Is India Buildings About To Be Butchered by The HMRC.

UPDATE NOV 2022

At the time of updating November 2022 The building is closed and all the HMRC staff had been told not to come into work due to a massive leak. Which will have done great damage to the structure. This is what happens when greedy people who are only interested in money are in charge.

All the care and attention that was given to the building. The Architect of this historic structure Herbert Rowse will be definitely turning in his grave. What a complete and utter mess.

INDIA BUILDINGS HAS BEEN BUTCHERED BY LEGAL AND GENERAL (THE DEVELOPMENT ARM OF THE FAMOUS INSURERS).

THEY PURCHASED THE BUILDING FOR AROUND £120,000,000 FROM MARWEES LTD. A BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND OFFSHORE BASED COMPANY WHO PURCHASED IT FOR £17,000,000. MAKING A MASSIVE PROFIT.......THAT THE TAXPAYER WILL ULTIMATELY PAY FOR! 

As soon as they purchased the building MARWEES set about evicting all the tenants in a disgraceful act of greed. 

People who had run businesses there were evicted as if they were dirt. Read More Here.

MARWEES  employed a pair of Henchmen. Father and son duo Brian and Mark Rabanowitz of Shelborn Asset Management.

They subsequently slid around, behaving like gangsters, ruining the lives of many of the tenants.......for the HMRC. Read More Here

 Despite there appearing to be some level of secrecy, I can confirm that the beautiful travertine marble arcade is to be butchered with holes whacked in it all over show. Maybe four of them.
There is a big risk to the architectural integrity Holts Arcade.

 Liverpool's famous architect, of repute, Herbert Rowse must be turning in his grave.

15 years ago I was so proud. I had found a bronze plaque, the original, with detailing that reflected India Buildings class. It was cast to commemorate the sacrifice of those that lost their lives in the Great War. That worked for Alfred Holt and Company. After lots of consternation and a word with the owners of India Buildings at the time the pedantic building manager agreed to erect it in the arcade.  Though it had originally been outside Holts Offices it now seemed the fitting place. And it was set on the marble.

I would cry every year at 11 o'clock on the 11^th November when the old Holts Line and Blue Funnel employees would gather and it would become a focal point. Not just to remember Holts employees but all those who fell so we could be free, so we could speak our mind. Be free.

They are now going to twat a hole right through where it hangs. There is no other way to say it. The HMRC, I overheard don't want it there. They want it lost, again. 

Unbelievable.

There is something magical about this arcade. The dimensions are just right. Its Classical perfection. 

It is as perfect as you can get.

Some years ago I asked the c20 Society if they would put their weight behind upgrading its listing status.
 Gavin Stamp one of the countries leading heritage fighters, who Liverpool will sadly miss, backed me.
He was a past Chairman of C20society and put his weight behind it. After a lot of work by Clare at C20society  English Heritage upgraded it from Grade II to Grade II*.
That seemed to be a protection jacket wrapped around it. To save its integrity for future generations.

Yet it now seems this wont stop it escaping the grubby paws of this current crop of unsophisticated developers and the HMRC.

You know it makes me sick to my back teeth when we do all that work to put it beyond ruination and then the place will still get wrecked

In many of my heritage battles I have often thought myself akin to David fighting Goliath and this bunch really are Philistines.

They say they have employed heritage experts. http://www.classicartdeco.co.uk/india-buildings.php 
Well they cant be that clever or experts if they are in on this grubby little deal. Some people don't have the integrity to call themselves experts if they don't understand what heritage means.

 They take the coin to do what they are paid for, not what should be done. 

And the architects are Falconer Chester Hall. It couldn't be worse. Well it could Stiles and Wood got the contract....after they put in the lowest price.

They were talking at one time about polishing all the bronze shopfronts.
To make them look like brass. Lose all the patina.

Money, money, money that's all this new lot seem to be interested in.

There are some things that just need to be left alone. One is Holts Arcade.

I fought the last lot, Green Property, (see Private Eye 1229 above) and their ideas to close part of the arcade.

But to no avail they had all the power and did nothing to make lettings happen. India Buildings went into further decline, they were letting the tenants leave the building with regular abandon.
They needed to empty it out. Mike Tapp of Green Property advised me that they see the future as a whole letting. Open offices and a call centre. That where the money was. John Lee from CBRE had told them so. 

So we watched its decline.

Like being strangled slowly every day they would let another tenant leave.

The building, they said was 75% let when they took it over after it was repossessed by the banks and the biggest fraudster in British history Achileas Kalakis did time.

So I was about to close up and a new lot bought the buildings. Things looked up. We would see a couple of people walking round and clung on a bit longer. Lawrence Kenwright was in the running for India Buildings and I have to say I did not think he had the skill to restore it. It was bought by a British Virgin Islands offshore company. Then the HMRC were interested. 

