Major international DJ's new project for Liverpool city centre gets the green light
A DJ who helped define New York’s house music scene in the 1990s is to lead a new venue in Liverpool city centre.
The city council has granted permission for a new listening bar and cafe on Wood Street.
To be known as Freeze Hifi, the venue inside the Tea Factory in the Ropewalks area of the city centre will be curated by Todd Terry, the American record producer and house music DJ. One of the DJ’s partners in the new venture, to be housed inside the former Revolution bar, has moved to calm fears that the business could lead to significant disturbances for people living around it.
Andrew Duckworth, the proposed designated premises supervisor, told a meeting of Liverpool Council’s licensing and gambling sub-committee how they were not intending to operate as a nightclub and had sought a licence up until 4am on weekends to “protect the business”. Mr Duckworth said the focus of the venue would feature Todd Terry’s musical influences and use of vinyl.
Concerns had been raised about the potential for loud noise to permeate throughout the building following the application being lodged. Mr Duckworth said the venue would operate primarily as a coffee shop during the day and acknowledged “robust policies” had been set out by Merseyside Police and environmental health.
He added how a sound system was being installed that would prevent bass bleed and the operators were “all about sound quality, not loudness, it’s not the sort of place it’s going to be”. Mr Duckworth said the music would be of a “low level compared to a club night”.
Discussing the listening bar concept, the premises supervisor said the music would be through vinyl, “it’s not going to be thumping techno music”. He added: “This is about Todd, this is his thing.”
Ahead of the meeting, some concerned residents said the late night plans could lead to “significant disturbances that disrupt the quality of life for residents in the surrounding area”.
Mr Duckworth addressed this issue head on. He said: “We have the same concerns as these residents. We don’t want drunk people at our venue.
“As a business, we can’t afford to ignore the residents and be like ‘oh, whatever’.” He added how “a badly managed venue is a problem on any street” and he and Mr Terry had chosen the location as it represented the “beating heart of hospitality in this city”.
Members approved the application for the premises licence.