New flats could be built above Liverpool’s controversial Hooters bar

New flats could be created in former office space above the Hooters building in a prime location in Liverpool city centre.

Plans have been submitted to Liverpool Council to transform vacant lots in New Zealand House into eight new apartments above the controversial restaurant. Proposals submitted by Wroot Design on behalf of their client said unused office space in the building would be converted into seven three-bed apartments and a further two-bed apartment.

A premises licence was agreed by the council for Hooters in February last year in the property previously occupied by the Newz Bar. It prompted a public outcry across the city, including from the Mayor of Liverpool, and has caused controversy in a row over signs put up outside the building without planning permission.

Mayor Joanne Anderson opposed the plans from the start saying Hooters had an “infamous sexually objectifying and misogynistic environment”. The American restaurant franchise often employs scantily-clad waitresses.

No external works are proposed as part of the plans for the flats, with existing access from the ground floor to the upper areas of the building. A redacted application form submitted by the agent said: “A suitable acoustic flooring detail will be implemented between ground floor commercial premises and first floor residential space to mitigate impacts of noise.”

It added: “The existing windows provide more than sufficient natural light, with all habitable rooms positioned so that they are served by these existing windows. Attached drawings demonstrate that the windows are large in size, and do not face onto close neighbouring buildings.”

The Hooters’ restaurant and its ownership is currently in a planning wrangle of its own, over two large neon orange signs placed outside New Zealand House. Planning permission for the signage was rejected, but this didn’t stop Hooters, who have put up the structures anyway.

As revealed last month, the business has been warned that it may face prosecution if it does not comply with the city council’s requests to take down the signs as they have been deemed unauthorised. Responding to the furore around the signage, Rachael Moss, Hooters Liverpool’s managing director said she wasn’t concerned about the signs and claimed to have not received any written correspondence from Liverpool Council.

Mrs Moss said the company was going through the planning inspectorate to resolve the issue. A date has yet to be confirmed for the apartment plans to be heard by officers or Liverpool Council’s planning committee.