![\"Duncan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_yce-Emsley-in-The-Brownlows-Inn-on-Mount-Pleasant-Liverpooljpeg.jpg\")
Duncan and Joyce Emsley in The Brownlows Inn(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\nThe street is a “gateway” to the city but many people feel its overlookedDuncan and Joyce Emsley in The Brownlows Inn(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a warm weekday afternoon in Liverpool and the front windows of The Brownlows Inn are open to let out some of the heat. It\u2019s an old school pub<\/a> on Mount Pleasant, a city centre street that links Lime Street<\/a> at one end with Hope Street at the other.<\/a><\/p>\n Inside The Brownlows is husband and wife Duncan and Joyce Emsley, aged 82 and 79 respectively, sipping on pints of lager as part of their weekly routine. Joyce tells the ECHO:<\/a> \u201cWe come here from Southport<\/a> twice a week, every Monday and Thursday. We start at the pubs on Ranelagh Street and then come up here. We\u2019ve been doing this for 20 years. This is a nice pub. Everybody in here including all the staff are always friendly and helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n Joyce thinks the area is more vibrant to drink in than their hometown of Southport. Mount Pleasant is a street which a lot of people pass through, including many students and tourists as they venture up to the Georgian Quarter <\/a>and nearby universities, but not everyone makes a point of visiting the venues on the street itself.<\/a><\/p>\n In the words of Duncan: \u201cSome tourists might walk past here and not want to come in, but it\u2019s a good pub.\u201d<\/p>\n The street boats pubs, several restaurants and takeaways, along with flats and offices inside stunning Georgian buildings, a cathedral and a public garden. In 2024, a new food market<\/a> opened on the street, which includes Zaman Coffee and Safi\u2019s Desserts.<\/p>\n ‘People don’t venture up this way’<\/p>\n When asked how she would describe Mount Pleasant, Larnie Cadwallader, who works for Morgan Jones Barbers, said: \u201cI would say it’s a bit lost. People don’t venture up this way. There’s probably a little bit more that could be brought to the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI park by the Anglican Cathedral, so as I’m coming through every day I’m starting to see new restaurants opening and stuff like that. But if it wasn\u2019t for the tourist route and people coming up this way to see certain things, I don’t feel like people would venture up here.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got the hop on, hop off buses going past but passing trade isn’t really something we do. We use our website where people can book in – if people see us, they can search for it on the internet and book it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan Jones is a men’s barbers with a difference, with Morgan herself doing pre-booked haircuts upstairs and Larnie specialising in men\u2019s skincare downstairs.<\/p>\n Larnie, 35, from the city centre, said: \u201cThere is quite a stigma out there that men shouldn’t get likes of facials or skin treatments, but I think to myself, why not? Me and Morgan have created a space where skincare and skin treatments are just a normal part of looking after yourself. It’s about breaking down a stigma, supporting mental wellness and encouraging men to feel good in their own skin.”<\/p>\n Rebecca Pearson and Susanne Quest similarly feel that Mount Pleasant is a street many people pass through without noticing what it has to offer in its own right. They both work for Rebecca\u2019s speech and language therapy clinic, located in a grand Georgian building on Mount Pleasant.<\/p>\n ‘It feels like a hub of everything here’<\/p>\n The service works primarily for people up to 19 years-old on the autistic spectrum who have language delays and speech sound difficulties.<\/p>\n Rebecca, 35, from Woolton<\/a>, said: \u201cIt feels like a hub of everything here. We don’t know if many people are aware of us, even though it’s quite a common route for students.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don’t feel like it gets a lot of footfall from the general public. We want to promote our service because it’s something that we do to help others.”<\/p>\n Susanne, 49, from Wallasey<\/a>, added: \u201cI think a lot of tourists or even local people who come to see the cathedrals might go up another way.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevertheless, they believe their current base is beneficial for them. Rebecca said: \u201cWe had a very small clinic on Aigburth<\/a> Road. Then we grew the business and it needed a larger premises.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve ended up here, which is a lot bigger than we ever anticipated but we do absolutely love it. Everybody does comment on how lovely the atmosphere here is.\u201d<\/p>\n How Mount Pleasant could develop remains up for debate. A regular in another pub argued there wasn\u2019t any room for new developments.