© Image: Jim Eatwell

Overview

Runcorn New Town's Shopping City - Walking Tour

Runcorn New Town's Shopping City

Runcorn New Town was designated in 1964 with 'Shopping City' developed at its heart in the mid-1970's, described as the largest covered shopping centre in Europe at the time. It was hugely successful to begin with, but the complex has experienced changing fortunes in recent years which reflect wider retail and societal behaviour changes.

The event will consider its future and its relationship with the rest of the New Town area including the innovative 'Runcorn Busway' around which the 'new town' was built. Following presentations, the event will include a guided tour of Shopping City and its setting.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start

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Access Information:

The route is generally accessible but does include some steps and stairs owing to changes of level across the complex / site, which may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Event Details:

12:45 - Meet at Halton Lea Library meeting room

13:00 - Tour starts

15:00 - Tour ends

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Location:

Halton Lea Library meeting room,

Second Ave,

Palacefields,

Runcorn

WA7 2PF

© Image: Reconnecting Runcorn

Guided Walking Tours: Reconnecting Runcorn

Date:

20th June 2026, 10:00-12:00

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start at Runcorn Railway Station.

Please join the guided walking tour of Runcorn town centre along series of projects as part of the Reconnecting Runcorn program, that are currently being delivered. Come and see how Runcorn town centre is being transformed with various projects recently completed or nearing completion. The community is at the heart of the regeneration projects that will help to keep the town centre meaningful for many years to come.

Reconnecting Runcorn is a program of regeneration projects making the town centre of Runcorn more meaningful for the community. It has empowered local community organisations and community focused services to expand into newly refurbished buildings to better deliver to residents. The Government funded program was initiated in 2020 and has entered the delivery

phase, with various buildings nearing completion. This includes new Buddhist Temple Hall with Peace Garden, Street Art, new Youth Centre, Extended Brindley Theatre, Health and Education Hub, Canalside apartment block for elderly, community owned Canal Trip Boat, and additional studios for an Arts Collective.

The tour starts at Runcorn Railway Station, providing participants with understanding of the proposals to regenerate the town centre with Government Town Deal funding. The projects have been developed in consultation with the local community, aiming to increase footfall, dwell time and local spend supporting the local economy. The tour looks at the proposed locations for new open green space around historic canal extension, the Peace Garden at the Buddhist Temple, new canal front homes, Hazlehurst arts collective in restored Georgian property, youth centre with winter garden proposed in vacant Victorian high street shop, and the Brindley Theatre extension with new public realm.

Access Information:

Please note the route is through the town centre of Runcorn, which over some distance of (2km), braving weather conditions and navigating traffic when crossing roads. The route is generally accessible but may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase in town centre before and/or after the event.

Event Details:

Refer to ticket for specific event details, date and time.

Start Location:

Runcorn Railway Station

Shaw Street

Runcorn

WA7 5UB

End Location:

Brindley Theatre

High Street

Runcorn

WA7 1BG

Festival Event Partners

© Image: Reconnecting Runcorn

Guided Walking Tours: Reconnecting Runcorn

Date:

19th June 2026, 14:00-16:00

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start at Runcorn Railway Station.

Please join the guided walking tour of Runcorn town centre along series of projects as part of the Reconnecting Runcorn program, that are currently being delivered. Come and see how Runcorn town centre is being transformed with various projects recently completed or nearing completion. The community is at the heart of the regeneration projects that will help to keep the town centre meaningful for many years to come.

Reconnecting Runcorn is a program of regeneration projects making the town centre of Runcorn more meaningful for the community. It has empowered local community organisations and community focused services to expand into newly refurbished buildings to better deliver to residents. The Government funded program was initiated in 2020 and has entered the delivery

phase, with various buildings nearing completion. This includes new Buddhist Temple Hall with Peace Garden, Street Art, new Youth Centre, Extended Brindley Theatre, Health and Education Hub, Canalside apartment block for elderly, community owned Canal Trip Boat, and additional studios for an Arts Collective.

