Speke has been through some rough times in the last 20 years, but now things are changing for the better! Here are a few photographs to show you what's happening....

Many new business have moved onto the old MFI Retail Park on Speke Boulevard, opposite the Old Airport site bringing with them jobs for local residents. In the last five years, unemployment has dropped from 22% to 11% and is still going down.

B & Q was the first retailer to move in here, and was quickly followed by Powerhouse, Comet, Boots, WH Smith, Next, Gap, JB Sports, a new MFI and many others.

PC World and DFS have recently opened here too, and followed by Currys, Argos and CFS.

The Old Airport has been lovingly restored by the Marriott Hotel group, and is fully booked well into the future, to accommodate passengers at the Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

If you drive along Speke Boulevard from the old Airport, towards the Speke estate, you will come to a new roundabout which leads left into the B & Q site, or right into the Estuary Business Park.

Estuary Business Park

As you drive into the site, you will see a beautiful canal along one side where local workers often take their lunch and watch the swans and ducks floating by. On the part of the estate is DHL, Classic Couverture and other new firms.

Doubling back along Speke Hall Avenue towards Speke Boulevard you will see a striking sculpture outside the new Halifax Bank of Scotland building. Built on the new Estuary Business Park, in the furthest corner of the old airfield this was the first building to go up here.

As we continue along the Boulevard to the Ford Road, you will notice the huge amount of greenery that has been added to the area recently to make our surroundings more enjoyable.

Boulevard Industry Park

Do you remember the old Lockheed factory that bordered Fords? Well this is it now! Evans Vaccines is the first firm you will see on the Boulevard Industry Park, and opposite is the Lear Corporation, the first of many factories supplying the new Jaguar plant on the old Ford site.

Along this road which the Jaguar cars are often test run are Coughlin Logistics, Conix and TDSE with three other factories opening soon. Behind them, on the old Ford factory site is the Jaguar factory and the sign shows all the major investors in Speke at the moment.

Further along the Ford Road is our Partnership for Learning building which runs courses for local people to enable them to improve their training and education, and help them into new employment.

These houses are on the old Dymchurch estate, now known as Phoenix Park which has recently been completely refurbished. The residents are taking a pride in keeping it looking pristine!

The rest of the Council housing on the estate was taken over two years ago by South Liverpool Housing Corporation who have instigated a huge improvement plan which includes new double glazing, central heating, roof, cavity wall insulation, electric wiring, bathroom and kitchen for every tenant. SLH are also trying to help improve life in Speke for everyone by being very involved in many community matters.

On the Speke Park site between Conleach and Ganworth Roads is a new complex named Parklands which includes Parklands Community High School, Speke Library, South Liverpool Housing Group and various community groups . The plans for a new superstore, Morrison, and 25 smaller shops have just been agreed and building will start very soon, with a feeder road leading into the complex from the Ford Road (Speke Bouelvard).

The school replaced Speke Community Comprehensive the grounds of which will be turned into one of the seven parks, designed by local people, and situated across the whole estate. These are currently under construction.

Whilst there are still problems to be overcome here, Speke is working hard to improve itself and the fruits of our labours are just beginning to show!

If you would like to know more about the regeneration of Speke and Garston, please visit the Speke Garston Partnership site featured on our links page.

Our neglected and run down Speke Parade of shops was a blight on the neighbourhood and the community campaigned long and hard for improvements. These were not forthcoming and in the end, the City Council bought the land from the owners to use as school playing fields for the new school and used the site of Speke Park for a new shopping area.

This year Morrisons have built and moved into a brand new complex and the smaller shop owners from the Parade took the smaller units available around the supermarket. There is a petrol station and car wash on the site and the buses now go straight into the complex which is next door to Parklands High School (formerly Speke Comprehensive), Speke Library, Community Centre, LCC One Stop Shop and various other facilities such as the Leeson Centre.

For those of you who remember the Sugar Bowl in the midle of the old Parade, it was moved after a campaign by the late Bill Smaje and was placed in the middle of the car park on the new site. This new 'Speke parade' has given the morale of the estate a huge lift along with all the other changes mentioned above, and gives us renewed hope for the future.

Retail Park

Phoenix Park