Waterfront Blues: The Rise and Fall of Liverpool's Docklands

For more than three centuries the port was at the very heart of Liverpool’s story. Foreign trade was the lifeblood of the economy, and the docks were full of ships from around the world. The people who found employment in Liverpool’s docks generally lived close to their work, and the dockland communities inshore were just as vibrant, noisy and jam-packed as the docks themselves. Brian Towers was ideally placed to write this book. A university professor whose own parents were killed in the Blitz, he was brought up in the Scotland Road area by his grandmother, Lizzie. This book tells the story of the rise and fall of the working communities of Liverpool’s docklands with rare insight, clarity and sensitivity.

REVIEWS

"Waterfront Blues: The Rise and Fall of Liverpool's Dockland by Brian Towers is a depiction of the bustling city in England which was once one of the most important seaports in Europe and had a large population of poor dock workers and their families who lived in deplorable conditions along the wharf. The book depicts in heart-rending photographs the conditions of former years. Now Liverpool has been totally transformed since the dock is no longer a major seaport for shipping. The city nearly collapsed but this book shows the great heart, determination, and spirit of these hard working men and women and their leaders which has given Liverpool a marvelous re-birth with the squalor now gone and replaced by modest modern homes and buildings and businesses. This book gives hope now in these troubled financial times of flux for so many industries and the difficulties so many towns around the world are facing. It is well worth reading and well written"
Bonnie Neely, Real Travel Adventures, 2012/09