Once heralded as a model for community-based housing, Eldon Grove is now a modern-day ruin, scarring the landscape and blighting the surrounding neighbourhood. Situated on the outskirts of Liverpool city centrein Vauxhall, the site’s ongoing degradation is largely a consequence of a complicated relationship between Liverpool City Council and the private company tasked with developing it.
Those parties continue to be torn between an obligation to renovate a high value social asset, and the financial imperative of building commercially viable properties with a reasonable return on investment.
For the last few years, local residents have submitted numerous complaints about the ongoing dereliction of Eldon Grove and its impact on the local community. Each time, Liverpool City Council (LCC) responded to those complaints by confirming the listed building is “privately owned”, and is limited on what interventions it can take.
However, the Liverpool ECHO can now confirm Liverpool City Council owns the freehold to the land itself, and the ‘owners’ which it referred to previously, are the leaseholder, a limited company called Bond Street Liverpool (BSL).
The ECHO has procured documents showing BSL secured a lease from LCC for the ‘Land on the south side of Bond Street’, otherwise known as Eldon Grove, on October 2, 2017, for a period of 253 years, commencing from October 29, 2017.
When the ECHO approached LCC with the freehold and leasehold title registers, we also enquired about the terms of the lease and whether it contained clauses which would allow the local authority to act in the event of the development being stalled.
Furthermore, we asked if the contract contained specific obligations for the maintenance of the site. This question was an attempt to find out if LCC had any powers to take action should the site become derelict and/or pose a risk to public safety.
Due to the well-documented impact of Eldon Grove’s dereliction on the surrounding area, and factoring in LCC own the freehold, the ECHO also asked LCC why it has not intervened to alleviate environmental health concerns, and ensure the site is safe and secure.
A spokesperson for LCC confirmed the local authority’s ownership of the freehold of the land and told us: “Under the terms of the lease, responsibility for the land and buildings sits with the leaseholder. The lease includes obligations to refurbish the existing building, which have not been fulfilled.
“The Council is therefore considering the most appropriate course of action to ensure its long‑standing ambition to see this historically significant building restored and brought back into productive use for the benefit of the Vauxhall community. The Council continues to engage with the leaseholder on how this can best be achieved.”
This last sentence has been reported by the ECHO for several years and forms part of LCC’s recorded strategy of working with companies to best facilitate development, including often complex and difficult projects.
Since there has been no progress at the site since the lease was signed, almost ten years ago, the ECHO asked LCC whether this strategy had been effective in achieving its stated ambition for Eldon Grove, and what (if any) levers it has to expedite work on the site. LCC did not directly address these questions in its response.
We also contacted representatives of Bond Street Liverpool for a response to LCC’s statement. Its spokesperson told us: “We are in direct open communication with Liverpool City Council to vary the terms of the lease.
“To assist we have offered to pay all legal costs in relation to this variation of the lease.”
The ECHO reported in 2025 statements made by BSL’s project manager, Paul Brown who said the council was ‘limiting their progress’, and claimed there were issues with the lease which only the council can change.
The ECHO has seen correspondence sent by a LCC officer last week, which contained a formal response to a complaint about the conditions at Eldon Grove, including ongoing anti-social behaviour issues.
After reviewing that correspondence, the ECHO now understands the council has launched an investigation into issues surrounding the stalled development, which form part of an ongoing legal matter between the local authority and the head lessee, BSL.
We understand one of the reasons behind the impasse, is an uncertainty around the commercial viability of any proposed development. Eldon Grove is a heritage site and any future project would require the original buildings to be renovated in a style in-keeping with its heritage status, requiring significant financial investment.
In 2016 plans were submitted which would see two new build apartment complexes at the front and back of Eldon Grove. These would have been available for private ownership and designed as an incentive for leaseholders to develop the site and make the scheme commercially viable.
The ECHO understands this proposal is still valid, although no progress has been made.
We visited Eldon Grove several times over the last two weeks. One of the first things you see when you arrive is a dilapidated, dangerous-looking building, with few clues as to the rich history of the site and its importance to the local community.
The perimeter around the site is formulated of broken and weather-worn wooden hoardings, split and swelled after years of neglect, and sited over the pavements and onto the road, with several sizeable gaps providing easy access to anyone who dares enter.
Far from deterring people from looking around, the increasing dereliction of the site has become a de facto playground, where children wander through fallen masonry, unaware of the dangers it presents, and often alongside urban explorers attracted by the other-worldly quality of the location.
