heart of the town.
He said: “I think Miller’s Quay [at Wirral Waters] shouldn’t be where it is. It should be in the town centre, developments that bring people into the centre and then they are there to do their shopping in the town.
“City centres have to be turned back into population centres. If you have to drive to the town centre, you aren’t going to do it because it’s so much easier just to order online or go to our equivalent of a strip mall.
“You need to make them attractive places to live and build the place around that. Hamilton Square is gorgeous but there’s nothing really there.”
Tracey Dennis, who currently rents, is one of those who is hoping to eventually buy a home. She said: “There’s still nowhere I can afford by the time you pay your rent, food, gas, and electricity and we aren’t poor.
“There’s so many empty buildings, there’s so many gorgeous buildings that are left to ruin now.”
On the edge of the town centre is the Number Seven café and social supermarket offering a variety of different foods at lower prices than in mainstream shops. Set up with the help of the late Baron Frank Field in 2018, it now has over 2,000 members.
Caroline Noble, the general assistant manager, said social isolation and loneliness were two of the biggest reasons people visited them while the rising cost of living was still a pressure for many, including the running costs of Number Seven itself. In order to revive the town centre, she felt more needed to be done to entice smaller businesses back in.
Going forward, she hopes the trailblazer project would work with existing charities and organisations, adding: “You have got a group of people with existing skills and knowledge working in Birkenhead, in some cases for a very long time. I would hope those people would be included.
She said: “It’s funding for the community. It should be members of that community and the people who work in that community,” adding: “It’s not short and sharp. It’s funded over a long period of time.
“Birkenhead town centre has taken a long time to get to the stage it is at so it will take a long time to regenerate. It will take a long time for people to come back.”