Continue along Berry Street to the Chinese Arch the largest outside China. standing at the entrance to the oldest China Town in Europe.

The Arch was made in Liverpool’s twinned city, Shanghai and assembled by craftsmen from China in time for the Chinese New Year in 2000.
The ancient art of Feng Shui was applied to determine the exact position of the Archway as well as deciding on the colours and type of decoration. The wooden and marble structure is adorned with 200 dragons in a mixture of golds, reds, greens and Chinese royal yellow.
The Archway is nearly 49 feet/15 metres high and the central marble block weighs 550 lbs/250 kg.

Note that the street signs and even one or two pubs have their names displayed in Chinese as well as English.
If you walk along Berry Street (with the Arch at your back) you will find the Far East Restaurant. It was opened by Kwok Fong who was born in Canton in 1882.

He was originally a sailor, and opened a laundry in Liverpool , whilst at the same time acting as an advisor to Chinese sailors. His laundry was bombed out in 1941, so he opened the Far East and its been going strong ever since

There are over twenty other Chinese Restaurants within five minutes walk of here. If you want to go a little further afield there are three I would also recommend: The Chung Ku, on the banks of the Mersey, with great river views. It’s just behind the Jaguar dealership on Sefton Street, a continuation of the Strand. As well as the normal range of Chinese dishes prepared for the English palate, it offers authentic meals for the Chinese.
Address: 2, Columbus Quay, Riverside Drive. Tel: 0151 726 8191
The Tai Pan Restaurant on Great Howard Street is a little way out but worth finding, again favoured by the local Chinese population. It is situated above a Chinese supermarket. Tel: 0151 207 3888.
If you visit Birkenhead there is an award-winning restaurant, The Capitol, just off Hamilton Square at 24 Argyle Street. Tel: 0151 647 9212.
.The Liverpool Chinese Community is the oldest in Europe. The first immigrants arrived in Liverpool with the establishment of a steamer service by Blue Funnel Shipping.

Some Chinese sailors based themselves in Liverpool, and naturally chose to live near to the Docks. Sailors might stay from 2-4 weeks waiting for their next ship and so began to establish relationships with the locals.
The Chinese came not only from China but from Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of the Far East providing a cultural variety..

There are also significant numbers of Overseas Chinese studying at Liverpool’s three Universities. Wherever they live they look to Chinatown as the centre of their community.Chinese New Year is celebrated every year around February with streets being sealed off to allow 100,000+ revellers to enjoy some fruits of Chinese culture.

These include Dragon Dances, firecrackers, Chinese Orchestras, Tai Chi demonstrations and talks about customs.
Tucked away in Henry Street is the Pagoda Centre providing a school, a nursery, youth orchestra and a newspaper. There are Chinese characters carved into the brickwork which translates as:

 

“Youth is like the morning sun, rising up
One breath breaks the darkness and solitude.
Full of warmth strength and light
Let us go together and celebrate”

On a darker note, following the end of the Second World War a number of a Chinese sailors were rounded up by the police and deported. These were sailors who had run the same risks as the rest of the Merchant Navy. Many were married to Liverpool women. and had children.

There was no judicial process, no possibility of appeal. Fifty years later some of their children are still trying to find out what happened to their fathers. There have been some happy re-unions.
In 1758 John Wesley preached in the Pitt Street Chapel.
The imposing building, next to the Arch is the former Great George Street Congregational Church. It was built in 1840/41 on the site of a church destroyed by fire. In its time it was regarded as one of the finest classical buildings in town.

 It is now known to all as “The Blackie”.It was cleaned up some years ago to remove the grime that gave it it’s affectionate name.
The Blackie was established in 1968 as Britain’s first community project and hosts playgroups, community groups and a cultural programme of arts workshops, youth projects and exhibitions with the emphasis on diversity.
On the right of the Blackie is Nelson Street. At number 11 lived Dr. Hugh Nelson, born 1834, who pioneered the breaking of bones that had set poorly- people thought he was mad, but it then became standard practice. His nephew, Sir Robert Jones, founded the worlds’ first orthopaedic hospital.
From the Blackie retrace a few steps to the and turn left into Duke St.

