St John's Market: Liverpool council boss defends closure

Traders have protested outside the Elliot Street entrance of the market

A council leader has defended a decision to shut a city's 202-year-old market because of unpaid rents.

Liverpool's St John's Market traders were locked out of the market last week in a row over £1.7m rent arrears.

Liam Robinson said it was "sad the way it's panned out" but council tax payers expected the authority to collect revenue it was owed.

Birkenhead Market Tenants Association said it would invite traders to move to their town's market precinct instead.

Traders, who the council said owed three years' worth of rent, said they had been shocked by the closure.

A demonstration took place today outside the market entrance on Elliot Street.

Speaking for the first time since the market shut, the Labour group leader Mr Robinson, who was in France at a regeneration conference at the time of the closure, said it was "very sad" that it had led to the doors being locked.

The entrance to St John's Market is now boarded up

"We'd be the first to acknowledge that it's a sorry state of affairs that it got to this stage," he said.

"Over many months we've been trying to bring forward a process by which the traders, the businesses, could engage with us to pay the arrears which are outstanding - which aren't insignificant - and resume rental payments.

He said he was "very disappointed we weren't able to get to that proper engagement which would lead to a way forward".

The market, which was founded in 1822, underwent a £2.5m refurbishment in 2016, which was described by traders at the time as "drab".

That led to former mayor Joe Anderson agreeing to waive traders' rent for a number of years.

After the pandemic, it was reinstated but Liverpool City Council said it was never paid.

Last autumn the authority said it would seek to recover three years' worth of arrears from the dozens of businesses.

After months of negotiations failed, traders and shoppers were left shuttered out of the site last Monday.

Traders had reacted angrily since the shutters were brought down, claiming the council had entered into "managed decline".

Speaking at the protest today one trader described feeling "absolutely sick" when she arrived to find she had been locked out of the market.

Lisa of Lisa's Reborn Baby Dolls said: "I don't know what's going to happen. I've got three children to look after and I've got no income at all."

Birkenhead Market Tenants Association said it would invite the traders to move to their Grange Precinct in Birkenhead instead.

Vice-chair of the group, Greg McTigue, said he wanted to offer "a new home to the traders" which he said would strengthen the retail offer of Birkenhead Market.