A £3.1M regeneration project is beginning in Prescot to transform its historic town centre.

Following the confirmation of Government funding of £1.55m and Knowsley Council’s own contribution of £1.55m, the Prescot High Street Heritage Action Zone, will be delivered by Knowsley Council.

The local authority has been working up the details of this project with the local community, businesses and property owners.

The High Street Heritage Action Zone initiative, which will help to breathe new life into the historic heart of Prescot town centre, will bring physical building and public realm improvements.

There will also be cultural activities to regenerate and restore local historic character.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Knowsley’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development said: “Through this grant award Historic England has recognised the years of hard work and this council’s investment alongside private sector investment that have gone into the transformation of Prescot’s historic town centre.

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"I am delighted to see further heritage led investment and look forward to working in partnership with Historic England.

"The High Street Heritage Action Zone follows the success of our Townscape Heritage Initiative improvements and comes at just the right time for Prescot, as lockdown measures are eased and shops, pubs and restaurants start to reopen.

"We will also see the opening of The Shakespeare North Playhouse midway through the programme of improvements that the High Street Heritage Action Zone will make to the surrounding area.”

More about the Prescot project

The High Street Heritage Action Zone will run until 2024 and the specific projects are:

1. The repair, restoration and conversion of 8-14 Kemble Street back to its original use as Prescot’s first cinema, including its surviving auditorium dating form 1912. The present occupier, Prescot Community Church is moving to new premises at Whiston Colliery.

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2. The repair, restoration and conversion of 34 Church Street, originally a large townhouse, then a bank and formerly the Prescot Museum. This Grade II Listed Building will be re-used as a ‘makerspace’ for new and small businesses in the creative, craft, arts and digital sectors.

3. Grants to repair, restore and convert historic buildings in and around Market Place. This will see empty floorspace re-used and elevations and shopfronts restored in privately owned historic buildings.

4. Public realm improvements around Prospero Place and Market Place to make the space more pedestrian friendly and traditional in character.

5. The masterplanning of the large Sewell Street – Kemble Street site that extends from Market Place down to the rear of Cables Retail Park. This is the largest area of disused land in the town centre.

6. A cultural consortium led by The Shakespeare North Playhouse to use the arts and Prescot’s heritage to engage and bring more people to the town centre and build towards Knowsley’s year as Borough of Culture in 2022.

7. Community engagement with a focus on participation, engagement and local heritage.

Work has already started with detailed surveys already carried out at the former Museum and former cinema, while site and archaeological investigations are underway at the disused Sewell Street – Kemble Street site. In addition the Project Officer who will run the different strands of the project will start in post this month. Work is in progress with Historic England on preparing the community engagement and cultural strands.

In terms of building grants, two early projects of the High Street Heritage Action Zone are two of its most prominent buildings at either end of Market Place: the former HSBC bank and the former Red Lion pub. Both buildings will undergo extensive external repair and restoration later this year, with the ground floors converted to uses that will expand the town’s evening economy.

Paul Brannan, of Croft Construction, which is the appointed contractor redeveloping the former HSBC Bank at 2 Eccleston Street as a new restaurant with apartments above, said: “The building is in a superb location between the Shakespeare North Playhouse, Market Place, the Parish Church and the amenities of Eccleston Street.

"We look forward to working in partnership with Historic England and Knowsley Council as we give this empty building a new lease of life.

"Had it not been for the grant funding then a scheme of this scale and quality would not have been financially viable for our client.”