Bansky’s Rat building to become a Costa

It's all change at the top of Duke Street, but when the scaffolding comes down, will Banksy's rat have scarpered?

It’s been under wraps for a while, and we’ve all wondered why, what, who and when…well here’s what we know:

The iconic Banksy Rat building, on the corner of Berry and Duke Street is to become a Costa Coffee. The 11th in the city.

It’s received planning consent from the council, and contractors Meadows are on site for an 18 week refit and refurb. Great that the building’s being saved. But it’s an interesting development in this corner of the city, where the Scandinavian Hotel is mooted to be another student flat development over the road.

In the day we find out the Caledonia has sold out to yet another student flat developers, we learn of the uncertain future of a shabby, but much loved icon of the city.

Will the rat be saved? We spoke to the Council’s planning deparment:

“We don’t know if it will be retained, all we know is that it’s undergoing repair, and the decoration isn’t covered by planning consent,” they say. Furthermore, they added, “the graffiti never received official planning consent in the first place.”

So will the rat stay for coffee? We tried to speak to Costa, but they were equally vague:

“We don’t have any info on this at this stage,” said Whitbread (Costa’s parent company). “We’ll have details nearer the time, sorry.”

The rat, sprayed onto the old Whitehouse Pub, is one of Banksy’s earliest incursions into big public art and its edge-of-Ropewalks home has been bought and sold a few times over the years. Last year, the building was bought by Ascot Property for £400,000 and, at the time, talk was of the artwork’s preservation.

With half of the rat sprayed on hoardings, and only the head painted onto the extant building, what’s certain is the rat will, at the very least, be dissected. Will Whitbread preserve the boards and display them inside? Or will the rat get it? Is a Costa in Berry Street a good idea? And does it matter when we’ll walk down Duke Street to Duke Street Espresso anyway?

Answers sprayed on a hoarding please…

(Pic: Dave the Pap, h/t: Richard Davies)

25 April 2013

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http://www.facebook.com/domskidom Dominic Hope-Smith

Costa Coffee - the caffeine equivalent to Tesco.
http://www.facebook.com/richard.davies.3975 Richard Davies

Mixed reaction. Costa is as generic as it gets, but it does bring the building into use and independants have had plenty of time to do this themselves and haven’t. They also pay plenty of tax, unlike others I could mention. There are plenty of indies around Ropewalks, so one or two chains will be fine. On balance, good news, with reservations. By the way, prepare yourselves for another Tesco over the road in the Scandanavia Hotel. If that get’s developed as student accommodation, it is “far anough” away from others for Tesco to feel able to set up a new one.
http://twitter.com/itsafrogslife  Graham Holland

Looks more like a cat to me…
Matt

Should be a pub. Crying shame - who needs another shit costa
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=564905111 Sue Plex

My main concern is what is going to happen to the intricate tiling?
http://www.facebook.com/markRcutler Mark Ricardo Cutler

Has Banksy ever confirmed with concrete (see what i did there?) evidence that this is based on a ‘rat’ ? Because let’s face it, aside from the rattish tail, the thing is clearly a cat! Sorry to bring the cat/rat debate up… Maybe it’s a ‘crat’, and the building used to be a bureau of some sort . . .
Maya Mitter

We need to save this city from crass commercialism. An independent tea/coffee place would have been much better for that part of town & Liverpool needs to break away from the usual selling out to chains, would you have felt the same if it was a McDonalds instead of a Costa? There are already TEN Costas in this city. Liverpool is unique & has the potential to extend itself to beyond normal expectations, be so different from other cities but those who serve us don’t utililse the imagination & talent of a city bursting with ideas, and no one to run with them. What a contradiction this city is! Sad day indeed but then it’s easy to sell out!
Rebecca Glover

Mello Mello have just been gazumped when they tried to purchase their building on Slater Street. The Banksy Rat building would have been a good place to set up shop when they are soon evicted. Id much rather have that than yet another Costa when there’s one 10 mins away on Bold St anyway.
http://www.facebook.com/tom.george.904 Tom George

The rat ceased to be iconic after about a week when somebody ripped off a quarter of it - the witty part - he’s holding a marker pen, I think.
But this is not good news for me. I stayed in Liverpool because I fell in love with the special and distinct cafe culture that we have in the city. No-one with any sense decries the existence of chains, whether they sell coffee or furniture. But the financial power and runaway ambition of big players like Costa is smothering a delicate local culture. If we visit these places, we are just supporting an international cabal of mega players, who shovel most of their profits overseas to avoid tax.
goldenblls

It will be really strange to see Costa appearing at what is essentially the heart of Chinatown, where Berry St is / was a nicely placed outpost away from the creeping corporate commercialism.

Having lived around the corner from here for years I’m glad something finally is happening to the building, at least it’s being saved by someone.