 A historic street full of Liverpool characters, but we will start with an American. If you had been walking down Duke St. in 1836, you would have seen a striking looking man carrying a huge portfolio.

John James Audobon sailed from New Orleans to Liverpool to raise money for the production of his dream- a book to feature all the birds of North America. He had been unsuccessful in raising funds in America, and he trudged the streets with only a few pounds in his pocket, and with trepidation in his heart.

Fortunately for him and for us, he had a letter of introduction to William Rathbone a member of a distinguished family of merchants and philanthropists, who warmly welcomed him into his family home and helped him to raise funds.
He was a frequent visitor to Greenbank House. and painted a self-portrait, “Audobon at Greenbank, almost happy”.

Some of his paintings and sketches are in Liverpool University Art Gallery  and a complete copy of “Birds of North America” is in the Central Library.

His first Exhibition was held in the Royal Institution, which we passed earlier. Audobon went to world-wide fame and the Society founded in his name is now amongst the largest wildlife preservation organisations in the world.
Let me tell you a little about the Rathbones. The Rathbone business was founded in 1742. It continues to this day as a massive investment company with its’ offices in the in Port of Liverpool Building.

Their family home, Greenbank is not far from Penny Lane. It was built in 1815 and its wrought iron balconies are believed to have influenced American architecture.
Generation after generation of the men of the family were named William Rathbone, so I shall simply call them by number.
The first William set up a modest sawmill. The second and third were founder members were founder members of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery.
The fourth(1787-1868) was an M.P. and social reformer who advocated a national system of poor relief. He laid the foundation stone of St. Georges’ Hall.
The fifth‘s(1819-1902) wife became chronically ill and he employed a nurse, Mary Robinson to care for her. His wife died in 1859, and William decided that every sufferer should be able to have the same care.

He introduced nursing care into the Workhouse with Agnes Jones  and training of District Nurses with Florence Nightingale.

These nurses did not just care for the sick, but also gave advice on care, sanitation, and health. He funded the District Nurses at his own expense, and funded the Training School, and Nurses Home on Princes Road, in conjunction with the David Lewis Trust( of Lewis’s Stores).
Now to a distinguished woman of the family. Eleanor Rathbone 1872-1946) led a sustained campaign for support for the poor,

In 1924 she wrote “The Disinherited Society” in which she detailed the problems of poverty, and in particular, the need to provide an income to the family. After over 20 years of battling she succeeded with the introduction of Family Allowance in 1945.

She was the first woman councillor in Britain, and the first woman Minister of the Crown. She was one of the first M.P.s to warn of the threat of Hitler’s’ rise to power and she worked tirelessly on behalf of refugees.

“No-one who did not have the privilege of working daily with Eleanor Rathbone can have any conception of what she did for refugees in general, and Jewish refugees in particular.”
                                                                    Victor Gollancz.

Let’s move back in time. Captain James Baines was born above his mothers shop at 185 Duke Street, and he and Bully Forbes formed the Black Ball Line, with a fleet of clipper ships. He was the inspiration for the “Onedin Line” stories. One of his ships was the “James Monro”, named after the American President, hence the name of the gastro-pub at number 92. This is one of our favourite places to eat when we want good food at a reasonable prices. We are on their mailing list  at www.themonro.com because they often give subscribers excellent offers. The house organic wines are good value too.We've never seen the ghosts that are said to haunt this pub!
Before the pub was built this was home to a horse and carriage hire business run by Peter Tyrer. One customer complained each time he hired a carriage that it was poorly sprung and hence uncomfortable. When he ordered another carriage, Tyrer sent him a hearse.

