Michael Stasik has been selling newspapers outside of TJ’s on London Road for the last 12 years.
The 70-year-old could previously be found outside John Lewis at its old premises in Liverpool city centre before he relocated in 2010. The John Lewis site, he says, was regarded as one of the best for sales in Liverpool, but there was similar potential outside one of Liverpool’s oldest department stores up the hill at the top end of town.
For a time this proved to be true, but as the years went by, the same numbers of people did not. The promise of the area waned in line with what many see as a managed decline of London Road – once a thriving thoroughfare of draperies, shoe shops and clothing stores.
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“The area has gone downhill,” Michael laments, facing out to Monument Place and noting the number of businesses that have closed along the famous high street. While shops have come and gone, one constant has remained in TJ Hughes – the occupant of the striking Audley House for the last 96 years.
The retailer’s flagship store is a point of nostalgia for generations of Scousers, but few new memories will be made inside. Plans to convert the building into almost 200 apartments are set to be rubber stamped on Tuesday. Neighbouring Hughes House has already been demolished to make way for flats.
There are reports that TJ’s will leave the building in early summer, with three options being explored as the brand makes a potential move closer towards the centre of Liverpool. TJ Hughes did not respond when asked for comment on the plans.
‘Clearance event’ stickers hang up in the window behind Michael and his friend Jeff Chapman, but the departure is one many feel has been looming – even if the signs have only recently said otherwise.
“Every building from here to New Islington is a student let,” observes Jeff, 60, “there’s no social housing anymore.” In years gone by the tenements surrounding the north end of the city centre will have provided steady footfall into the Monument Place shopping district, but Jeff feels it is increasingly a “student village”.
Not all new developments in the area have been a success. Student apartments to the rear of TJ’s heading towards Everton have stalled, with developments on the other side of Monument Place completed.
One long term market trader at Monument Place who did not want to be named said of TJ's: “It’s as though it's been having a closing down sale for the last 15 years. Some people will already think it’s closed, so I don’t know how much effect it will have on [us].”
For decades the multiple floors and its maze of aisles and departments will have been filled with people on the hunt for a bargain or essential homeware items. Many will also have fond memories of the Christmas grotto in the basement – the first thing that comes to mind when a taxi driver parked outside of the shop is asked how he remembers TJ’s.
But much of this festive sparkle has now faded. The first floor is blocked off, as are sections around some of the tills where stock is being sorted through – a tinny soundtrack still emitting from the shop speakers bringing warmth to more sparse areas of the store.
For many, the café situated at the back of the shop will evoke the strongest memories. Inside a handful of people are sitting around the tables enjoying what could be one of their final meals below the memorable skylight.
This includes Owen and Ann Coker from Old Swan. The 85-year-old and 83-year-old remember coming to TJ’s with their own grandparents and still return to the cafe near enough every day for their signature order of 'two bacon butties'.
“We don’t know anywhere else,” says Owen, “the staff are lovely people and it’s been a family shop for us – a lot of people will miss it, it is going to be hard to know where else to go.”
Outside the usual Monument Place market is up and running but it doesn’t carry the buzz it once did. Only four stalls are pitched up within the square.
One of those is Ken Guy, who has been trading clothing from the site for around 20 years. He, like others, feels as though the market needs all the help it can get, and the departure of TJ’s will weaken the wider ecosystem if the retail offer isn’t replaced in the new development.
“It won’t do us any good,” he says, “there needs to be a shop [along the ground floor].” Initial plans for the redevelopment had included a larger number of apartments but a revised application will see a café space and reception area built, with a gym on the lower ground floor.
The Fabric District CIC, which has been one of main drivers of change in the area in recent years, is hoping Audley House doesn’t entirely lose its retail offer. Michael Birkett, the group’s chair, says the area has improved “considerably in the last few years” in its ability to attract independent businesses, but “the loss of TJs means that it is critical that Liverpool City Council makes London Road and the wider Fabric District a priority area for Regeneration," adding: “We cannot leave this to chance.”
The CIC is also working on a master plan for the area and will be consulting in the spring and early summer. It hopes that this can form part of a “long-term vision for the area and to avoid short-term, sticking-plaster solutions.”
On the redevelopment of TJ’s flagship, Michael added: "Whilst the refurbishment of Audley House is to be welcomed, we are keen that the whole of the ground floor be made available for commercial use, and we do not think that this part of the building is appropriate for residential accommodation. Commercial use will benefit other business in the area with increased footfall.”
This mix of uses could possibly help preserve the communal feel that London Road once enjoyed as a centre of trade. It’s an idea that Ken himself still clings to. “I could retire if I wanted to,” says Ken, noting how he still works on his still mainly for the enjoyment, “one customer could be down and out, the next could be a millionaire. You meet all sorts of people.
“It is Liverpool,” he adds, pondering the potential loss of Monument Place when TJ’s closes its doors, “markets are Liverpool.”
There’s similar worry at Alan Kirk’s stall, which sells a range of aftershave and perfume. “It will be the nail in the coffin if the shops go,” he says.
Alan, who has been at Monument Place for three years, says he’s been offered a pitch closer to Audley House but instead enjoys the foot traffic from the bus stop nearby when people get off to visit TJ’s. It’s these sorts of rituals that could be lost when the department store is redeveloped.
It’s much more fatalistic for Denise, who has run London Road Fruit and Veg with her mum for three decades. She worries that every trader at Monument Place could be “gone in a year” as and when TJ’s closes for redevelopment.
“What about us? We’re being forgotten about,” Denise says, raising the point that traders face being blocked in and becoming part of a “construction site” in the coming months. Liverpool City Council could push forward with ambitious plans for Monument Place in the years to come, but the feeling is that many of the current traders won’t be there to see it.
More redevelopment could come when the distinctive Clock Tower building is disposed of by Liverpool city council. The first steps in this process were confirmed earlier this week.
"Thousands of people pass it every day, it’s a real landmark," says Michael Birkett. “The council should only sell it to someone who will refurbish it and bring it back quickly. It needs to be refurbished and cherished."
Michael and the Fabric District board believe it could prove another useful site for shared work spaces or something that would be fitting for a “commercial road.” “Ground floor accommodation in the area just becomes transient accommodation,” he adds, “not what we would be calling a home.”
When TJ’s does finally close its doors and move on, it will serve as the final chapter in one of London Road’s latest stories. Its cherished memories will still be evoked by its distinctive branding, wherever it does end up moving to – with Michael Stasik and Jeff following suit when a new location opens., they say.
But London Road won’t become a closed book. There’s more to look forward to than mourn in the view of John ‘The Spud' who has been operating from his portable kitchen next door to Audley House for 24 years. The arrival of Parr Street recording Studios a few streets away, new businesses and the prospect of the near 200 apartments being filled brings with it bright optimism to match his smile.
In front of his stall a collection of regular taxi drivers have stopped for lunch. Hospital workers, market traders and a student all come by to place an order. In many ways it’s the defining picture of change in one of Liverpool’s most historic quarters.
“It’s the start of something new,” says John between serving customers, “not entirely the end.”
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