Lord Street in Liverpool city centre has earned the nickname “Chicken Alley” after Chick-fil-A opened its new restaurant there, joining a cluster of US chicken brands that have moved into the area.
The American chain moved into the long-vacant Lord Street Arcade buildings last week, more than 40 years after McDonald’s first stood on the corner of Lord Street and Paradise Street. It joins Louisiana chicken chain Popeyes, Texan chicken chain Wingstop and Dave’s Hot Chicken in the area, while KFC is nestled into the former GAME space on the same side of the road.
For decades, Lord Street rivalled anywhere across Liverpool as a hotspot for retail with recognisable brands. Now, as consumer habits continue to change, out are the shops and in with the food stops.
Why the chicken brands chose Liverpool
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson said: “Liverpool is home to a vibrant food and hospitality scene, and we’re excited to bring Chick-fil-A’s combination of high-quality food, signature service and welcoming hospitality to the city.
“Our menu offers a range of balanced options, including grilled chicken sandwiches and freshly prepared salads, while the Chick-fil-A experience goes beyond the food – with a strong focus on caring for guests, team members and the local community through our owner-operator model.”
Cllr Nick Small, Liverpool Council cabinet member for growth and economy, said: “There’s no specific planning or licensing clustering policy, Lord Street is part of the main retail area.
“Some of these aren’t my cup of tea but I can see the attraction as they always seem quite busy with a high end offer. I suspect it’s a combination of the location being near to the main retail area around Church Street and Liverpool ONE as well as the night time economy areas and serving that economy.
“There’s a difference between overcrowding in residential areas and the public health aspect that we want to keep takeaways away from schools. This is in the city centre and they’re perfectly legitimate part of the offer we have as they’re restaurant businesses and they do have their place.
“They seem to be well run and well managed and we want to have a city centre that’s open to everyone.”
From shops to food stops
Having once been home to clothing brands like BHS, banks and Boots the opticians, the street is now lined with more food options than ever. Asian snack box business Chopstix replaced Realbuzz activewear and Dunkin Donuts took the unit vacated by photography store Jessops.
A spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium said: “At the moment, the big challenge is getting businesses to go into empty shops. There are a lot of big costs in opening a new shop.
“Some big retailers are hesitant to open, employment costs are also very high at the moment. Business rates are dissuading people too.
“There are trends in the industry and it feels like chicken shops are more on trend than burger places at the moment. There’s always a level of demand for fast food restaurants and if smaller British firms aren’t taking on that risk, it might explain why.”
Concerns over fast food clustering
Former Lord Mayor Richard Kemp, who campaigned against a KFC branch opening in a former Barclays branch in Allerton Road, has called for the number of fast food restaurants to be curbed. He said: “Liverpool city centre already has too many chicken and other fast food joints.
“We need in every shopping street a mix of appropriate businesses but an over development of chicken places leads to too many kids gathering together, and too much noise and litter. We have seen this only too vividly since the opening of the KFC on Allerton Road.
“The council has limited powers, but we need to be able to say enough is enough and use more fully powers that we have.”
Professor Matt Ashton, Liverpool director of public health, said changes were being made to tighten the rules around takeaways clustering in residential areas, with the city centre a different prospect altogether. He said: “The new local plan has public health input to it now and that includes control that stops new businesses opening in close proximity to where children are like schools.
“If it is not a change of use of the premises then they don’t need to apply for planning permission. The example I would use is like the KFC in Allerton Road that used to be a Barclays Bank.
“That has enough seats in it to be a restaurant, so there’s nothing we can do about that. From a public health perspective, one third of our children are in obesity and we work with the takeaways to promote healthy options and where we can stop them opening up near the likes of schools we do.
“That’s one part of the system we use. Obesity in this country started to increase in the 1980s and in those 40 years we’ve had 30 something policies and strategies nationally that haven’t made a difference.
“We have to promote healthier options, working with well run businesses alongside education to make a difference.”
