I’m not sure the world needs another Littlewoods report quite so soon after the last one, but here it is anyway. We live about half a mile away from this local tourist attraction but had never explored it, apart from a sort of permission visit a few years ago. Then we just cycled up to the front door and asked the security guy if we could look round - he said OK, and accompanied us round a few rooms (I think it was his first day on the job). So come the May bank holiday and I had just sent a list of locations in Liverpool to some characters who were planning a visit - this list included Littlewoods as a fallback mainly because I knew it was currently accessible - I cycle past it quite often. Mentioning this to Junior, he said he quite fancied a proper look round himself, so this became our bank holiday explore.
For reference here are the previous reports since the search function is not that reliable:
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-building-liverpool-may-2018.113072/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-september-2017.110173/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-july-2017.109246/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-may17.108656/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-liverpool-august-2011.64147/
A short bit about the place: Art Deco (1938) but not listed, was Littlewoods Pools, various things during WW2, last occupied by a printing firm (JCM) and empty since 2003. The building itself is a pair of long blocks, one single storey the other double, joined together by a later 60’s addition with a curved roof. The interior is mostly big shed-like spaces and nothing much else.
The visit itself didn’t start too well - we made the 5 min cycle ride only to find three police cars parked outside the entrance. So we headed off elsewhere, came back when they had gone, and spent a few hrs wandering around. I then returned on my way back from work the following evening with junior’s camera (I don’t actually own a camera) and did a bit more rummaging around. I’ve tried to include things which haven’t appeared before, but some of the pictures, particularly of the halls, are essentially the same as in previous reports because ‘dems de shots’.
Pictures are ordered, more or less, from the ground floor up.
Office space with painted plaster ceilings and a couple of fireplaces - among the few genuinely ‘deco’ things in the place.
Junior was astonished that people once smoked indoors.
Serving area and a 1949 picture of the pools girls at work.
Many workers = lots of loos.
Some printing-related stuff - a large process camera and transparencies.
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Out onto the roofs, then up the clocktower.
Clock mechanism - looks as if it still works - the pendulum ticks back and forwards.
A view of the two cathedrals and the radio city tower straddling the Liver Birds.
For reference here are the previous reports since the search function is not that reliable:
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-building-liverpool-may-2018.113072/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-september-2017.110173/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-july-2017.109246/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-building-liverpool-may17.108656/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-liverpool-august-2011.64147/
A short bit about the place: Art Deco (1938) but not listed, was Littlewoods Pools, various things during WW2, last occupied by a printing firm (JCM) and empty since 2003. The building itself is a pair of long blocks, one single storey the other double, joined together by a later 60’s addition with a curved roof. The interior is mostly big shed-like spaces and nothing much else.
The visit itself didn’t start too well - we made the 5 min cycle ride only to find three police cars parked outside the entrance. So we headed off elsewhere, came back when they had gone, and spent a few hrs wandering around. I then returned on my way back from work the following evening with junior’s camera (I don’t actually own a camera) and did a bit more rummaging around. I’ve tried to include things which haven’t appeared before, but some of the pictures, particularly of the halls, are essentially the same as in previous reports because ‘dems de shots’.
Pictures are ordered, more or less, from the ground floor up.
Office space with painted plaster ceilings and a couple of fireplaces - among the few genuinely ‘deco’ things in the place.
Junior was astonished that people once smoked indoors.
Serving area and a 1949 picture of the pools girls at work.
Many workers = lots of loos.
Some printing-related stuff - a large process camera and transparencies.
Out onto the roofs, then up the clocktower.
Clock mechanism - looks as if it still works - the pendulum ticks back and forwards.
A view of the two cathedrals and the radio city tower straddling the Liver Birds.
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