Empty market site 'could still have big future'

Traders protested outside the market following its closure in March

A Liverpool market site left empty after it closed amid a rental dispute could become a “gateway” to the city centre in the future, a council leader has said.

Traders were locked out of St John's Market in March after they failed to repay about £2 million that Liverpool City Council said was owed in unpaid rent and bills.

Council leader Liam Robinson said it was “sad that the situation had got to this point” but the “partnership between the council and traders had broken down”.

However, he said the market’s position meant it was a “huge gateway to the city centre” and could still have potential.

Council leader Liam Robinson said there was "huge potential" for the empty market site

He said: “It’s opposite Lime Street station, it’s within that wider St George’s Quarter. There’s huge potential for that space.”

Mr Robinson said within the next few months an “options report” would set out different plans for the space.

He would not be drawn on whether it would continue to be home to a market.

“Some of that could be retail, some of it could be destination-related," he added.

"We really want to get the very best for that space at the heart of the city centre.”

He said the council would not “rule anything out”, including ending the lease on the building.

Butcher, Johnathan Dixon said working conditions in his shop in the market had become "intolerable"

Butcher Johnathan Dixon, who had worked in his family’s shop in the market since he was 14, said he did not think he would ever work there again.

Despite opposition councillors putting forward alternative plans to bring the market back as a cooperative, he said “I don’t think we’ll get back in that market – I think they’ve got plans for it.

"They’ve got what they wanted. They haven’t enjoyed the process but they’ve got what they wanted."

He said working conditions in his shop had become intolerable and the council had failed to rectify issues of broken heating and escalators.

A full council meeting in the city on Tuesday evening heard councillors heckled by traders as they debated the reasons why the market closed earlier this year, and what its future might hold.

The council's Liberal Democrat group led by Carl Cashman had called for the market to be reopened as a cooperative

The council has about 65 years left on the lease.

Liberal Democrat leader Carl Cashman, whose group called the extraordinary general meeting, said he was disappointed his idea to reopen the market as a cooperative had not been approved.

He said enabling the traders to have ownership over the market would have meant it was run by people “who had a stake in it, with boots on the ground”.