The road has changed almost beyond recognition down the decades
Hugh Roberts
Hugh Roberts works at Eccelso just off Regent Road(Image: Danny Gutmann/ Liverpool Echo)
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There was a time when the pubs on Regent Road would be bursting at the seams with dockers who had streamed in their thousands from the gates of the city's northern dock system.
All of that began to change in the late 1900s. As the shipping industry evolved, jobs were lost and people moved away - a shifting community that would prove a death knell for some of Regent Road's pubs. Many of the once bustling establishments stood empty for years, a sad reminder of what once was.
But something is changing on Regent Road, as a small number of recently opened businesses are proving the street's fortunes might be turning a corner.
River & Roads Cafe and Bistro owner Nicola Russell told the ECHO: "I worked on the dock for 18 years, so I got to know a lot of people. A lot of lorry drivers didn't have a place to go overnight. So I decided to open this place for them, and they all come here of a night."
A lot of her custom comes from workers at the S. Norton and Co metal scrapyard as well as the food products supplier Cargill and Bulk Powder Terminals. Nicola, 51, said: "A lot of the lorry drivers park around here overnight, so they finish at about six o'clock. They all come in for their tea of a night. A lot of them don't drink, so they'll only have a soft drink or a shandy."
River & Roads Cafe and Bistro
River & Roads Cafe and Bistro is owned by Nicola Russell(Image: Danny Gutmann/ Liverpool Echo)
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Nicola herself once worked in shipping, as a freight operations advisor at the now closed P&O Ferries freight and import storage yard, so she knows all too well how taxing the job can be. She said: "River & Roads is just somewhere they can go and speak to people, because it's a lonely job being a lorry driver. They can come in and connect with us. We all have the time to speak to them, have a conversation with them, and make them feel welcome.
"This is why I opened it in the first place, because obviously my job was dealing with lorry drivers on a daily basis, and I used to make time for them when I'd be sitting at the window checking them in. I'd be speaking to them, and having a conversation, because they don't get to speak to anyone for 12 hours, could be more than 14 hours, 16 hours over the day. They won't speak to anyone, apart from on the phone when they're doing the job. So I wanted to provide something more for them where they could just come and congregate here."
Regent Road, Liverpool
Regent Road, Liverpool(Image: Danny Gutmann/ Liverpool Echo)
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Just down the road from Nicola is the Bluehouse which is co-owned by Ben Carberry who also has shares in the take away shop next door, Hot Wok. Having previously operated the two firms near Goodison Park, Ben took the risk and moved his businesses to Everton FC's new home before work had even begun on the stadium.
Despite having only been open since the start of Everton's first season at the Hill Dickinson, the bar has established itself as more than just a matchday drinking spot.
Ben said: "It can be chaotic, but it's enjoyable. It's just become a little bit mad for us, the way that we've got the matchdays, which has got one room layout, and we've got three weddings booked in next year, numerous parties, for which then we have to flip from being a matchday venue to a more suitable events venue. It's just constant work in there.
Ben Carberry [right] and Paul Brown
Ben Carberry [right] runs the Bluehouse with his business partner Paul Brown (Image: Supplied/Ben Carberry)
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"We've got more of an input in what's happening in the area, because we get to meet people from Environmental Health and things like that, that are trying to improve the area a lot more when they're calling in."
Often referred to as the Dock Road, Regent Road became hugely important during the 1850s onwards when the city's docks became an increasingly important part of the country's trading relationships around the world. From the end of the 19th century it was full with various warehouses, shipping offices and pubs, but as the docks declined towards the end of the 20th century, the area began to change significantly with warehouses and other buildings in the vicinity lying derelict until new life was breathed into them with the likes of the Titanic hotel and various other regeneration efforts.
While there are a growing number of businesses opening in the area, for one of the longest serving businesses, T&L Autos, its owner, Tom Helm, said that those furthest away from the new stadium are forgotten about. He said: "The constant spillages of oil affecting this area up to Millers Bridge, Derby Road. No one cares. We've got to do a two-mile detour because of oil spillages from the big companies."
"Every other week, there's a spillage. As far as Regent Road is concerned, this bit doesn't exist."
On July 20 the ECHO reported that there were lane closures on Derby Road. At the time a Sefton Council spokesperson said: "We are aware of a hazard on the highway on Balliol Road.
Tom Helm
Tom Helm runs T&L Autos on Regent Road(Image: Danny Gutmann/ Liverpool Echo)
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"There are lane closures on Derby Road and eastbound road closure of Millers Bridge.
"We encourage motorists to find alternative routes through Bootle until the carriageway is cleared.
"We have dispatched our specialist cleansing teams to remove all materials to ensure the road is safe to reopen as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, just off Regent Road in the Sandon Industrial Estate is the food manufacturer, Eccelso that has been open since 2010. However, one if its workers, Hugh Roberts, 69, remembers visiting the area during its heyday.
He said: "When I was a kid, I remember the wagons, like the big long wagons full of big bales of cotton. We used to go around and pinch it for a bit of rag doll. I remember all the ships in the docks, you could go from different ship to ship.
"I remember dad used to work at the docks, there were 40,000 dockers, and it was packed. You could tell they were dockers by their dirty flat caps, raincoats and pushbikes. I remember the docks being booming, absolutely packed."