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Thanks to The Beatles 1966 immortalisation of it in song Liverpool鈥檚 Penny Lane is one of the most well know streets in the world, but how much of an effect is the recession having on this street beneath blue suburban skies?

Penny Lane is very much a typical busy suburban thoroughfare with a mix of shops, bars, and houses stretching from its junction with Smithdown Place to North Mossley Hill Road, a perfect place to find out how the recession is biting in local communities.

Despite the gloom in the stock markets and a seeming weekly increase in job losses, many of the traders on Penny Lane say they鈥檙e yet to notice a significant impact on their businesses.

Colin Rimmer owns a small local store

Colin Rimmer owns a small convenience store on Penny Lane, he says that he has been careful to ensure he stays competitive in the current climate, "I鈥檝e taken steps to try and make sure I鈥檓 as competitive as I can be with as many promotions and as many deals as I can because that is the way things have changed," Colin explains.

"Everybody from the very top is now offering sales and discounts and if I don鈥檛 do it and everybody else do I will suffer."

However Colin hasn't noticed any drop off in trade and thinks that he may end up better off if people change their habits "Maybe I benefit in some ways.

"Maybe people don鈥檛 go out as much because they can鈥檛 afford meals out, but they can afford takeaways and a bottle of wine, so in that sense if I can cater for that, then it鈥檚 a way of reacting to the changing market.

"People still have to eat, they still have to drink.

"We hope that people use us because we鈥檙e local, friendly and personal."

'It won't affect us'

At Shades hair salon co-owners Paula Jones and Pauline Flanders did notice a drop in business over the Christmas period, "This Christmas and New Year was our worst since we started nearly ten years ago," Paula said.

Paula Jones at Shades hair salon

"So obviously that has affected the next two months because normally the Christmas period leads in to January and February."

"January and February have been no worse off than normal though because hopefully we鈥檝e got new clients from Allerton Road where a couple of hairdressing shops have shut down."

The perception that times are hard has had an effect though, "The television all the time is going on about the crunch so people were afraid to spend," Pauline Flanders says.

"But, then most people who did come in said 'It won't affect us'.

"Since Christmas we鈥檝e noticed we鈥檝e got new clientele because with the shortage of money we鈥檙e cheaper than the ones that have closed so the clients have come to us, which is better for us."

Pauline also thinks that the salon will continue to thrive over the next year, "I think we鈥檒l pick back up to the way we were to be honest because it鈥檚 already started.

"I鈥檓 confident we will pick up, we鈥檝e still got our regulars and new people."

"The only thing we have found is the beauty side of it hasn鈥檛 done that well.

"Everyone I鈥檝e spoken to, they鈥檒l come in for their hair but they鈥檒l leave the beauty bit that little bit longer."

Penny Lane Flowers

Jane O鈥橫ahoney has run Penny Lane Flowers for the last two years, although her family have been florists for generations, "My great grandmother stood at the cemetery gates in Allerton Road when trams were running up and down and then my Nan and my auntie, and it got passed down to me and my sister," recalls Jane.

"I still do the cemetery, but I鈥檝e always wanted my own shop but just trying to find a good location is really hard and this one came up, so I took this up.

"Business has been steady, September was quiet due to people being on holiday in August, but then the Christmas period it started building up from then .

"And then it鈥檚 Valentine鈥檚 Day and Mother鈥檚 Day so I don鈥檛 think it has affected our shop at all."

At Penny Lane Wine Bar, Assistant Manager Dave Ingham has noticed an increase in customers in the last few months although the recession is on many people鈥檚 minds, "Some of our regulars have lost their jobs so some of them do talk about it," he says.

Penny Lane Wine Bar

"We still have been really busy, even after Christmas when we鈥檙e expecting the normal January lull; we did a lot more food than we did last year.

"We seem to be picking up new business and all our regulars still come in.

"We did lose a bit of business when the smoking ban came in but the drinkers we lost seem to have been bounced by the people coming in for food.

"To be honest the first week or two people are unemployed tend to be very good for our business because they鈥檒l come in and drink during the daytime when they would have been in work."