CLIENT: nadler hotels

PROJECT: Planning and licensing advice

The corner of Seel Street and Concert Street.jpg

What were MAKE asked to do?

Nadler Hotels are one of the most exciting companies in the developing boutique hotel market. Their Kensington hotel set new standards in affordable luxury and since then they have opened in Liverpool and their newest venture is in Soho. 

Nadler’s £14m Liverpool hotel is ideally located in the city’s vibrant Ropewalks area. However, the company was concerned that growing noise and antisocial behaviour problems emanating from local bars and clubs could damage the hotel’s reputation (which has some of the best reviews of any UK hotel on Trip Advisor!). MAKE were asked to advise how Nadler could lobby for stronger planning and licensing enforcement and better noise control.  

How did MAKE do it?

  • We drew on our expertise both of Liverpool and its planning and licensing regimes to recommend the client strongly push for joined-up reviews of the licensing and planning teams of venue applications as well as joint enforcement inspections by these departments.

  • We recommended Nadler play a serious participative role in a stakeholder group for the for the Ropewalks area to allow other operators to address the hotel’s concerns before the hotel itself escalated them to a licensing review. 

  • We advised the client to help key councillors understand the implications of an overheated night-time economy on deterring the ‘right type’ of investment into the city and to encourage these councillors to take bolder action on the number and density of licensed premises.

What happened next?

The immediate concerns of our client have been handled by the city council, which has been keen to help. More importantly, local licensees now know that while the hotel will remain constructive - by seeking dialogue before pushing for a licence review - Nadler means business. ‘Vertical drinking’ premises targeting those seeking to get drunk while offering little else to the city (the type of venue the council wishes to discourage anyway) will not be allowed to damage the sustainability of this major investor in the city.

What unique value did MAKE bring to this project?

MAKE’s understanding of licensing and planning law, combined with the ability to bring high level public and private decision makers together, has meant that there is now much more effective control over this part of Liverpool’s oversaturated alcohol-led NTE.