Bid to give St Helens town centre building new lease of life

Businessman Ryan Little has purchased the building at 9-11 Church Street, in St Helens town centre.

The building has formerly housed a Ladbrokes and a Martin Dawes electrical shop among its former uses.

The Vault bar are tenants and will remain at the location and Ryan hopes to create two retail units in the ground floor and apartments above.

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 “The idea is to convert the upper floors into residential,” said Ryan, from Eccleston, who has a background in property, having the Little Estate Agents, which has bases on Bridge Street and in Prescot.

“On the ground floor we have The Vault bar, they are tenants and they are staying as tenants.”

The building has formerly housed a Ladbrokes and a Martin Dawes electrical shop among its former uses.

The building photographed earlier this year (Image: St Helens Star)

Ryan, 28, added: “I went for this building because of its location, it is one of the prominent buildings in the town centre. It’s a massive traditional building in the town centre.

“It has been left to ruin upstairs, the ceilings are falling down, there’s lots of damage, it’s in disrepair and it will be a big job.

“A lot of the bigger shops are getting boarded up, I think that is due to business rates.”

Ryan Little (Image: Submitted)

Ryan, who also took the reins of Pimmies Pies in 2021, added that he hopes the revival of the building can play a part in the “wider context of the regeneration” of St Helens town centre.

He said it is a lot more common to see “mixed use” buildings with retail on the ground floor and the upper floors used for residential.

“You don’t need to build new if you can convert spaces that are not being used. If you have more tenants in the town centre, they need to spend somewhere.”

A planning application is to be submitted to the council for the renovation of the building in due course.