“Someone’s going to get killed in that place, it’s only a matter of time” said John Doyle, 68, who has was born and raised on the Eldon Grove estate, where he’s lived most of his life, “Kids will be kids, and we’d be the same if we had a place like that to go around, because it’s seen as a bit of an adventure, but it’s so dangerous.
“Emergency services have been called out here time and time again because of people wandering around there, and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt, because the place is literally falling to pieces.”
Built in 1912, it was originally constructed as as labourers’ village, and was one of the first social housing projects outside of London. It survived through the Second World War, despite large parts of the surrounding area suffering heavy damage during the Liverpool Blitz, particularly around Scotland Road and the North Docks.
It evolved into a close knit family community, and such was its importance – architecturally, culturally and historically – the building was later given grade II listed status.
In 1975, then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, visited Eldon Grove after it was converted into flats, staying that way for the next few decades until its repurposing for student accommodation, before finally closing down.
By the year 2000, Eldon Grove was included in the Liverpool ECHO’s ‘Stop the Rot’ campaign which had identified several prominent buildings across the city, and called for action to restore them. By 2002, and after eight years of negotiations, Shine Developments secured an agreement for a £3.1m deal to covert the site into luxury flats.
Since then, Eldon Grove has had numerous leaseholders and been subject to various proposals, each promising a ‘new lease of life’ for the area, and a commitment for development to ‘start soon’. The ECHO has reported on such claims for the last 24 years.
The last of which came in April last year when BSL’s Paul Brown said: “I can give massive assurance it’s going to happen. We’ve already invested a lot in this project as part of a commitment to the wider community to get it done.” Mr Brown was responding to a question about a previous statement he made about work starting at Eldon Grove in February 2025, and why it hadn’t happened.
At the time, BSL also confirmed its plan to continue exploring all possibilities to get the development underway, but claimed the council was limiting its ability to do so. Those claims were immediately rejected by LCC.
Asked to describe what Eldon Grove was like during his childhood, John adds: “It was a thriving community and somewhere people were proud to live. It really was beautiful, both to look at but also to be a part of. It was a special place.”
These sentiments were once shared by Liverpool FC legend Bill Shankly who visited Eldon Grove in August 6, 1965. He watched a street football game from a first-floor balcony and later had a cup of tea with the local children, remarking: “there’s no place like Eldon Grove”.
It’s fair to say that perspective still rings true today, but for every different reasons.
“My mum would be heartbroken to see what’s happened here. I’m heartbroken too. To see the level of decline and neglect that’s gone on is nothing short of a scandal” said John, who has been sounding the alarm about Eldon Grove for several years. He is not the only one.
The ECHO has published numerous articles about the deteriorating conditions at Eldon Grove, cataloguing countless complaints about rubbish, fly tipping, trespass, rat-infestations and various forms of anti-social behaviour. Those complaints fell on deaf ears, with the council quick to explain the land is privately owned, and maintaining it has little authority to intervene.
As a result the buildings have become increasingly degraded, a worsening sore threatening the connective tissue of the surrounding neighbourhood. More pertinently, Eldon Grove now presents a public safety risk, and is an environmental health hazard.
The difference between the documented history of Eldon Grove and the current conditions is immediately jarring and twinged with an overwhelming pathos. In the spot where Bill Shankly once thrilled the Vauxhall community, there now sits a structural ghost, a crumbling edifice of a bygone era, partly collapsed and exposed to the elements.
In many ways, the fate of Eldon Grove mirrors the devaluation of social housing over the last half century. Although, Eldon Grove preceded the post-war social housing boom, the principle of providing quality homes within the inner city proved to be such a powerful and successful concept, it was later adopted as government policy.
However, fast forward to the 1980s and the development of social-rented homes was effectively stopped. Large scale voluntary transfers were agreed and housing associations began a decades long takeover of council-owned housing.
Tied to commercial imperatives, housing associations had to keep up with the market and eventually diversified their offer to include commercially property, some for outright sale, some leasehold or shared ownership.
This largely mirrored what was happening in the private ownership market where now you see large scale developments being sold as ‘buy-to-let’ investment opportunities. It’s all a far cry from the original concept of Eldon Grove and the desire to create welcoming homes and strongly bonded communities.
In many ways, Eldon Grove’s dereliction is the logical end point of the clash between these two concepts.
For now, the ‘Land to the south of Bond Street’ is owned by the council and leased by a private company. Both claim the other party is responsible for the impasse.
That leaves Eldon Grove in the same stalemate situation that’s existed for the last nine years – and similar to that which has hampered hopes of its restoration for decades.
