Ropewalks

[openlyJane]

http://www.sevenstreets.com/bars-and...ocial-opening/

Opening on Wednesday - 'Brooklyn Mixer' - 78 Seel Street ( next door to Alma De Cuba)

[openlyJane]

[buggedboy]

Looks quite good, that. The music policy seems okay too.

[openlyJane]

Peter's Square - new venue called Cinema Paradiso:

[buggedboy]

The predecessor didn't last long at all then. Must have been all of 3 months .

[GLCBanana]

It seems my suggestion that the Stag Bar should acquire a superlambanana and attach antlers to it, to complement the Peacock one next door, is now a moot point.

[buggedboy]

East Village phase 2 progressing well.

[buggedboy]

[Skewed]

Originally Posted by buggedboy

The predecessor didn't last long at all then. Must have been all of 3 months .

Lived above that for two years and was very depressed when it was painted what can only be described as dog s**t brown. Glad its back to white!

[openlyJane]

The interior of Cinema Paradiso:

[shamus]

Had a walk around the other day. Bit depressing .....area seems to be going backwards. Still no sign of any development of the Scandinavian hotel what happened to DOwning's plans ? Also I seem to remember Frenson being given an ultimatum to develop the watchmakers building within 12 months . Lots of scruffy car parks on cleared sites and too many buildings rotting away and don't get me started on the missed opportunity that is Chinatown .

[tomo90]

Originally Posted by shamus

Had a walk around the other day. Bit depressing .....area seems to be going backwards. Still no sign of any development of the Scandinavian hotel what happened to DOwning's plans ? Also I seem to remember Frenson being given an ultimatum to develop the watchmakers building within 12 months . Lots of scruffy car parks on cleared sites and too many buildings rotting away and don't get me started on the missed opportunity that is Chinatown .

I agree. I was around the area last saturday and I was talking to my mate about it as we walked through. Its full of scaffolding on buildings, car parks on cleared sites, boarded up buildings. Of course areas like Concert Sq are nice but its not as good as people make out on here.

[buggedboy]

It's very half done, with the bad bits made worse by the good. Frensons are selling most of their property there so I guess they've given up. Time for someone else to have a go.

[shamus]

Frenson have been allowed to sit on development sites until they literally fall down - the Seel street Georgian terrace being a prime example. In Lydia Ann Street where Frenson didn't have any property ..it's been pretty much restored compare that to the likes of Wolstenholme Square . Unfortunately I don't detect any willingness on the part of Uncle Joe to do anything about the city's crumbling historic buildings and funding from the likes of English Heritage has dried up . Only hope is that developers will use some of them for student digs. I Tried to get the Liverpool Echo to do a follow up to their stop the rot articles but they weren't interested too busy writing about crime . By the way Does anyone know what's happening with the Scandinavian hotel ?

[the golden vision]

Had a walk round the area today. While it's disappointing to see derelict Georgian houses on Duke St the picture is overwhelmingly positive. There has been some excellent restoration work carried out in the last decade or so. Yes, there has been some loss of the historic fabric but such was the degree of neglect and state of disrepair of some of the buildings (empty for decades) that I think, being pragmatic, we probably couldn't have expected much better,especially with the antics of Frensen( application after application to demolish listed buildings, no more than a delaying tactic to hold on to properties with no intention of developing them) I don't hold out much for the future development of the watchmaker's building either, and tbh,little of the original building remains.
What really was a nice surprise today was the streets were relatively litter free.

[Dreamer]

Originally Posted by shamus

Frenson have been allowed to sit on development sites until they literally fall down - the Seel street Georgian terrace being a prime example. In Lydia Ann Street where Frenson didn't have any property ..it's been pretty much restored compare that to the likes of Wolstenholme Square . Unfortunately I don't detect any willingness on the part of Uncle Joe to do anything about the city's crumbling historic buildings and funding from the likes of English Heritage has dried up . Only hope is that developers will use some of them for student digs. I Tried to get the Liverpool Echo to do a follow up to their stop the rot articles but they weren't interested too busy writing about crime . By the way Does anyone know what's happening with the Scandinavian hotel ?

I agree, after the boom and all the regeneration projects and money this should not still exist. Why has the council and EH let Frenson shit all over our heritage? These buildings have very few years left and will be lot for ever, is this really what we want more loss and destruction of our wonderful and colourful urban fabric, which is Liverpool?

[woody]

Jane & GV thanks for the photo tour, much has been achieved , but it is still " work in progress", also good to see very litle litter.

[Chris B]

Originally Posted by shamus

By the way Does anyone know what's happening with the Scandinavian hotel ?

Good timing for that question. The following has just appeared on the Planning Explorer -

Application Number - 13F/0157
Site Address - Scandinavia Hotel 2 - 6 Nelson Street Liverpool L1 5DW
Proposal - To convert building to 241 student accommodation with ground/lower ground commercial space, New roof level extension. Demolish 8 & 8A Nelson Street and create public realm
Applicant - GMD Investments Ltd

From here - http://northgate.liverpool.gov.uk/Pl...DAURI=PLANNING

Presumably the hotel idea no longer stacks up financially, or if it does, student flats stack up better?

I must admit to feeling conflicted about this one. Anything that saves a building that has lain derelict for as many years as this one has, and brings it back into productive use is a good thing, and should be welcomed. However, I think for such an interesting, imposing, and important building to wait so very long to be regenerated, only for it to become something, pardon the wording, so mundane as student flats, I feel is not letting the building live up to its full potential.

Of course given the choice of student flats, or let it sit for a few more years until it falls down, I'll take the former, but it does feel like a bit of a shame.

[tomo90]

Id rather it be student flats than what it is now.

[openlyJane]

It may work well if it is targeted at Chinese students, and the retail space is taken up by a Chinese supermarket/restaurant etc.

With the increase in the number of Chinese/Indonesian students there seems to be a growing number of 'targeted' businesses up that way now. It may even encourage business owners on Nelson Street to up their game - god knows they need to.