Regarding the ‘rat’ I doubt it will be saved, at the most there will be some sort of ‘rat’ theme going on and at the least a picture on the wall inside so I’m not getting my hopes up too much.
a

the cat is looking for the rat…
Wainy16

Genius!!! Why you ask? Well…

Banksy = Cool… But not that cool, because everyone’s doing it now, & there’s a guy from California who’s way better…

And

Costa = No longer cool, BUT, because it’s no longer cool, it’s now making a come back because no-one goes there any more, making those who do, ironically cool

Banksy + Costa = Further confusion, which can easily be dismissed as the narrow mindedness & stupidity of those who dare to question it…

Well played Costa… Well played.

Seriously though, Costa coffee tastes like liquid shit. For a coffee shop, you’d think that a decent cup of coffee would be high on their agenda but no. It’s a few minutes walk away from Bold St & Duke St Coffee, which are the homes of the best coffee in the city and beyond, with baristas both passionate and knowlegable about coffee, as opposed to a girl called Vicky and a lad called Liam looking at you like you’ve spat at them for having the temerity to order whilst they where talking about how good Carnage was last night.

And they put chocolate sprinkles on their Cappuccino!

Bastards…
rachel

Yeah I’m with you. I have pet rats and a pet cat and that is a cat!
sarah

yes that is just what we need, another costa coffee… why don’t they whack a starbucks nextdoor too, I feel the city is really lacking in the coffee shop chains.
Leanne

I think I’m more depressed about the Scandinavian hotel being turned into YET MORE student halls! Please no more! With the new builds off Nelson Street and Henry Street confirmed as mass private student halls, Ropewalks does not need any more student accomodation! Go back to Smithdown and preserve the student population there, that’s an area that really needs the regeneration.
http://www.facebook.com/paul.riley.146 Paul Riley

I find this out on the same day I find out about the Cali? Fuck.This is all awful. Liverpool is dying. Liverpool One is a malignant growth on the city. Very depressed about this.
Dionbp

I think it’s good to see Berry Street is attracting a brand like Costa. It will increase the footfall which will no doubt result in more empty units getting occupied.
Lorna

It is surely a cat! It has a hairy tail, never thought of it as a rat before I saw this article. Rats don’t sit like that either. I have a cat and so see a lot of rats
Ruskin

Yes, you just need to google an image search of a ‘cat’ and a ‘rat’ and look at the nose and mouth. It has to be a cat.
clare

getting sick of this shit commercialism, im getting out of here. fuck off joe anderson!
Lucy Mckeown

Genuinely amazed that it isn’t going to be a tesco in all honesty.
James

So much reactionary anti-chain sentiment. It’s a derelict building that no one else was taking on. I would rather it was a costa than empty, and there is plenty of space in the city for independent Liverpudlian fare as well as the English chains.

The reality is that the chains looking to set up here is a sign that Liverpool is doing well, as they want to cash in on that. We should embrace that rather than complain about it. If you’re an independent business with a decent offer then you’ll still do alright, but you’re not owed an existence - you have to compete for it, stay fresh, continue to connect with your customers, not rest on your laurels.

If your point of view is that you’d rather rip up Liverpool 1, turn back time and have Liverpool as it was before - a small, run-down, declining city centre that was an unpleasant place to be - in order to maintain its “individuality” you ought to remember that what you’re talking about there is the city being a sh**-tip and tons of people being out of work. Liverpool 1 has given the city a chance at a future, and I’d say that in its bringing more people to the city has done more to guarantee the survival of independents (as evidenced by a very healthy Bold Street area) than anything in recent years.
http://www.robinbrown.co.uk/ Robin Brown

I’m ambivalent on this, personally, but equating people disliking chain coffee shops with a desire to destroy Liverppol One is as much of a strawman as ‘Tesco is evil’.
James

No I don’t equate those disliking chain coffee shops with a desire to destroy Liverpool One, I think most people can take an even measure of both independent and chain as well as happily pick and choose to their tastes.

My comment there was regarding that someone had said that Liverpool is dying and that Liverpool One was a “malignant growth” - a sentiment I have heard expressed in various guises from a few people to date, and I just think the exact opposite is the case. My view is simply that I believe chain and independent can co-exist, that it’s not a case of having to choose one or the other.
Fiona

I don’t get why they keep building student halls either, especially since fees are going up & applications are going down!
Lenny Merseyside.

Joe and his lefties don,t give a f*** as long as they get their bung.Back to Hatton and Mulhearn
http://twitter.com/flypie John Bradley

Just had a look at the refurbishment, looks like more of a rebuild top few meters of 1 wall disassembled. I can only assume they real wanted the banksy, it aint going to be cheap. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/White_House_Pub%2C_Liverpool_26_April_2013_%282%29.jpg Now what about the building at the junction of Seal and Slater Street.
http://twitter.com/flypie John Bradley

This city and all it’s great buildings where built by the commercialism you so despise.