When activists occupied the historic Castle Street building that will become The Ivy

Anti-capitalist activists once took over the former Bank of England building in Liverpool that will become The Ivy.

Last week, the ECHO reported that a planning application has been put forward by Troia (UK) Restaurants Ltd to bring The Ivy, a high-end restaurant chain favoured by celebrities, to Castle Street. Documents submitted to Liverpool Council have confirmed the brand intends to install signage and menu boards synonymous with the high end dining establishment.

Plans to convert the former bank into a restaurant were signed off by Liverpool Council’s planning committee last August with speculation rife over who would take over the location. The new venue will soon form part of the Ivy Collection, a series of spin off restaurants the firm has opened since 2014.

READ MORE: Inside the Bank of England building after Love Activists leave

READ MORE: The Ivy to open restaurant in Liverpool city centre

The proposals will bring the site back to life, after it has been left vacant for the best part of two decades.

During that period, the building was taken over by a group called the Love Activists, who staged a number of demonstrations in 2015 over a lack of support for the homeless and government austerity. Love Activists Merseyside were an offshoot of a national group and they took over the empty bank building on Castle Street in April of that year.

The activists said their aims were to “provide food, shelter, clothing, love and support to a number of homeless people of Merseyside”. They used empty buildings or land to operate from and claim to set up a community to help the homeless.

They occupied the building from mid-April, using it as a homeless shelter. ECHO photographs from 2015 show protesters in and around the building wearing Guy Fawkes masks, anti-austerity banners hanging from balconies. and people setting smoke bombs off.

Police tried to strike deals with the activists but they held the building for more than two weeks. Officers obtained an interim possession order on April 28, meaning anyone inside had to leave within 24 hours or face being charged with trespass.

Police entered the premises in the early hours of May 12 and five people were all arrested and later pleaded guilty to trespass.

In September 2015, the five activists were jailed. John Hall, 50; John Rice, 23; Chelsea Stafford, 19; and James Jones, 20, were handed 10 weeks behind bars at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court. James Allanson, 20, who was also sentenced over an incident in Everton Park, was locked up for 13 weeks.

The court heard the total policing cost of the occupation in Castle Street was nearly £120,000. Meanwhile damage caused to the Grade-I listed structure was estimated to have cost its owners up to £46,000. The sentences led to chaotic scenes in and outside the court building, as supporters barricaded the main entrance and clashed with police.

District Judge Andrew Shaw said the historic building was “illegally occupied”. He said: “This was a very visible and high profile protest. Those inside would have been aware of the impact of their actions.

“The cost to the police was in excess of £91,500. That money would have been used by the city to maintain law and order and promote the wellbeing of the people of the city.

“Some of those inside the building damaged it both by spraying graffiti and by actual acts of destruction, which I am told will cost thousands of pounds to repair.”

He said the “apparent object” of the occupation was to protest about the plight of the homeless. But he added: “None of the defendants have done any work in the community to benefit the homeless.

“There is a genuine lack of sincerity in their actions, which have the appearance of a self indulgent vanity project.”

The former bank building has stood empty since the occupation ended.

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