Liverpool: St John's Market shut by council over unpaid rent

Traders have said they are in "complete and utter shock" after the forced closure of a city's market because of unpaid rents.

Liverpool City Council said it had been left with "no option" but to close St John's Market, which was founded in 1822, "with immediate effect".

The authority said it had attempted to recover more than £1.7m of unpaid rent and service charges from 43 tenancies.

Gerald James, who runs a cafe, said he had no warning and felt disrespected.

Legal letters were sent to tenants in October demanding market traders pay three years worth of rent and other arrears, which they told the BBC they could not afford to pay.

The rent bills date back to August 2020.

The council said the market costs £1m a year to subsidise, making it "unviable".

It said it had offered traders negotiations over the repayment of the debt, but did not receive a meaningful response.

A reminder letter was sent in January, which also asked non-paying businesses to enter meaningful negotiations.

The authority said no plausible offer was forthcoming.

An offer it had received - repayment and future rent costs to be set at 33% - was "unviable", given the scale of the debts owed, it added.

Colin Laphan, chairman of St John's Market traders association, told BBC Radio Merseyside: "We have been in what we believed to be serious negotiations with the council as a group through our solicitors.

He said traders had sent some proposed offers in seven days ago, adding: "Altogether we have made four offers of payment."

Mr Laphan said his family had been connected to the market and paying rent there for more than 200 years and traders were in "utter shock".

Mr James, who runs Kavanagh's Café, which has been in the market for almost 30 years, said: "We feel the council haven't given us any warning whatsoever.

"It's total disrespect."

The closure of the market hall does not impact St John's Shopping Centre, which remains open.

Councillor Nick Small, cabinet member for city development, said: "In our view the traders haven't made a meaningful offer.

"Regrettably... the council has been left with no option but to close St John's Market.

"Business owners have now been informed of the situation and will be invited to collect their stock."

He said the council had offered help to find alternative retail locations, adding: "Each non-paying business owner owes tens of thousands of pounds to the council and we cannot continue to subsidise their businesses."

The market's £2.5m refurbishment in 2016 faced considerable criticism, with traders at the time branding it "drab".

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

He has posted on X that the closure was "the right decision", and apologised that "wrong decisions" were made on the revamp but said the council could not "keep throwing money at it".

A 2022 council report, the Future of Markets, said the market was now "largely vacant with low footfall, despite the area around continuing to thrive".

It added that there was "poor signage and advertising" and the 2016 refurbishment had "not worked as hoped".

The council said it would now "review all feasible options" for the site and remained committed to a "sustainable future".

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