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PRIVACY
Retail & Consumer

Continental-style outdoor spaces could help bars and restaurants reopen in Liverpool once lockdown ends

'It is really important that we continue to support the hospitality sector through a difficult period'

Liverpool's Castle Street is empty during lockdown - could continental-style cafe culture help bring it back to life? (Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Business leaders in Liverpool are working with the city's mayor Joe Anderson on a plan to reimagine space in the city centre in a 'continental European style' so hospitality firms can reopen.

The £450,000 fund will be used to help independent firms redesign outdoor spaces into covered seating areas, to make up for pace indoors they may lose as a result of social distancing restrictions.

The move - which the mayor says is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country - could help ensure independent bars and businesses can trade safely.

It's being backed by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and by the Liverpool BID Company , which supports 1,500 businesses in the city centre.

While restaurants are unlikely to be able to start opening until July, the city is keen to lay the groundwork now to help its vital hospitality and tourism sectors to recover.

The funding is separate to but will be aligned with a Government allocation of £443,000 for Liverpool from the ‘Reopening High Streets Safely Fund’

Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool BID Company and chair of the Liverpool Visitor Economy Network (LVEN) said: “One of the huge attractions of Liverpool as a destination is the wide range of home-grown hospitality businesses that have grown up as the city has expanded over the last two decades.

“Liverpool is a city where business can thrive and we need to continue to be a place that not just champions its successful independents but allows their ecosystem to survive and, in future, flourish. The creation of this fund is another great example of partnership working in Liverpool during this crisis.