Kirkby, United Kingdom

Kirkby is 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Liverpool, in Merseyside in North West England. It is 180 miles (290 km) north-west of London and 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Huyton, the borough administrative headquarters. The River Alt flows through the town's extreme south-west, with the Kirkby Brook tributary passing through its centre.

Due to its position near England's north-west coast, Kirkby has a temperate maritime climate; its Köppen climate classification is Cfb. Its mean annual temperature of 10.2 °C (50.4 °F) is similar to that throughout the Mersey basin and slightly cooler than the English average. The annual average sunshine duration, 1394.6 hours, is slightly higher than the UK average of 1339.7. January is the coldest month, with an average mean temperature of 4.7 °C (40.5 °F); July is the hottest, at 16.7 °C (62.1 °F). Rainfall, 806.6 millimetres (31.76 in), is slightly lower than the England average of 838 millimetres (33.0 in) and much lower than the UK average of 1,125.5 millimetres (44.31 in). October is the wettest month, with an average rainfall of 86 millimetres (3.4 in); April is the driest, with 49.1 millimetres (1.93 in) of rain. The nearest Met Office weather station is at Manchester Airport.

Kirkby Industrial Estate, formerly ROF Kirkby, is still a large employer. The town's industrial heritage, however, has largely faded away as service industries replace factories. Major employers include QVC and Barclaycard, and several call centre companies are based in Kirkby.

Kirkby has seen regeneration efforts. The Kirkby Sports Centre, one of the region's main velodromes and athletic centres, was replaced in 2007 by a leisure facility without a track. Several new stores have opened.

The regeneration began in December 2006, when a proposal was made by Tesco and Everton F.C. for redevelopment of the town centre which included a 50,000-seat football stadium and retail outlets. The proposal was known as The Kirkby Project. Kirkby Market was redeveloped, and reopened on 26 April 2014.

In 2015, the town centre owned by Tesco was bought by St. Modwen Properties for £35.8 million. St Modwen announced their plans for the regeneration of the town centre, including a cinema, a supermarket, parking, and leisure development. This led to reports that two supermarkets were competing to build a store; it was rumoured that one of the stores was ASDA. A public hearing was held for local businesses, shopkeepers and residents in October 2016. St, Modwen submitted a revised application for the town-centre scheme to include food-store anchor Morrisons, who submitted the winning bid.

Primary secular, Church of England, and Roman Catholic education is available. At the secondary level, secular and Roman Catholic education is available. Educational services are provided or monitored by the Knowsley local education authority.

Kirkby has 11 primary schools; Northwood Community Primary School is the newest and largest. Kirkby High School and All Saints Catholic High School were formed after the town's three secondary schools closed. Ruffwood and Brookfield, due to merge in September 2009, merged a year early when Ruffwood was designated a failing school in an Ofsted report. After the shake-up, All Saints Catholic High School and the Kirkby Sports College Center for Learning emerged. On 1 September 2013, Kirkby Sports College became an academy and was relaunched as Kirkby High School.

Higher education is provided by Knowsley Community College, with its main campus in Kirkby Town Centre. The college has an annual intake of over 12,000.