Duke Street offers a snapshot of the city's history.
Starting at Hanover Street and sloping up towards China Town, the city centre street is the home to Liverpool's first public library and the last back to back housing in the city. Over the last five years, the Ropewalks area has undergone rapid change as a mixture of bars, restaurants and hotels have opened there.
In many cases, these businesses have repurposed derelict warehouses and Georgian townhouses in what appears to be an exciting new chapter in Duke Street's history. But despite being just 0.4 miles apart, the top and bottom of Duke Street and the regeneration they've experienced is very different.
We spent a day speaking to those who run businesses at both ends of the street to understand more about changes in the area.
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"I still think there's a lot of opportunity on Duke Street"
Sapporo Teppanyaki celebrated 20 years of business on Duke Street this year. The Japanese restaurant is known as a place people come to celebrate special occasions due to its unique style of Teppanyaki cooking.
Teppanyaki sees a chef cook on an iron grill at the edge of every table and put on a show for customers as they do so. This was something many people in Liverpool hadn't experienced back in 2003. But today, general manager Jesney Chong said: "People are more educated and they are more open to new, different cuisine. They come here for an experience."
Jesney has worked at the restaurant for 18 years, having moved to the city to study from Malaysia. When she first started working on Duke Street, Jesney recalled: "It was literally us and China Town.
"We were the first that opened when this development came, then Il Forno opened after that. It feels like yesterday, I can't believe it's been 18 years."
The changes that have occurred on Duke Street since Sapporo first opened 20 years ago are evident. However, marketing manager Rachel Jackson believes there is still opportunity for more regeneration at the top end of the street when compared to the Hanover Street end.
Rachel said: "It's heavy down there – the business trade, then there's a lot of space and then there's us. I still think there's a lot of opportunity on Duke Street and I can see the growth, but I still think there's quite a bit to go.
"We're a destination restaurant. We're not just the kind of place where you're like 'shall we just pop into Sapporo.' People come to make a night of it or it's an event, because obviously there's theatre in the dining experience.
"We're independently owned, we're not a chain – many people don't realise that. For any independent to have been open for that long and still be successful and thriving is an achievement."
The Brunch Club saw the potential of Duke Street early on, first opening its restaurant in 2015. Lock and Key, a boutique hotel on Duke Street, was also an early contender to this part of the city centre, having opened as a bar and restaurant in 2017 before launching the hotel the following year.
A key moment in Duke Street's regeneration came in 2019 when Duke Street Market opened its doors in a derelict, 100-year-old warehouse. Pins Social Club also began transforming a former car park into its late-night bowling alley that year.
Kaya Mercer, head of sales and marketing at Duke Street Market, said: "I think Duke Street has got its own identity that's been enabled by the businesses that are on Duke Street, who are all successful in their own right and have their own loyal customers.
"I think it's been a real community effort as well. We make a real conscious effort to support each other by popping in for team lunches or for coffees – I think that in itself has enabled the street to thrive.
"It's not just each business for itself. I think we're very lucky that it's very heavily populated by independents."
Duke Street Market opened in a warehouse which was once home to an old trading market. Signs of this history can still be seen in the building, including the market's "message table" that's been repurposed from an old door.
Kaya said the market is going "from strength to strength" thanks to the range of different traders, from longstanding businesses like Bone and Block and Big Lola’s, to new traders like Picar who serve Spanish cuisine. The market is also set to welcome a new trader in the New Year.
Looking ahead to the future of Duke Street, Kaya said: "I can only imagine this street is going to grow and get better with time."
'We don't have the traffic that you have in Bold Street'
Christakis Georgiou has worked in Duke Street and the surrounding area for the last 25 years. During this time the brand has built up a loyal customer base, with many getting to know the owner, his wife Francesca, their sons and grandchildren.
The 54-year-old opened his first restaurant, Christakis, on nearby York Street in 2000 before relocating to Duke Street around 2018. Earlier this year, Christakis called on the government to support the hospitality industry to stop more venues from closing amid the cost of living crisis. At the time, he told the ECHO the business was facing staggering bills to keep the establishments running.
Christakis has since made the decision to rebrand his Duke Street restaurant to Maunka, "an Australasian inspired breakfast hangout" which opened in August this year. He said: "The logic for me was to do a brand new concept with accessibility to everyone.
"As a Greek restaurant, you're going to get a percentage of people who want to come and have Greek. We changed Christakis to Maunka in August, and yes I'm happy let's say with the change; it's nice the atmosphere, but we don't have the traffic that you have in Bold Street."
Christakis has noticed Duke Street becoming busier over the years but he says a lot of his restaurant's trade comes at the weekend. He puts this down to a lack of footfall at the top end of Duke Street during the week when compared to the bottom end, where "customers come from Hanover Street and Liverpool ONE."
He said: "For the weekend Duke Street is much better, it's the weekdays that there's no people around – that's the downfall. I rely on Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
Christakis is hopeful that the opening of The Halyard Liverpool hotel on Duke Street could help bring more footfall to the area next year. The 133-room hotel was expected to open this year with a range of facilities including a restaurant, an on-site gym and a rooftop terrace. However, the hotel now appears to be available to book online from March next year.
Could a new hotel be the missing link Duke Street needs?
Julie Waring also hopes the new hotel could be the "missing link" Duke Street needs to bring the top and the bottom end of the street together. The 54-year-old works across the road at Liverpool Ice Company and the Last Straw, a catering supplier for bars and restaurants across the city.
Julie said the business is ideally situated on Duke Street, which has "something for everyone" with a range of different bars, restaurants and offices. But having worked in the area for many years, Julie said it's a "crying shame" to see the derelict townhouses that remain there.
She was particularly sad to see the former Liverpool Media Academy (LMA) building torn down last month to make way for another 190 bed hotel between Duke Street and Parr Street.
Julie said: "When I was little a friend, her dad, used to work for Tetley Brewery – their head office was along here on Duke Street. I remember our days out. We'd come here to the head office to get the coaches to go to Alton Towers and it was beautiful with the buildings.
"Within a matter of two or three weeks, it's rubble. It just doesn't seem right. I might be romanticising things but this is what Liverpool is built on. This is our history. We should make more of what we've got."
The former LMA building was built in the 1950s beside Liverpool's first public library, the grade II listed Union News Room. However the LMA building was not listed and has since been demolished to make way for the new hotel.
What's next for Duke Street?
Developers are clearly seeing the value of buying properties on Duke Street. Plans were recently submitted to Liverpool City Council to turn the former Alpha Taxi office in the Wilson’s Buildings into a food hall and apartments.
Meanwhile, just a few doors down, the Italian Club Bakery opened its doors in November as the family's third venue – joining The Italian Club and The Italian Fish Restaurant, both based on Bold Street.
The business was previously based on New Islington off Bold Street before it closed during the pandemic. The new Duke Street bakery is a bigger premises that includes indoor seating.
Further up the road at 78 Duke Street, brothers Paolo and Donato Cillo are set open P&D Gran Caffè later this month. The coffee shop will be the brother's second site in the city centre, following the success of the first café in the Italian Quarter in Williamson Square.
The popular Indian Tiffin Room which has sites in Manchester, Stockport and Leeds is also set to open a restaurant on Duke Street.
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