Stanley Street Quarter Can Boost City Economy

• Quarter has potential to attract tourists and boost city’s economy

• Report says ‘gay village’ concept should be officially supported

 • Area should be branded as Stanley Street Quarter to embrace all interests

Liverpool should tap into the potential economic benefits of one of the most diverse quarters in the city centre, a new report has said.

Feria Urbanism were commissioned to carry out the study to look at developing a vision and identity for the Stanley Street area.

The report recommends that the City Council and other public and private sector organisations should support the identity of Stanley Street as the centre of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) scene to enhance and promote both the area and the city as a whole and there should be official recognition of the quarter as Liverpool’s “gay village”.

However, it says the role of neighbouring streets, such as Cumberland Street and Eberle Street , should be recognised and that it be considered as a wider urban quarter which would be described as the “Stanley Street Quarter”. This would acknowledge that, as well as the LGBT offer, there are businesses which embrace wider interests.

“Stanley Street is a vibrant area but it has nowhere near reached its full potential. The proposals set out in this report have many interesting and original ideas about how its appeal can be extended and how it can be prompted.

We now need to look at what is achievable and how best we can go about that. What is important is that we have the support of the various interests in the area about how we go forward.”

“The report makes it clear that while there is a great potential for this area, there is still a feeling that the city is less accepting of the LGBT community than other cities and we have to work hard with our partners and the community to counteract that.

“The area is now ripe for a new approach and we at Delifonseca are particularly excited about the idea of ‘micro-events’ on Stanley Street in particular the re-siting of the Liverpool Farmers Market from Hope Street on a Sunday. We ourselves celebrated our fifth birthday by having a pop-up garden party in the street in early June and are currently frantically making preparations for Stanley Street Pride this coming weekend.

“The fact that the local LGBT community and businesses so quickly and efficiently organised a complementary Stanley Street Pride party when the news broke about the shift in location of the Liverpool Pride stage to the Pier Head shows just what a strong local community already exists.

“Anything that upgrades the area, drives traffic and increases visitor numbers to Stanley Street is fantastic"

The full report will be made available on the city council’s website.