<\/p>\n Many buildings on Mount Pleasant are occupied, but the Wellington Rooms, which operated as Liverpool’s Irish Centre, has stood empty since it closed in 1997. Last year, Liverpool City Council told the<\/a> ECHO<\/a> that the local authority was in the process of appointing a consultant to carry out a condition survey on the building.<\/p>\n ‘There’s a lot more we should be doing with Mount Pleasant’<\/p>\n When the ECHO reported on the state of Mount Pleasant in 2022<\/a>, ward councillor Nick Small, who is also the Cabinet Member for Growth and Economy, described the street as \u201cthe missing piece in the jigsaw\u201d of the city centre\u2019s development.<\/p>\n Cllr Small was hopeful that the re-opening of nightclub 051 could be a positive step and this has since happened under the guidance of Lee Butler.<\/a><\/p>\n The politician is now focused on making the road a thriving route that connects to the Knowledge Quarter, home to the new Royal Liverpool Hospital and several university buildings, as part of an area labelled Upper Central. <\/a>This runs from Central Station and Lime Street to Bold Street and Liverpool Science Park.<\/p>\n Plans for this area are longstanding and include the potential of a new public square outside the Adelphi Hotel. Cllr Small told the ECHO this week: \u201cI think there\u2019s an arc of opportunity around Liverpool city centre<\/a> from Bramley-Moore Dock to Paddington village.<\/p>\n \u201cMount Pleasant is the link to the city centre and Knowledge Quarter. There\u2019s some really exciting developments but you’ve got to get that link right. Mount Pleasant is a key gateway. There\u2019s a potential for a public square outside the Adelphi.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Mount Pleasant and Brownlow Hill, there\u2019s a lot more we should be doing. That\u2019s about improving connectivity and some intersections. There\u2019s also the perception that Paddington Village is miles away up a really steep hill.<\/p>\n \u201cSo how can we change people\u2019s perceptions and improve connectivity? That will mean more investment to Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant and the whole area will benefit from that. The big theme of this is the council expanding the city centre outwards.\u201d<\/p>\n Mount Pleasant car park and other council-run sites have seen prices rise by 39.69% in recent months<\/a> but Cllr Small said \u201cLiverpool\u2019s night-time economy is strong enough to withstand and weather<\/a> the changes.” He added: At the end of the day, it\u2019s about having more accessible transport solutions but also better parking enforcement.<\/p>\n Plans for Liverpool’s version of Times Square<\/p>\n \u201cThe money will benefit businesses at the end of the day. The early initial feedback we\u2019re getting is quite positive. We\u2019ve said we\u2019ll do a review of how it\u2019s operating too.<\/p>\n \u201cMount Pleasant car park is very much of its time. Is it in the right place? Could there be a more economically productive use of that land? These are the types of questions we must ask.\u201d<\/p>\n The ECHO first reported on plans for a new public square, dubbed Liverpool\u2019s version of Times Square<\/a>, in 2017 and wider plans for the area dubbed the “Upper Central” district<\/a> since 2019.<\/p>\n But Cllr Small insists that these proposals are still making progress, with the completed re-design of the roads around Lime Street marking one phase of the plan.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt’s a vision. You’ve got the Lime Street scheme and the next extension of that is how we improve connectivity. It’s about setting out a vision, looking at the public realm and strategy and seeing the projects we can do when somebody comes on board.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The street is a “gateway” to the city but many people feel its overlookedDuncan and Joyce Emsley in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,2349,14487,12147,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-348568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-liverpool-city-centre","13":"tag-liverpool-council","14":"tag-regeneration","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115037256219451620","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_View-down-Mount-Pleasant-towards-the-old-Radio-City-tower-in-Liverpool.jpg\")
View looking down Mount Pleasant in Liverpool towards the old Radio City tower(Image: Jamie Greer\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_rson-Speech-and-Laguage-Therapy-on-Mount-Pleasant-Liverpooljpeg.jpg\")
Rebecca Pearson and other staff at Rebecca Pearson Speech and Language Therapy (Image: Rebecca Pearson)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Brownlow-Hill-and-Mount-Pleasant-junction-Liverpool-Photo-by-Colin-Lane.jpg\")
The 051 Club stands at the junction of Brownlow Hill (left) and Mount Pleasant(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n![\"Mount](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Safis-DessertsMount-PleasantLiverpool-city-centre.jpg\")
Mount Pleasant Food Market(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n