'Make Stanley Street the Official Gay Village'

THE area around Stanley Street should be officially recognised as Liverpool's gay village, a building should be demolished to create a public square and a gay hotel should be built, a new report has said.

Feria Urbanism were commissioned by the city council  to carry out a study to look at developing a wider vision for the Stanley Street area in a bid to boost the city's economy.

It recommends that it and other public and private sector organisations should support Stanley Street “as the centre of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender scene...and there should be official recognition of the quarter as Liverpool’s 'gay village'.”

However, it says the role of neighbouring streets, such as Cumberland Street and Eberle Street, should be recognised and that  the area be exploited as one with wider interests, described as the “Stanley Street Quarter”.

Among 48 recommendations in the study are:

• Consideration given to establishing a Community Trust to speak with one voice for the quarter and take it forward.  This approach would overcome any conflicts between business interests;
• Making changes to the design and architecture of Stanley Street including removing or restricting traffic to create space for events;
• Modifying individual buildings to have greater transparency, visibility and improved access;
• Demolishing a building to allow a public square to be created  which would form the focus of attracting new investment;
• “Micro events” such as markets, pop-up shops and outdoor art exhibitions to “increase a sense of quirkiness and culture” in the quarter;
• Developing  links with other cities to share knowledge and ideas;
• Working with existing hotel and new operators to secure a clearly branded “gay hotel”.

The report, which will be considered by councillors on August 12, argues that moves such as this will help increase feelings of safety and security in the quarter.

Quite which building would be flattened under the proposals isn't clear, but Candice Fonseca, who owns Delifonseca, said: “The area is now ripe for a new approach and we at Delifonseca are particularly excited about the idea of ‘micro-events’ on Stanley Street.

“Anything that upgrades the area, drives traffic and increases visitor numbers to Stanley Street is fantastic.”