Liverpool Stadium foundation stone, Museum of Liverpool

Liverpool Stadium was a boxing arena on St. Paul's Square, Bixteth Street,

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 ...

. The UK's first purpose built boxing arena. The foundation stone was laid by the Earl of Lonsdale on 22 July 1932, and it opened to the public on 20 October 1932. The facade was finished in

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ...

tiling with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

detail, as were the lobby, corridors and public areas inside. The arena itself was wood panelled. The architect was Kenmure Kinna. Aside from

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, it hosted

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

matches, pop and rock music concerts (

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

's legendary live album ''The

Space Ritual ''The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London'' (commonly known as ''Space Ritual'') is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the ...

Alive in Liverpool and London'' used recordings from their December 1972 concert at the stadium), political hustings and trade union meetings. It closed in 1985 and was demolished in 1987.

Earlier building

The building replaced an earlier venue of the same name, originally a Liverpool United Tramways Omnibus Company horse stables, on Pudsey Street, off London Road, on the other side of the city centre, which opened in July 1911.

Bibliography

*Curley, Mallory. ''Beatle Pete, Time Traveller'', Randy Press (2005): details how

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

's grandfather, Johnny Best, Sr., founded and ran Liverpool Stadium and includes an overall history of the Stadium.

References

External links

Guardian on Political Meeting website about the music concerts at Liverpool Stadium
History of Liverpool Boxing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues demolished in 1987 Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom {{Merseyside-struct-stub