A PROPOSED new Sunday Heritage Market in Liverpool’s Pall Mall will need permission under the historic King John Charter, as well as planning permission, the city council has confirmed to Liverpool Confidential.
Liverpool property firm Nextdom has now submitted a planning application for a new Sunday market on a large weekday car park site in Pall Mall.
Nextdom says 300 potential stall holders – particularly from Great Homer Street market - have expressed an interest in the Pall Mall site.
In what could be a second blow to Nextdom’s plans, Liverpool Confidential understands there are plans to open the Great Homer Street market on Sundays, once the new site in Dryden Street to ready for use later this summer.
A drawing of the proposed market
Under the city’s historic charter rights, nobody can establish a market within six and 2/3 miles of the nearest city council operated or licensed market/car boot sale
It is possible for the council and its markets co-partner Geraud, to grant a licence for a market – even if it is to be held on private land. But given the short distance between Great Homer Street and Pall Mall, the proposed market could face official resistance, and then disapproval.
A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said: “The applicant for the Pall Mall market will require a markets licence as well as planning permission. They have not yet applied for a licence.”
Although the site is used as a large car park, mainly for hundreds of workers in Liverpool’s business hub around Old Hall Street, the Pall Mall land has already been earmarked for redevelopment under the Mayor Anderson’s Enterprise Zone proposals.
Nevertheless, Billy Darwin, one of the leaders of the campaign to keep Great Homer Street Saturday market on its existing site, has welcomed the Pall Mall plan.
“It will be a tremendous boost for Liverpool, and be more popular than the old Heritage Market. It would be mean spirited if the council tried to stop this scheme under its market rights powers. This market will create good employment prospects and generate millions of pounds for the city’s economy.”
Nextdom’s property and development manager, Michael Sharkey, says hundreds of traders have already expressed an interest in occupying the stalls.
“We started talking to a couple of market representatives who were not happy there was no Sunday market in Liverpool,” he commented, adding the project represents an investment of around £500,000.
Nextdom is part of the O’Brien Group which also owns the Grand Central Building in Renshaw Street which houses some of the stallholders displaced from Quiggins which was closed to make way for Grosvenor’s Liverpool One project.
*An article heralding the market's arrival appeared last week on Liverpool Vision's its Liverpool website, but it has since been removed.
