Trustees of The Royal Standard said they were evicted from its city centre premises without prior warning
The Northern Lights area of the Cains Brewery Village(Image: Liverpool Echo)
People in one part of Liverpool city centre have expressed their “shock and disgust” after being evicted from their workplace, and prevented from accessing their personal belongings. Some people were only made aware of the eviction after being greeted by security guards standing in front of a locked door, with the eviction notice stuck in the middle.
The dramatic and “disheartening” events unfolded yesterday morning (April 22) at Northern Lights, one of the Baltic Triangle’s most distinctive buildings, and located in Cains Brewery Village.
In a previous article on the evolution of the Baltic Triangle area (April 18), the ECHO reported on the plight of tenants who were served eviction notices by the Dusanj Holding Limited (DHL), leaving them just a few weeks to pack up and find somewhere else to set up.
One of the few spaces still operational at the time was The Royal Standard (TRS), home to the city’s largest community of artists. TRS’ lease was due to expire at the end of June so it had already accepted the need to move onto another location.
The entrance to Northern Lights building(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Subsequent talks led to TRS negotiating a leave date of May 31, the ECHO understands, still several weeks before the lease was due to expire.
Despite TRS working towards this date in good faith, its representatives were informed they had been evicted with immediate effect, and that the landlord had seized control of the property for unpaid rent.
The ECHO was notified about TRS’ eviction on Tuesday afternoon (April 22), and were later shown a video confirming the locks had been changed at the entrance to the premises.
We also spoke to Margaret O’Brien, a trustee at TRS art studio, who told us she had spoken to the landlord last week. She said: “We had agreed a move out date for the 31st May and then six days later, they have changed the locks and re-entered the premises.”
The ECHO understands TRS was informed DHL had taken the action due to unpaid rent for the month of April.
Margaret added: “At the end of March, I asked them to forward the rent and service charge invoices for April, which would then be submitted to finance for payment. I didn’t receive any invoices.
“I asked them again on the phone to forward the invoices to me and I would make sure that payment was made.
“I was a little bit suspicious that he was allowing a number of weeks to go by without having been paid, because normally he is on it straight away, and our finance person won’t make payment without invoices. I asked him again and he didn’t really answer.
The rntrance of The Royal Standard
“The next thing I know, they’ve sent me a photograph of the notice on the shutters, and said the premises was locked down. No warning, nothing.
“We were told anybody entering the premises would be trespassing.”
Margaret added: “I had asked for the invoices and said if he can just send me them I can request payment straight away, but he said he had sent the invoices and would not send them again.
“The problem is he sent them to two email addresses which are defunct, which he has not had any communication with or replies from ever before.
“We had already agreed to a system where they send us invoices to all three email addresses we have on file, including the one they usually use, but we never received an invoice to that email address, even after several requests.”
The ECHO has seen emails which appear to confirm an agreement for representatives of DHL to email rent invoices to all three of the emails kept on file for TRS.
Margaret added: “I told him (DHL representative) over the phone that I believed he had deliberately engineered a way of getting us out and he just laughed at me.”
The ECHO was also contacted by several other people who work at TRS, each one described their sense of shock and upset, many of whom have been long-term residents and rely on the space to earn a living. They now have to contact DHL to make individual arrangements to collect their belongings.
We contacted DHL, and asked for a response to the claims and concerns raised by the people working at TRS. A representative for DHL told us it was aware of the claims, but were unable to comment further due to an ongoing “legal matter”.
A notice stuck to the entrance of The Royal Standard
We had asked Margaret about the nature of the “legal matter”, and she confirmed TRS had no knowledge of any “legal matter”.
As a result, we asked DHL for clarification on what “legal matter” it was referring to, but did not receive a response at the time of writing.
Margaret said: “Everybody is so disheartened and disgusted. Some people have come in and just removed their stuff straight away because people are understandably panicking. Some people rely on access to the studio for their livelihood so (DHL) have blocked that.
“People are just feeling really lost about what to do. They’re worried about their equipment and they’re worried about gaining access. It’s really, really dire.”
Responding to the news, and after discussions with some of the artists impacted by the eviction, Cllr Steve Munby told the ECHO: “The way Royal Standard and other artists have been treated […] is a complete disgrace. They’re part of what has made Cains come to life and created a unique feel to the area. It’s wrong and really stupid.
“Many of the people who visit the area will react by walking away and going elsewhere. They’re going there because it feels different.”