DO you know the Wirral Horn Arcade on Market Street in Hoylake?
No? Well, I’m sorry to say you never will.
A couple of weeks ago this fine old building was totally demolished to make way for a brand spanking new three-storey retail and office block.
Despite several objections from local people, including some from Hoylake and District Civic Society, the Arcade – a small collection of shops with a pleasant, old-fashioned feel – was razed to the ground.
Now, I’ll not judge the replacement until it’s been built, but I bet you it won’t have the charm of the old Arcade, which was an attractive, low key landmark on the Hoylake main street.
Interestingly enough, the new building will have the same retail space as its predecessor, so it’s not as if the Arcade was surplus to requirements.
Also interesting is that there at least four empty shops along the same street, which have been vacant for some time. So why build new space at all? Are the developers sure the demand is there?
Just a mile down the road is another empty building, which has been standing idle for some years now.
Number 8, Meols Drive is the kind of address many people would give their eye teeth for. The tree-lined street runs between Hoylake and West Kirby and, as well as the immaculate Royal Liverpool Golf Club, contains many large, architecturally-interesting homes.
It’s the kind of road where you can almost smell the money.
So it’s quite amazing to find a large, apparently structurally sound house standing quietly rotting into the ground.
A little internet research shows that the building used to be a residential home for the elderly.
Sold in 2002 for a substantial sum of money, it has seemingly been empty ever since, awaiting planning approval for development into flats.
These two cases appear to show opposing sides of the murky, mysterious world of planning permission.
While the Arcade’s acquisition and demolition seems to have been done and dusted in the space of a year, 8 Meols Drive has been lying empty for years. Why? Surely the neighbours don’t want a ruin on their doorsteps?
Anyone care to enlighten me?
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CezM wrote...
My husband used to work at 8 Meols Drive back in the late 1990s when it was a care home for people with Alzheimer's.
I believe it was sold by the owners for £1million (or close to it!) with the buyers hoping to convert the building into apartments.
But the apartments never materialised.
The same company constructed some purpose built flats right next door to the now derelict building - but left 8 Meols Drive in a dilapidated state.
The last I heard squatters had moved into the building, and plans were underway to get a court order to evict them.
But this was all supposed to happen before the Open last July.
I presume the squatters are still in there and that is why there has been no work done.
If 8 Meols Drive is indeed now empty - it's a criminal waste of a stunning structure.
Posted by: CezM | May 24, 2007 12:23 PM