Liverpools Lost Bubble Bus Stops and City Center Sky Bridges Revisted

Queen Square in Liverpool looks very different now. It has changed a lot since the 1990s. The bus station wasn’t always there. Before, people used “bubble bus stops.” There was even a “sky bridge.”

The old Roe/Hood Street Gyratory had those bubble shelters, stretching along Roe and Hood Street. A new traffic scheme included the Gyratory, proposed in 1966 at £1.45 million. By the early 90s, it caused traffic.

Demolition of the Gyratory started in 1992. Queen Square bus station replaced it in 1996. The city once had elevated walkways, some spanning over the Roe Street Gyratory.

The council’s Sharkland Plan was in the 1960s, aiming for linked city walkways. Roe Street, Old Hall Street, and James Street had bridges, allowing pedestrians to walk without street-level pavements. The ECHO pushed to tear down the Roe Street walkway in the early 90s because it blocked St George’s Hall from view. Its demolition led an ECHO front page in 1992.

Roe Street looks different from the 1980s and 1990s. Photos show pedestrians on Roe Street back then, along with Liverpool’s buses, the bubble stops, and demolition of The Gyratory. The archive has unshown images for years now.

The area is unrecognisable today.