The tour starts at Runcorn Railway Station, providing participants with understanding of the proposals to regenerate the town centre with Government Town Deal funding. The projects have been developed in consultation with the local community, aiming to increase footfall, dwell time and local spend supporting the local economy. The tour looks at the proposed locations for new open green space around historic canal extension, the Peace Garden at the Buddhist Temple, new canal front homes, Hazlehurst arts collective in restored Georgian property, youth centre with winter garden proposed in vacant Victorian high street shop, and the Brindley Theatre extension with new public realm.

Access Information:

Please note the route is through the town centre of Runcorn, which over some distance of (2km), braving weather conditions and navigating traffic when crossing roads. The route is generally accessible but may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase in town centre before and/or after the event.

Event Details:

Refer to ticket for specific event details, date and time.

Start Location:

Runcorn Railway Station

Shaw Street

Runcorn

WA7 5UB

End Location:

Brindley Theatre

High Street

Runcorn

WA7 1BG

Festival Event Partners

© Image: Reconnecting Runcorn

Guided Walking Tours: Reconnecting Runcorn

Date:

17th June 2026, 18:30-20:30

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start at Runcorn Railway Station.

Please join the guided walking tour of Runcorn town centre along series of projects as part of the Reconnecting Runcorn program, that are currently being delivered. Come and see how Runcorn town centre is being transformed with various projects recently completed or nearing completion. The community is at the heart of the regeneration projects that will help to keep the town centre meaningful for many years to come.

Reconnecting Runcorn is a program of regeneration projects making the town centre of Runcorn more meaningful for the community. It has empowered local community organisations and community focused services to expand into newly refurbished buildings to better deliver to residents. The Government funded program was initiated in 2020 and has entered the delivery

phase, with various buildings nearing completion. This includes new Buddhist Temple Hall with Peace Garden, Street Art, new Youth Centre, Extended Brindley Theatre, Health and Education Hub, Canalside apartment block for elderly, community owned Canal Trip Boat, and additional studios for an Arts Collective.

The tour starts at Runcorn Railway Station, providing participants with understanding of the proposals to regenerate the town centre with Government Town Deal funding. The projects have been developed in consultation with the local community, aiming to increase footfall, dwell time and local spend supporting the local economy. The tour looks at the proposed locations for new open green space around historic canal extension, the Peace Garden at the Buddhist Temple, new canal front homes, Hazlehurst arts collective in restored Georgian property, youth centre with winter garden proposed in vacant Victorian high street shop, and the Brindley Theatre extension with new public realm.

Access Information:

Please note the route is through the town centre of Runcorn, which over some distance of (2km), braving weather conditions and navigating traffic when crossing roads. The route is generally accessible but may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase in town centre before and/or after the event.

Event Details:

Refer to ticket for specific event details, date and time.

Start Location:

Runcorn Railway Station

Shaw Street

Runcorn

WA7 5UB

End Location:

Brindley Theatre

High Street

Runcorn

WA7 1BG

Festival Event Partners

© Image: MCS

St Helens: Glass Past, Glass Present and Glass Future

Guided Walking Tour

Experience the evolution of a town built on industry.

Begin at the Victorian St Helens Town Hall, which is celebrating 150 years old this year, then onto the historic Gamble Building which is currently being transformed and will house the library & archives, youth hub and office space before transitioning into the future at the sleek St Helens Transport Interchange.

Witness the town’s ambitious regeneration at the town centre development site, home to a new120-bed Hampton by Hilton Hotel, modern residences, vibrant retail spaces and new market hall.

Explore St Helens Minister (formerly St Helens Parish Church), the heritage of innovation at The World of Glass and the historic Cannington Shaw bottle shop. Finally, visit Glass Futures, a global hub for sustainable technology, where St Helens continues to lead the world in glass production.

