The street is now home to many restaurants and bars
Castle Street is now a hive of restaurants and bars, which have turned it into one of Liverpool city centre’s busiest roads. In recent years, it has become home to Turkish restaurant Elif, Asian venue Spice Thai and pizza chain Rudy’s among many others.
More exciting arrivals are on the way as well, with Thai restaurant Giggling Squid submitting plans to open on Castle Street. Additionally, the ECHO reported earlier today that a new Greek restaurant is about to join the offering.
The street’s former Boots store will become Zeus Taverna as a poster in its window says it is coming soon. The restaurant will invite guests to “step into a world inspired by the sun-kissed island of Santorini, where the rich flavours of Greece meet Mediterranean elegance.”
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It will bring another change to the famous city street which was home to a number of empty units in the not-too-distant past. Here, we look at some of the changes on the street in recent years.
Rudy’s
Manchester pizza chain Rudy’s opened its Castle Street restaurant in late 2018, taking over the 3 Castle Street premises that was formerly Argentinian restaurant CAU. Before CAU’s arrival, the building’s ground floor had been empty for some time, having previously been home to a Britannia building society branch and a Martin’s newsagent.
Nowadays, Rudy’s is one of Castle Street’s busiest venues. Its expansive interior snakes around into Queen Avenue while its European-style outside seating makes it a very popular spot in the summer.
Riva Blue
Formerly Gina D’Acampo’s My Restaurant, Riva Blu opened at 1 Castle Street in January 2022 and it has become a very popular spot.. The Italian restaurant’s décor is in keeping with its predecessor, which had opened in January 2017.
Before Gino took over the site, 1 Castle Street was a HSBC bank. The Dale Street location that the restaurant has extended into was a One Stop newsagent.
So Salsa
2 Castle Street was home to pizzeria Maluco from 2016 to January 2022. Now, Tapas restaurant So Salsa is found in its place.
Before Maluco took over the site, it also spent some time unoccupied after Starbucks Coffee moved out following several years on Castle Street.
Castle Street Townhouse
This popular bar opened at 27 Castle Street in 2016, becoming a favoured spot for cocktails and al-fresco drinking. However, some customers have recently noticed that when they sit outside, their food arrives in boxes.
It has been rumoured that this is to keep it safe from seagulls on Castle Street. Seagulls are becoming an increasing problem in Liverpool and the volume of litter being dropped around the city centre is providing ample swopping opportunities for the birds.
When contacted by the ECHO, a member of staff at Castle St Townhouse said: “We do serve our food outside and serve it in little takeaway boxes to stop the seagulls swooping in and getting your food. We’ve been doing it for a few months now.”
But before it was a bar, this Castle Street site was the home of law firm GT Law Solicitors. Google Street view from May 2011 shows the site sitting empty, but before then it was occupied by recruitment agency Office Angels.
Elif
Turkish restaurant Elif opened in the Grade II* listed Parr Bank Building on Castle Street this July. Previously a branch of Natwest, the site lay empty for some years before Elif set up shop.
Now a very grand location, a towering botanical feature acts as the venue’s centrepiece, surrounded by leather chairs and marble tables, while several delicate hanging lights decorate the overhead dining area. Multiple chandeliers are hung around the venue with twin cascading fountain features sitting at the entrance and far end of the room.
Liverpool Gin Distillery
This bar opened in 2018 after work costing £1m. Before the bar opened, 52 Castle Street was home to a Bang & Olufsen store, which closed in 2015
Set over three floors, the Liverpool Gin Distillery can host three gin experiences involving distillery tours, gin tasting and gin making, as well as having two bars. On the ground floor, visitors can find a gin and spirits bar and can see Liverpool Organic Gin being made in its 600-litre copper still.
The Ivy
The Ivy Brasserie will open in Castle Street’s historic Bank of England building in time for the festive season. The Ivy Brasserie will house a private dining room seating 14, while the main restaurant will have the capacity to welcome more than 180 diners. It will be The Ivy Collection’s 43rd restaurant.
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 operated since 2014.
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 2015, meaning anyone inside had to leave within 24 hours or face being charged with trespass.
Giggling Squid
Earlier this month, the ECHO reported that the major Thai restaurant chain is moving closer to opening its first branch in Liverpool on Castle Street. In the summer, proposals for Giggling Squid to take up residence on the street were abruptly withdrawn as the business had sought to set up its first venue in the north west in a grade II listed site that had been occupied by Point Blank shooting bar.
Now, with the bar having vacated the lower ground lot next to Castle Street Townhouse, fresh plans have been submitted to Liverpool Council for consideration on the future of the former bank building. Giggling Squid is the latest business to consider moving into the former business district after proposals by Vietnamese chain Pho and Turkish brand Elif meant they would populate the busy street.
