Kensington is an inner city area of

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, immediately to the east of the city centre, bordered by Everton to the north, Fairfield to the east and Edge Hill to the south. The majority of Kensington is in the Kensington and Fairfield ward, while the westernmost part, Kensington Fields, is in the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

ward. At the 2001 Census, Kensington had a population of 12,740.

Description

The area is occupied largely by Victorian

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United St ...

s. A number of local shops, including newsagents and convenience stores as well as some supermarkets exist along Kensington, Prescot Road and Edge Lane, the area's three main roads. Many shop fronts have been refurbished by the Government's

New Deal for Communities New Deal for Communities was a regeneration programme led by the government of the United Kingdom for some of the England's most deprived neighbourhoods. The programme was established by Tony Blair's Labour Government and was overseen by the Ne ...

programme. The area boasts a number of traditional Liverpool

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. Kensington is also home to the historic Deane Road Jewish Cemetery, which was awarded £494,000 in 2010 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to aid restoration. Due to its close proximity to the Knowledge Quarter of Liverpool, Kensington has developed into a popular student quarter, composed mainly of

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This lat ...

students. In 2001, 12.29% of the population of Kensington were registered students. The northwestern area of Kensington features a series of streets named in honour of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, which opened during the early 1980s; these include: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close, Ringo Starr Drive, Epstein Court, Apple Court and Cavern Court. Kensington is home to Newsham Park, a historic grade two listed park, in a conservation area. Opened in 1868, it is the first park of the three sisters of Newsham, Sefton, and Stanley Park. Three of the five entrances of this park are in Kensington, those being the main entrance on Sheil Road and the other two on Prescot Road.

Community and regeneration

Since 2000, money from the Kensington Regeneration programme has allowed improvements to be made to the area, with run-down houses redeveloped, and street monitors put in place to maintain social order. Kensington Vision, a project funded by Mersey Broadband and co-ordinated by Liverpool John Moores University, ran from 2005 to 2006. It gave away 150 free broadband connections and internet-enabled

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

set-top boxes, developing a community web hub and training the local community in web design and video editing and production skills. It also hosts an abandoned Jewish cemetery in Deene Road.

Transport

There are regular buses (numbers 8, 9, 10 and variants thereof) providing services to the city centre, as well as to Huyton and St Helens.

Notable residents

* Terence Davies, screenwriter and filmmaker. * Natasha Hamilton, singer * John Head, musician *

Mick Head Michael William Head (born 24 November 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and musician from Liverpool, England. He is most famous as the lead singer and songwriter for Shack and The Pale Fountains, both of which also feature his younger br ...

, musician * Paul Mason, football player. * Joe McGann, actor. * Mark McGann, actor, director, and musician. * Paul McGann, actor. *

Stephen McGann Stephen Vincent McGann (born 2 February 1963) is a British actor, best known for portraying Dr Patrick Turner in the BBC One medical period drama series ''Call the Midwife''. He is one of a family of acting brothers, the others being Joe, Pa ...

, actor. * Ian McNabb, musician. * David Morrissey, actor and director. * Percy Phillips, studio owner and recording engineer * Sydney Silverman, Labour MP * Phil Thompson, football player * Colin Welland, actor and film director. *

Eddie Youds Edward Paul Youds (born 3 May 1970) is an English former professional Association football, footballer, who played as a Defender (association football), defender from 1988 to 2005. He notably played in the Premier League with Ipswich Town F.C., ...

Everton F.C. Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has com ...

, football player.

Cultural references

Music

On 14 July 1958,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

and other members of the Quarrymen skiffle group, which later evolved into

, made their first sound recording at

Phillips' Sound Recording Services Phillips' Sound Recording Services was a studio in the house of Percy Francis Phillips (1896–1984) and his family at 38 Kensington, Kensington, Liverpool, England. Between 1955 and 1969, Phillips recorded numerous tapes and acetate discs f ...

studio located at 38 Kensington, Kensington, Liverpool.savage/1950s/58.07.14%20phillips/58.07.14phillips.html http://www.openradiodirectory.com/
/ref> John Lennon Drive is a street in Kensington. The Kensington area is also referred to in the song ''Streets of Kenny'' on the ''

H.M.S. Fable ''H.M.S. Fable'' is the third album by Liverpudlian band Shack, released in June 1999 via London Records. It was the band's first album following their reformation after the interest generated by their previous much-delayed album '' Waterpisto ...

'' album by Liverpudlian band

Shack A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction. Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually r ...

Television

Millionaire John Elliott spent ten days in the district living in a council flat under state benefits as part of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

programme ''The Secret Millionaire'' (episode broadcast 6 December 2006). He assisted a family living in a council house as well as paying several thousand pounds to a local asylum centre. Strictly, the road he lived on throughout his stay, Balmoral Road, is in the Fairfield district. Shots of boarded up houses, edited into the film to support the opinion from a local person that there was little sign of regeneration in Kensington, were actually from the Gladstone Road area of Edge Hill district and were scheduled for demolition (currently underway). The person being interviewed was at the time on Balmoral Road, approx 1 mile away.

References

External links

Liverpool City Council, Ward Profile: Kensington & FairfieldLiverpool Street Gallery – Liverpool 6Liverpool Street Gallery – Liverpool 7
{{Liverpool Areas of Liverpool