Huyton Village Green brings new offer to town centre

Huyton Village Green is part of Knowsley Council’s ambitious 10-year masterplan to reinvigorate Huyton, a key town centre in the Liverpool City Region. In addition to declining footfall, there was minimal family-friendly food and drink offer and child-friendly play spaces.

Large-scale plans for more substantial regeneration did not attract central government high street funding however, the council was keen to not let the town centre languish and to find a way of delivering the project appoint oneday with The Assembly Line to look at the options.

BACKGROUND

A key corner unit, formerly occupied by a Ladbrokes betting shop, was identified by oneday as offering the potential for a pop-up space to help diversify the offer in the town centre, drive footfall and extend dwell time.

It was important to bring in uses that added vibrancy and a sense of belonging to the high street. The pop-up was an opportunity to bring activity back to empty space and plug gaps in the village’s offer.

WHAT WE DID

The Huyton Village Green pop-up is a self-initiated project delivered in partnership with the council to support their longer-term regeneration plans. We rented the council-owned unit, delivered the fit out and managed it day to day.

Our plan was to extend our community-focused activities at nearby Bowring Park and Golf Course which we have managed since 2022 and where we’ve introduced a variety of uses, delivering £7.7m in social impact. We wanted to bring the best of the Park to the high street.

The refurbishment of the Village Green unit included installing new lighting, a serving counter, a retail payment point and children’s play area. A vintage golf buggy was also introduced for photo opportunities and play.

The result is a coffee shop, retail outlet and community hub. Alongside affordable food and drink and retail space for independent local makers, Huyton Village Green hosts a micro-library, a children’s play zone and room for activities and learning workshops.

We organise fun events that bring people together, such as pumpkin painting and baby yoga, alongside learning opportunities, such as fixing household items with The Repair Cafe and growing your own produce.

Huyton Village Green opened in September 2023 and has provided a welcoming, multi-functional space enjoyed by young and old alike with opportunities to socialise, share skills, shop and play. It has become a regular place to visit for more isolated members of the community, such as those over 65 and lone dog walkers, who can get a drink and have a friendly chat. It’s also become increasingly popular with parents and young families. The cafe has been recognised as a welcoming place for mothers who are breastfeeding. Since opening its doors, nearly 9,500 teas, coffees and hot chocolates have been sold, 7 independent makers have been supported, and 6 jobs created.

Phase 2 of Huyton Village Green launched in Autumn 2024 and involved a makeover of the space ready to reopen for the Christmas season, based on what customers told us they liked and wanted to see more of. As the coffee shop is the main attraction, we relocated the coffee counter to make it more visible, introduced more comfortable seating, and moved the play area to the centre and the workshop table towards the back.

We worked with businesses across the town centre to ensure our Christmas events programme complements wider activity. This included funding the annual Christmas Lights switch-on to make sure it could go ahead.

This project builds on the success of Bowring Park which had been losing £250,000 a year. Our work there has saved the council £2.5m by removing the loss from the annual budget and securing investment to complete restoration work.

Huyton Village Green demonstrates the concept introduced at Bowring is scalable while setting out a blueprint for how community-focused, commercially viable high street activation projects can work.

WHAT OUR CLIENT SAID

Huyton Village Green has proved to be an incredibly popular asset in Huyton with an offer tailored to the needs of residents and visitors which provides opportunities to socialise, eat, drink and learn. Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, Knowsley Council