At first glance at the dock it may not appear that there鈥檚 much there, but the dock has an ecosystem and without it there could not be any businesses here. The docks would fill with algae and stink. Deep in the dock there are living creatures filtering the water by eating, the dock is home to jellyfish, mussels, sponges and seaweed.
 | | Salthouse Dock |
Some of the inhabitants of Liverpool鈥檚 docks have come from other countries, transported to this country in the ballast tanks of ships. Giant Snails and Korean Sea Squirts can be found, they were originally brought over in the 1950鈥檚 and now dominate the dock walls. Also there are barnacles in the docks that have come from as far away as New Zealand and Australia. Scandinavian presence Across the street ahead of you behind the warehouses is one of the most unusual religious buildings in Liverpool. The Scandinavian Church was built in the early 1900鈥檚. Each port has a pastor visiting all the incoming Swedish Ships, to save a lot of hopping from boat to boat a church was built which is now the heart of Liverpool鈥檚 Scandinavian community. Two hundred people regularly attend the church and visitors from Scandinavia can stay here.
 | | Scandanavian Church |
Beyond the Church at the edge of the Paradise Street development is the Ropewalks area, a series of long straight streets. The streets were home to the manufacture of ropes for ships, the full length of the street would be used to lay out the rope and twine it. Even the smallest ships would use around 20 miles worth of rope. To your right opposite the Wapping Dock building is the Baltic Fleet pub, one of the few surviving typical dock road pubs. It is a listed building and was named because of Liverpool鈥檚 trade with Baltic countries. Underneath the pub there are caverns and cellars and stories abound of a tunnel running from the pubs cellar to the docks, through which in the days of the Press Gang men would be captured in pubs. According to the legend Press Gangs would get men drunk and then take them through the tunnels and aboard the ships to work, they would wake up with a sore head and aboard a ship in open sea. Missing treasures
 | | Liverpool Marina |
To your left and across the road where now stands a construction site once stood two of Liverpool鈥檚 most missed buildings. The Custom鈥檚 House which once stood on this site dominated the area and although badly damaged in the war could have been saved. One of the most extravagant building in Liverpool鈥檚 history also stood nearby the Sailors Home was demolished after falling out of use, although parts of it survive in chunks across the city and the ornate gates have somehow found a home in an industrial estate in the West Midlands.
 | | The old Garden Festival site |
Much of the area around the South Docks has been significantly redeveloped in recent years with new uses for the old industrial landscape, to your far right is the Kings Dock area, soon to be home to a concert venue and conference facility, while beyond it Liverpool Marina and Yacht Club is located amongst an area of new build flats and homes. Further south of the docks lies a redevelopment that went wrong, the site of the 1984 International Garden Festival lies abandoned and in disrepair its magnificent Festival Hall and Japanese Gardens rotting in the sea air. | 
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Introduction