Kensington is an

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

area of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. It is bordered by Everton to the north, Fairfield to the east, Edge Hill to the south, and the city centre to the west. The majority of Kensington is in the Kensington and Fairfield ward, while its westernmost part Kensington Fields is in the Central ward. At the 2001 Census, Kensington had a population of 12,740.

Description

The area is occupied largely by Victorian

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

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 programme. The area boasts a number of traditional Liverpool pubs. 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 The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

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 ...

students. In 2001, 12.29% of the population of Kensington were registered students. 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 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 Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, Liverpool Built-up Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Merseyside, Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Netherley, Liverpool, ...

and St Helens.

Cultural references

Music

On 14 July 1958,

the Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several school friends, the ...

(which later evolved into

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

after a few line-up changes) made their first recording at Phillips' Sound Recording Services studio in Kensington. In the early 1980s, a series of streets in Kensington were renamed in reference to the Beatles:

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

Drive,

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

Way,

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

Close,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Drive, Epstein Court,

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Court, and Cavern Court. Kensington is also named in the

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 ...

song " Streets of Kenny", referencing the name by which locals usually call it.

Television

As part of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

series '' The Secret Millionaire'' (2006), millionaire John Elliott spent 10 days living under state benefits in a Kensington council flat, where he assisted a family living in a council house and paid several thousand pounds to a local asylum centre. Controversy arose when viewers pointed out that the road he lived on throughout his stay was actually a mile away in Fairfield and that shots of boarded-up houses, edited into the show to support the opinion from a local person that there was little sign of regeneration in Kensington, were actually from Edge Hill and were scheduled for demolition.

Notable people

* Terence Davies, filmmaker * Natasha Hamilton, singer * John Head, musician * Mick Head, musician * Paul Mason, footballer * Joe McGann, actor * Mark McGann, actor, director, and musician * Paul McGann, actor * Stephen McGann, actor * Ian McNabb, musician * David Morrissey, actor and director * Percy Phillips, recording studio owner and engineer * Sydney Silverman, politician * Phil Thompson, footballer * Sonny Walker, actor * Colin Welland, actor and director * Eddie Youds, footballer

References

External links

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