The Ivy to open restaurant in Liverpool city centre

A restaurant chain favoured by celebrities in the heart of London has been revealed as the proposed new occupant of a historic Liverpool building.

A planning application has been put forward by Troia (UK) Restaurants Ltd to bring The Ivy brand to the city at the former Bank of England site on Castle Street. Documents submitted to Liverpool Council have confirmed the brand intends to install signage and menu boards synonymous with the high end dining establishment.

It is thought the new venue would form part of the Ivy Collection, a series of spin off restaurants the firm has opened since 2014.

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Plans to convert the former bank into a new dining venue were signed off by Liverpool Council’s planning committee last August with speculation rife over who would take over the location. The proposals are bringing the site back to life having been left vacant for the best part of two decades.

The brand was first linked with a move to the city in 2022 when designs to take over a location at 7 Water Street fell away. This is now the home of Argentinian brand, Gaucho.

The Liverpool site would be the Ivy’s third North West venue, alongside two sites in Manchester.

The Castle Street bank building was famously occupied in 2015 by a group called Love Activists, who called for it to be used as a centre to support homeless people. Plans were submitted by JSM Group in 2022 to convert the ground floor into a restaurant/bar use along with commercial kitchens.

The basement level is to provide further kitchens and storage, while the first floor is to be used for storage, customer