Activists occupied the Old Bank of England on Castle Street in 2015(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Anti-capitalist activists once occupied the former Bank of England building in Liverpool, which this week was sold as part of a £1.4bn deal. The Ivy Liverpool Brasserie officially opened its doors in November 2024 and has become one of the most popular dining spots in the city.
It was a major investment in Liverpool by Richard Carling’s hospitality business Troia, which went on to launch its sister brand last year, Ivy Asia, on a separate floor of the former Bank of England building.
The iconic property at 31 Castle Street is the only Grade I listed structure in the area. The building was fully renovated with gold bar tops, emerald floors, and plants in every corner.
This week, the ECHO reported how just 18 months after opening its latest restaurant and bar in Liverpool city centre, The Ivy has now been sold as part of a £1.4bn deal to a group controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi.
The activists said their aims were to “provide food, shelter, clothing, love and support to a number of homeless people of Merseyside”(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The new owner is a company called Diafa, a luxury hospitality platform linked to Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC), which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the UAE national security advisor and the brother of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. His IHC entity is reported to be the most valuable company on Abu Dhabi’s stock exchange and has expanded into global luxury hospitality.
However, the site once looked very different when 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 in April of that year.
Police outside the former Bank of England building which is now home to The Ivy(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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 claimed 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
The activists occupied the building for over two weeks, despite attempts by police to negotiate a resolution. On April 28, officers secured an interim possession order. This legally required all occupants to vacate the premises within 24 hours or face trespass charges.
Police entered the premises in the early hours of May 12, and five people were arrested and later pleaded guilty to trespass.
Photographs taken by the ECHO in 2015 capture the scene, showing protestors both inside and outside the building with anti-austerity banners draped from balconies, setting off smoke bombs and wearing Guy Fawkes masks(Image: Liverpool Echo)
In September 2015, the five activists were jailed. Four of them were handed 10 weeks behind bars at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court. A fifth, who was also sentenced over an incident in Everton Park, was locked up for 13 weeks.
The court heard the total policing cost of the occupation in Castle Street was nearly £120,000. Meanwhile damage caused to the Grade-I listed structure was estimated to have cost its then-owners up to £46,000. The sentences led to chaotic scenes in and outside the court building, as supporters barricaded the main entrance and clashed with police.
At the time, District Judge Andrew Shaw said the historic building was “illegally occupied”. He said: “This was a very visible and high profile protest. Those inside would have been aware of the impact of their actions.
“That money would have been used by the city to maintain law and order and promote the wellbeing of the people of the city.
“Some of those inside the building damaged it both by spraying graffiti and by actual acts of destruction, which I am told will cost thousands of pounds to repair.”
He said the “apparent object” of the occupation was to protest about the plight of the homeless. But he added: “None of the defendants have done any work in the community to benefit the homeless.
“There is a genuine lack of sincerity in their actions, which have the appearance of a self indulgent vanity project.”