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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Charlotte Hadfield

City's lost oasis visited by hundreds where Liverpool ONE now stands

This lost city centre oasis was once a popular place for people to go to eat their lunch and soak up the sun.

Coronation Gardens first opened to the public in 1953 in an area where Liverpool ONE now stands.

The gardens were situated between Paradise Street and South John Street, with the gardens marking the start of the city's redevelopment after WWII.

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They were built on a former Blitz site to cover the damage caused by the bombings and were only ever supposed to be temporary.

Last summer we took a look at the history of the coronation gardens, which were named after the Queen's coronation which was held on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey.

Liverpool office workers enjoying lunch in Coronation Gardens on a summer's afternoon in 1969 - do you recognise anyone? (Liverpool ECHO)

An article published in the Liverpool Daily Post at the time said the gardens were opened by the then leader of Liverpool City Council, Alderman Sir Alfred Shennan.

Speaking at the opening he said: "We shall be able to look back on 1953 as the year in which the post-war reconstruction of Liverpool commenced to get into its stride."

Photos from the ECHO's archive show hundreds of workers sitting on the grass in the gardens on their lunch break during the summer of 1957.

Other images from the 60s show people gathered in the gardens to listen to the Liverpool City Police Band.

Coronation Gardens vanished when the area was redeveloped and decades later it was redeveloped once again as part of the Paradise Project.

Paradise Street, North and South John Street and sections of Church Street were all transformed by the "Paradise project", with Liverpool ONE first opening its doors to the public in May 2008.

Today, it's hard for many of us to imagine what the area would look like without the shopping and entertainment complex.

If you would like to share your memories of Coronation Gardens please let us know in the comments below.

You can purchase a copy here of the 64 page special packed with nostalgic photos and articles from your local area'.

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