In the town where I was born...

....lived a man who went to sea...

This is the house in Madryn St in which Ringo Starr was born. From the age of 4 until his 20's, he lived with his mother in another terraced house just around the corner. Madryn St is one of the Welsh Streets in Liverpool 8 between Princes Road and the Dingle. Built in the late 1800's, this collection of streets contained about 500 terraced homes.

A recent government initiative to tackle poor conditions and low house prices in Northern cities involved the demolition of existing houses and their replacement by new build houses of mixed tenure. Residents from the Welsh Streets were rehoused and their houses were boarded up. But then there was a re-think. Partly because of a lack of cash for redevelopment, and in the case of the Welsh Streets partly because Ringo Starr was born there. Whilst one community group wanted demolition, another wanted the houses to be preserved. The council proposed a compromise which would have kept 30 of the houses including "Ringo's", but the matter was referred to a public enquiry and we now await the decision of the Secretary of State, Mr. Eric Pickles, no less.