But how much do you know about the history of Bridge Street.
The street has had huge historical significance in the north of England.
The name ‘Bridge Street’ first appeared in 1580, simply because it led from the bridge over the Mersey.
The street was called initially called New Street, leading to what we now know as Market Gate.
Historians believe there was an existing small settlement where Market Gate is situated today, which meant that the Warrington Bridge and its roads were essential constructions.
The earliest image of Bridge Street is said to be dated around the early reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603.
An Augustinian friary once stood on the street near the bridge, relying on charity from passers-by. It was closed during the dissolution of the monasteries and demolished over the following centuries.
In the early 1900s, its remains were rediscovered during excavations.
During the English Civil Wars between King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, Bridge Street was the scene of two battles.
One battle in 1648 saw Cromwell and the Parliamentarians capture the remainder of the Royalist Army, who had fled the Battle of Preston in August.
The second battle was in 1651, which saw the arches of Warrington bridge destroyed by Parliamentarians before they retreated from advancing Royalists.
Fast-forward to the 18th century, Bridge Street became an important thoroughfare for the growing market town in Warrington, which was known for goods such as butter, cheese, gooseberries, cockles, cloth and damson.
Two of the town’s most famous buildings in this period were on Bridge Street.
Near the river, the Warrington Academy rivalled the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.
It is now apartments
Further up the road, towards Market Gate, was the town’s most famous coaching inn called the Red Lion Hotel.
The inn had stables at the back, and post was kept and sorted here before it was loaded onto coaches to be distributed.
In 1799, the founder of Warrington’s wire drawing industry, Nathaniel Greening, had his very first wireworks next door to the Red Lion Hotel.
As Warrington grew and became more industrialised, Bridge Street slowly began to deteriorate.
It changed from being one of the town’s most important thoroughfares, to an overcrowded, manure-filled, disease-ridden, depressing street.
Animals fouled in the road, groups of small overcrowded houses called ‘rookies’ stood either side, where many people were dying from cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea just yards from the street.
This forced an order to be passed in 1813 which said that Bridge Street was to be cleaned twice a week in winter and once in summer, and all the manure and filth was to be sold to farmers as fertiliser.
However, at the end of the 19th century, Warrington still had the highest death rates in the whole of England.
As the Victorian Era came to a close, there was a regeneration of Bridge Street, with the opening of department stores such as W. Hodgkinson’s in 1885 and Hancock and Wood in 1914, which helped the street reclaim its lost prestige.
Hancock and Wood is still run by the Hancock family today, and is Warrington’s oldest shop.
(Image: Hancock and Wood)
The new-found appreciation for Bridge Street as a shopping destination meant that the street had to be made wider and more usable, as it was less than five metres across in some places. One side was demolished by the council and new buildings were constructed further back from the road.
This meant that when a circus came to Warrington in the 1920s, elephants were paraded along Bridge Street to promote it.
Clean and efficient tramways were also introduced along the new-and-improved Bridge Street, with 225 millions passengers carried on 27 tram cars between 1902 and 1935.
Remnants of the tram line are still present along Bridge Street in the form of tram roses, which hooked the electric tram cables high above from one side of the street to the other.
Warrington Bridge as we know it today was opened by King George V in 1913, becoming one of the busiest crossing points over the River Mersey.
(Image: Warrington Guardian)
It was also the scene of tragedy. On 20th March 1993, an IRA bombing on Bridge Street killed three-year-old Johnathan Ball and 12-year-old Tim Parry.
Bombs were placed in two cast-iron bins on the street, injuring 56 Mother’s Day shoppers and killing the two young boys.
A memorial fountain called the River of Life was opened on the street in 1996, paying tribute to the two boys and symbolising continuing life.