Many of the features on the tour will be staying open late especially to welcome the tour group.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start

Guided Tour Route:

St Helens Town Hall

Gamble Building

St Helens Transport Interchange

Town Centre development site

St Helens Minster (formerly St Helens Parish Church)

The World of Glass and Cannington Shaw bottle shop

Glass Futures

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Access Information:

Please note route is through streets which may be uneven and have reduces pavement widths. The route is generally accessible but may not be suitable for some. We will walk just over one mile. A 15-20 minute walk back to St.Helens station from the end of the walk.

Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Event Details:

17:15 - Meet at St Helens Town Hall

17:30 - Tour starts

20:00 - Tour ends at Glass Future

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Location:

Town Hall

Victoria Square

St.Helens

WA10 1HP

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Suggested Parking:

World of Glass

Chalon Way E

St Helens

WA10 1BX

© Image: Liverpool Architecture Foundation CIC

Liverpool's Streets in the Sky

Discover Liverpool's lost network of “streets in the sky” on a guided walking tour.

Liverpool once had a network of “streets in the sky” - and you can still see it its fading ghosts if you know where to look. From the 1960s, walkways appeared around buildings and over roads, so pedestrians could stride across the city without touching the ground. Those bridges and passages have long vanished, but the city wouldn't look like it does without them.

Journalist Alistair Houghton will take you on an alternative tour of the vanished city in the sky and tell you all about how the spirit of 60s high-rise optimism curdled.

Alistair Houghton is a Liverpool-based journalist who is editor of national news website BusinessLive and a former business editor at the Liverpool Echo

The walk will centre around the commercial district.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start.

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Access Information:

Please be aware the building tour includes stairs and uneven surfaces, and reduced pavements widths in some areas, which may not be suitable for some.

Access via buzzer to main door. Please select MGMA Architects office.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Timings:

17:45 - Meet at MGMA Architects, Oriel Chambers - suite 37

18:00 - Tour Starts

19:30 - Tour Ends

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Location:

Start - MGMA Architects, Oriel Chambers - Suite 37, 14 Water Street, Liverpool, L2 8TD

End - Exchange Flags, Nations House, Edmund St, Liverpool, L3 9N

© Image: Luke Hayes

Guided walking tour of Baltic Triangle

Baltic Triangle Guided Walking Tour

Explore the future of Liverpool’s most creative neighbourhood on a guided walking tour of the Baltic Triangle with the Baltic Triangle Area CIC. Discover how historic streets and warehouses are being reimagined through innovation, community-led change and inclusive growth. Hear how the area is creating welcoming spaces and supporting a thriving independent culture. From heritage to new ideas, uncover how the Baltic Triangle continues to evolve as a place shaped by people, creativity and possibility.

This tour reflects the #LAF26 theme, ‘Futures’, by exploring how the Baltic Triangle continues to evolve from an industrial district into a creative, sustainable and inclusive neighbourhood. It highlights how heritage buildings can be adapted for new uses, how communities can shape regeneration, and the tensions than can exist between encouraging economic growth and supporting local culture and enterprise.

The tour invites participants to consider how cities change over time, and how the decisions made today will influence Liverpool’s future places, communities and opportunities.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start.

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Access Information:

Please note the route is around the Baltic Triangle district. The route is generally accessible but some areas have reduced pavement widths, which may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

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Start Location:

Utility at The Flint

2 Flint Street

L1 0DH

Event Partner:

Liverpool Past, Present & Future

A guided walking tour through the north docklands area of Liverpool

The tour will wind its way through the north docklands area of Liverpool, taking in what is there in the present, whilst discovering what was there in the past. The walk will continue to the planned Liverpool Waters development to discover what is being built for the future, discussing the new garden area and how the land will be managed for flood risks due to climate change.

