Old Swan

Description

Old Swan is centred on the road junction between Prescot Road, running east to west, Derby Lane (from the north) St Oswald Street (from the south) and Broadgreen Road (from the south-east). It is named after a public house called the "Three Swans", which served the pack-horse route along Prescot Lane (now Prescot Road) during the 18th century. The name was derived from the coat of arms of local landowners, the Walton family. The inn stood at the corner of Prescot Lane and Pettycoat Lane (now Broadgreen Road). The junction later acquired two more pubs, the "Swan Vaults" (now called the "Old Swan") and the "Cygnet" (now closed), while the original pub has been replaced by another, the "Red House" (now closed).

Several videos of Old Swan exist on the Internet: a short document of Old Swan in the 1950s, and two videos dating back to 2006 showing various shots of different streets in Old Swan.

In 2016, a short film was uploaded to YouTube titled "Old Swan 2016". Filmed and Directed by Matthew Manning,this was the first ever short film about Old Swan, containing interviews from disgruntled residents unhappy about the lack of access for pedestrians on St Oswald's Street and the traffic management system in the centre of Old Swan.

The short film also contains an interview from Richie Spencer, a trader in Old Swan for over forty years whose business has been effected since the Tesco store directly opposite and later the Aldi store directly behind opened.

Along with the above, the short film mentions the wide variety of surviving pubs in Old Swan, the demolition of the Curzon cinema (now a Home n Bargain) and St Oswald's House (now Tesco) and Old Swan in general.

Geography

The A57 road passes through Kensington and Fairfield before running through Old Swan and then through Knotty Ash, towards Prescot and on to St Helens.

Housing in the district is mostly in densely packed terraced houses, though there are exceptions. Doric Park is tucked away behind rows of terraced houses. The Edge Lane retail park runs parallel to Old Swan. The retail park is currently being improved and phase 1 will open late 2017.

Health

In the area there is an NHS walk-in health centre, along with an emergency surgery, and a GP practice on Derby Lane.

There are also three dental surgeries on Derby Lane that deal with a mixture of NHS and private patients.

Old Swan also has an emergency ambulance station which is located on St. Oswalds Street.

Government

Old Swan's representation on Liverpool City Council is largely through the Old Swan ward, though parts also lie in Tuebrook and Stoneycroft ward. The elected councillors for Old Swan ward are Councillor Peter Brennan (Labour Party), Councillor Joanne Calvert (Labour Party) and former Lord Mayor Gary Millar (Labour Party).

It is represented by Luciana Berger MP in the parliamentary constituency of Liverpool Wavertree; prior to that constituency's recreation the area was part of Liverpool Broadgreen.

Council Services

Old Swan has a library that is managed by Liverpool City Council. The library was built with Victorian black and white features, and now has its own designated garden area, the entrance to which is located on the A57 road

Old Swan also has its own One Stop Shop which is located on Derby Lane.

Economy

Old Swan has a varied collection of clothes and food shops situated along Prescot Road serving local residents. In addition, the area is also served by a large Tesco supermarket this has recently been joined by an Aldi facing it across St. Oswald Street. Further down Prescot Road, away from the city centre is a Sainsbury's supermarket. During 2011, Asda took over the Netto premises, and it is now an Asda supermarket. In July 2015, work began refurbishing the Red House pub and a Costa Coffee store was opened later the same month.

Transport

Fairly regular bus routes 8, 9, 10/10A/10B, 11 and 139 connect Old Swan to Liverpool City Centre and in the oppisite direction along Prescot Road to Huyton, Prescot and St Helens in east Merseyside. Old Swan has other bus links - routes 60, 61/61A, 62/162, 68, 81/81A and 102, which do not serve Liverpool City Centre but provide important links to other areas of Liverpool including Aigburth, Aintree, Anfield, Bootle, Childwall, Clubmoor, Crosby, Croxteth, Fazakerley, Netherton, Norris Green, Orrell Park, Speke, Walton, Wavertree, West Derby and Woolton and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

The M62 motorway starts at the end of Broadgreen Road out of the city, and is the east gateway into the city via Edge Lane Drive.

The nearest railway stations to Old Swan are Broad Green railway station and Wavertree Technology Park railway station. Both are operated by Northern and served by local stopping trains to and from Liverpool Lime Street. The Merseytram System (Line 2) was due to run through Old Swan but this has now been cancelled after funding from the British Government was denied.

In 2015, a CityBike station was installed.

Education

It contains six schools, including Broadgreen Primary School, St Anne's Stanley C of E Primary, St Oswald's Catholic Primary, Corinthian Avenue Primary, St Cuthbert Catholic Primary and Broadgreen International School (formerly known as Broadgreen High School, Broadgreen Community Comprehensive and Highfield), which is a specialised sixth form and technology college. There are also three nurseries in the area. Old Swan offers a recently refurbished library, originally opened in 1913 as a reading room.

Notable residents