Granby Winter Garden – an inspirational community garden saved from demolition

For the fourth episode of the How My Garden Grows podcast we travel to Toxteth in Liverpool, to visit a community that has valiantly fought to defeat bureaucracy, demolition and relocation by gardening. Over the decades, following the riots in 1981, residents formed a Community Land Trust (CLT) and eventually joined forces with creative collective Assemble to reimagine their neighbourhood. Their mission was to rescue and convert a group of ten small Victorian terraced houses, with a community garden at its centre. Two of the most derelict mid-terrace houses have been transformed into a space that doubles as a meeting place and a glorious garden. Their floors had previously collapsed, creating a three-storey high interior, and the roof was replaced with glass: the perfect place to plant a celebration of local culture.