The walk takes in the area to be known as Liverpool Waters, a new residential and commercial area as well at looking at how the docks have been repurposed for modern living.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start

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Access Information:

The route is generally accessible but does include pavements, which may include steps and reduced pavement widths, which may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Event Details:

17:45 - Meet at Titanic Memorial (Memorial to the Marine Engine Room Heroes) , St Nicholas Place

18:00 - Tour starts

19:30 - Tour ends at the Titanic Hotel

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Location:

Titanic Memorial (Memorial to the Marine Engine Room Heroes),

St Nicholas Place,

Liverpool,

L3 1QW

© Image: Friends of Hilbre

Hilbre Island Guided Walking Tour

Hilbre Island walking tour includes a guided tour of the grade two listed buildings currently being converted by the Hilbre Community Land Trust and British Art & Design Association into artist studios and a research Centre for Arts, Science and Sustainability.

A walk across West Kirby beach to Hilbre island, and a tour of the seven semi-derelict grade two listed buildings that form the Hilbre Community Land Trust. The tour includes a talk on the British Art & Design Associations project to create a Centre for Arts, Science and Sustainability.

The creation of the new Centre provides a long-term sustainable use for the empty listed buildings and creates a facility that will foster collaboration between creative and environmental science disciplines. Hilbre has no mains infrastructure and this project will become an exemplar for off-grid sustainable energy/waste/water systems.

The walk will start and end at West Kirby Marine Lake car park.

Travel Information:

Trains to West Kirkby Train Station run from Merseyrail City Line run regularly. Follow trains to and from West Kirkby. Buses also run to and from Liverpool and Chester.

Access Information:
Please be aware that this is a relatively long walk with limited facilities. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. It is expected that the route will include uneven surfaces, wet and potentially slippery rocks.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

We recommend attendees to bring their own food/packed lunch and refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Are there toilets? There is no running water on Hilbre but there are two composting toilets with antibacterial gel to clean your hands.

Further Information:

It is safe to cross from West Kirby 3 hours after high tide. Visitors must leave the island at least 3 hours before the next high tide. It takes around 1 hour to walk from the marine lake to the main island. Check the notice board on the slipway.

WALK FROM THE MARINE LAKE SLIPWAY TO THE LITTLE ISLAND AND THEN ONTO THE MAIN ISLANDS. Do not attempt to cross from Hoylake as there is a deep muddy channel blocking your crossing

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Timings:

12:15 - Meet at West Kirby Marine Lake car park

12:30 - Walk to Hilbre Island from West Kirkby (1 hour walk)

13:30 - Arrive at Hilbre Island for Tour of buildings and presentation

15:30 - Walk to West Kirkby from Hilbre Island (1 hour walk)

16:30 - Arrive back at West Kirkby, end of Guided Walking Tour

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Tour Start Point:

West Kirby Marine Lake car park

West Kirby

Wirral

CH48 0QG

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Tour End Point:

West Kirby Marine Lake car park

West Kirby

Wirral

CH48 0QG

Banks to Banquets

A guided walking tour around some of the grand old Liverpool banking halls.

Join Andrew Jackson (Chair, Merseyside Civic Society) for a mouth-watering meander around some of the grand old Liverpool banking halls that have been converted to bars and restaurants.The event is a short walk taking in 10 historic banks, with interior visits to some.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start

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Access Information:

The route is generally accessible but does include pavements, which may include steps and reduced pavement widths, which may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Event Details:

17:15 - Meet at Martins Bank

17:30 - Tour starts

19:00 - Tour ends

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Location:

Martins Bank

4 Water Street

Liverpool

L2 3SP

© Image: Mairi Johnson

The way we live - then and now

A guided walking tour through the evolving suburban neighbourhoods of Aigburth

Starting with the historic merchant houses surrounding Sefton Park, we will walk down Lark Lane, throught St Michaels, and visit the new Festival Gardens housing site.