When the customer queried this Tyrer said he thought this must be his most comfortable carriage as none of its users had ever complained!
153 Duke Street was Mrs Blodgett’s Guest House where Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow” , stayed when he first came here.
The Japanese restaurant Sapporo Teppanyaki  at 134 is recommended for a night out- the chefs are entertainers as well as cooks. The Italian restaurant next door, There are also Mayur, the Indian restaurant, Savina, Mexican and Il Forno, Italian restaurants, none of which I have tried.
118 Duke Street was the home of the poet Felicia Hemans who was so famed in the 19th Century that visitors would come from America to see her.

Her best known poem in Britain is “Casabianca” a poem about the Battle of the Nile which begins “The boy stood on the burning deck”, the “boy” being the 13 year old son of the Admiral of the Orient. To American visitors “The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers” may be more familiar.
Duke Street was the scene of secret training by Liverpudlian supporters of Irish Nationalism. Rose Ann Murphy and 5 other Liverpool women took supplies from the Dublin Mountains to O’Connell Street during the Easter Rising in 1916
The Union Newsroom at number 105 Duke Street was the first public library in Britain, and was named for the Act of Union( with Ireland) 1801. It is now the Head Office Of Bibbys, which started as shipping line 200 years ago and now has additional interests
The last duel fought in Liverpool involved Colonel Bolton who lived at 116 Duke Streets( between Suffolk and Kent Streets). A Major Brooks who had been refused a pay increase by the Colonel spread malicious gossip about him, and continued to do so despite warnings and the urging of his friends.

The duel was fought at Pembroke Place and Brooks was killed. Although this was murder in the eyes of the law, the Colonel was never charged.
The Arena Galleries at 82-84 Duke Street has some 55 artist members including Amanda Ralph, described as “the poet of the discarded” by Adrian Henri.
John Bellingham lived at 46 Duke Street. His claim to fame is that he is the only person to succeed in assassinating a British Prime Minister.

On a voyage to Archangel, he fell afoul of the Russian Government. He sought help from the British authorities and was eventually allowed to return to England. However he felt the Government had not done enough to help him and he continued to petition for redress.

Still unhappy he waited in the lobby of the House of Commons on May 11th 1812 and as Prime Minister Perceval passed he shot him dead. He was tried and executed within a week. There was some evidence of insanity in his family but this was ignored.

The guns that fired the first shots of the American Civil War were made here, at the workshops of Fawcett and Preston on York Street.
John Howard lived on Duke Street when he prepared his “Report on Prisons”, after visiting many prisons in different parts of Europe. He had been shocked by the fate of French prisoners of war in the Tower.
Turn left onto Campbell Square.

Jalons Bridewell is a pub and restaurant incorporated into a historic police station and gaol- you can even have a drink or a meal in one of the old cells.

Charles Dickens was deputised as a police officer here before he braved dockland for his research.

It has not been a Bridewell since 1932, but has gone through a number of incarnations, including in the 1980s’ as a rehearsal room for local bands like “Frankie Goes To Hollywood”, and “Echo And The Bunnymen”
According to Hughie Jones of the “Spinners” the legendary “Maggie May” could have been a real person who lived at 17 Duke Street, in living memory.
Sarah Biffin lived at number 8 Duke Street. Sarah Biffin - born without arms, standing just thirty seven inches tall, nevertheless became an accomplished painter using her mouth and a specially designed shoulder strap.

Her work hung at the Royal Academy and she was awarded a Society of Arts Medal. She was so famous in Victorian that Dickens includes references to her in both "Nicholas Nicklelby" and "Martin Chuzzlewit".
At the end of Duke St. turn right onto Hanover St, and right again onto Gradwell St. towards the multi coloured spheres up in the air.. This is “Penelope” by Los Angeles based sculptor Jorge Pardo has giant stalks, a reference to the ropewalks.

The name of the statue is a reference to Odysseus’s Penelope waiting for his return, like many a local wife or mother waiting for their loved one to return from their own Odyssey.
The Nation Club behind the statue was the birthplace of Cream.
Return to Hanover St. The Hanover Hotel prides itself on authentic local dishes, including Scouse,
On your left is a little gem of a theatre, the Neptune.The local council dedicated this to the memory of Brian Epstein.
At the end of Hanover St. you are back at Central Station.