We will return to Sefton Park via Jericho Lane's residential and leisure developments from the 80s and 90s. Throughout the route we will look at how Aigburth continues to adpat to changing circumstances and consider how the proposed new development at Festival Gardens will be integrated into the wider urban community.

We will be reflecting on 200 years of change in residential south Liverpool, with particular emphasis on the new expansion that is planned for the Festival Gardens Site.

The route is 5km and the walk will take about 2 hours. The tour plans to proceed come rain or shine.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start at Oasis in Park Cafe, Sefton Park

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Access Information:

The route is generally accessible, with no planned steps on the route, but may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. WC facilities are availanle at the beginning of the route. It will be possible to sit down outside the Festival Gardens development site.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

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Start Location:

 Oasis in the Park

Sefton Park

Liverpool

L17 1AP

© Image: Port Sunlight Village Trust

From Paternalism to Participation: Reshaping Port Sunlight

Guided walking tour around Port Sunlight Conservation Area

Port Sunlight’s historic buildings, open landscapes, museums, galleries, event spaces and creative industries make the conservation area an attractive place to live, work, and visit.

The planned worker settlement’s influence on early twentieth century town planning is undeniable. However, Port Sunlight is globally unique. Architectural historian Dr Heather Alcock and Conservation and Maintenance Manager Dr Gareth Dean will lead a walking tour that highlights what sets it apart. They will also reveal the intersections and disconnections between the site’s 100 years of company stewardship and current collaborative site management practices. They will highlight the community’s century of iterative development and how it is being reshaped by and for local people and climate change resilience today.

Aside from specific built heritage policies focused on development management control and the primacy of residential uses, Port Sunlight has been excluded from forward planning in local plan development in Wirral since the 1920s. Yet Port Sunlight and heritage communities like it present opportunities for appropriate development and even transformation. The tour will introduce twenty- first century projects instigated by and for local people, improvements to management practices to support climate change resilience, adaptive reuse projects that are reinvigorating the community and both restrictions and opportunities for Port Sunlight’s future.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start at The Port Sunlight Museum

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Access Information:

Please note the route is through Port Sunlight Village. Please be aware Pavements are uneven

and there are no toilet facilities on the route. The route is generally accessible but may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

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Start Location

Port Sunlight Museum,

23 King George’s Drive,

Port Sunlight,

CH62 5DX

Event Partner

Lower Duke Street

A guided Walk and Talk in Lower Duke Street – the UK’s first Townscape Heritage Initiative

Join Steve Power, former Development Director of the Rope Walks Partnership for a stroll around the Lower Duke Street area.

This Townscape Heritage Initiative which ran from 1998 to 2002 was the first to be declared in the UK and covered approx. 2 hectares of the Lower Duke Street Conservation Area . It represents an 18 th and 19 th century urban form characterised by straight streets and dense building coverage.

It included the regeneration of 18 historic buildings including a large number of Georgian houses, old private three to five-and-a-half storey brick warehouses interspersed with commercial and large residential buildings and some modest terraced workers’ houses.

The project was a £25 million investment funded by THI, ERDF, UK Government Development Agency, and private investment.

One of the key reasons for success was that one development firm was primarily involved. There was therefore a unity of concept and a concentration of expertise. Success has led to further ongoing investment into this area and the Lower Duke Street THI received an award by the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Please meet 15 minutes before the tour is due to start

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Access Information:

The route is generally accessible but does include pavements, which may include steps and reduced pavement widths, which may not be suitable for some. Attendees should wear suitable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Attendees should provide their own refreshments or otherwise purchase locally before and/or after the event.

Please contact hello@laf-uk.com if you have limited mobility or if you have any accessibility concerns or queries.

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Event Details:

17:45 - Meet outside the red brick building at bottom of Lower Duke Street, opposite Schiller's Hall

18:00 - Tour starts

19:30 - Tour ends

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Location:

Outside the red brick building at bottom of Lower Duke Street, opposite Schiller's Hall

Lower Duke Street

L1 4AA