 Or was there a bit more to it than that? Then they began threatening me. bullying everyone, and they offered me a relocation terms and it was time to move.

Then they behaved like type and shafted everyone around me and I knew it was the wrong thing to do.

I could not have held on any longer, the centre of gravity of the business district had changed.

Then the Philistines shafted me.

But this now gives me a chance to go back. To carry out some unfinished business, because I always regretted not doing more to alert the public to the vandalism that was about to begin. 

I have to be honest I thought I had been abandoned by the public. 

My business is personal to me and I take all things personal. Its my life its not a business.

If I had of been doing it for money I would have gone back into property. I had packed that business in a long time ago, but was afraid I would end up, well like the Philistines that then owned me.

 I am ashamed I let them take me for a ride.

Come back Lawrence Kenwight all is forgiven.

This lot have now closed the beautiful arcade to the public and the Arcade will never open again, which is Grade II* listed in its own right, and the shops are to be offices.

And Liverpool City Council are complicit. Sort of partners in slime really.

The dodgy building manager used to go past shouting out, “All these are going to be offices” he would say and I just got angry inside.

But now its time to say it loud.

I am ashamed of myself that I did not put up more of a fight up.

I am also ashamed that I did not make more of arguing against it.

The local press had changed it seems all about twitter now and to be honest even though I was critical of the last lot of journalists they now seem great intelectuals compared to these new kids on the twitter feed block.

It was always easy to persuade Peter Elson as to the merits of history and heritage because he felt it too.

The city council planners have been given delegated planning powers over India Buildings.

A Grade II* listed building.

This means they can do virtually what they want.

The owners and there is now another company involved India Buildings Development Ltd, with a liability of £100. Check them out at Companies House. Theres a few characters there. That the HMRC are doing business with.  https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10844377

It stinks. So after they have shafted me I am now free to shout it from the 8^th Floor.

 This is the worst thing that could have happened to India Buildings.

I admit it I was wrong and I should have done something about it.

But where were all the people to help. To complain about the right of way being stubbed out, like The Ramblers. I phoned them once and this bloke just went on, and on and on, and on, so I put the phone down.

I cant do it alone is there anyone out there that cares about this amazing heritage asset. In the World Heritage Site. (will may lose the WHS status this June, when the UNESCO World Heritage committee meet).

The Friends Of India Buildings.

The HMRC unions are up in arms about this move.

The Bootle Strand will be decimated.

The area of Water Street will be re-invented. But will this be Plastic Town and not Liverpool the city that used to have character. That is until London, investors with no real links to the city were touted by Mr Anderson and smoothed along by the likes of Gary Millar and Nick Small.

It could be the usual David amongst The Philistines, but y'know I have a sling and I am going to have a fight. Better late than never. Its that time.

Please if anyone with genuine interests can help please don't hesitate to contact me.

Its time to fight them on the beaches.

http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/india-buildings-liverpool-twenty-years.html

And I Dreamt That I Dwelt In Marble Halls. No More. Holts Arcade Is About To Be Butchered.

India Buildings Liverpool Twenty Years Of My Life.

Twenty years in the same place. Twenty Years In India Buildings.

I wouldn't have believed it.

 I thought I had gypsy blood at one time I was travelling so much.

I declared when I became a carpenter all those decades ago that I loved it because there was always a different place to work. New surroundings' new people to meet. 

 And then I fell in love with a perfect piece of architecture. 

When something is so perfect as Holts Arcade where else would you want to be.

http://www.classicartdeco.co.uk/india-buildings.php

 There is nowhere else like Holts Arcade, or Holts Parade as it is always referred to in lease documents and rent demands by the various shysters that have owned the building. 

And there have been a few. Twenty years in quarterly bills, that's more than a few.

I first discovered India Buildings about 1984 when a rather attractive and exotic looking lady that I met in town said she worked there. For the Inland Revenue or was it the VAT office. 

You entered in the back entrance on Brunswick street and went up to the mezzanine level and then if I recall there was an office where she worked. 

My grandmother talked about it when I told her I was moving there she told me it was once the Law courts or a Coroners office. 

She had to visit there when she lost her husband just before I was born. I think my great grandmother had a cleaning job here and other places such as Exchange Flags.

Discounting sleep I probably spent more time there than at home.
I was travelling a lot when I first opened the shop, backwards and forwards to France sometimes twice a month. Looking for swag. 

I loved my job then and roughed it a bit on my travels.

 And this made me appreciate the place when I returned.

I recall an old fashioned song that used to come into my head when I was heading back up the A9 through France, from Montpelier or Avignon through beautiful countryside. 'I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls'. I don't even know who originally sung it. It was in a film, an old black and white one.

 I will always remember the way the sentiment of the song was used to describe the feelings of the poor girl who was wishing in a fairy tale way, in a Cinderella way to escape to a grand house and live in luxury without the cruel wind of everyday life. Don't know what happened in the end. Maybe she lived happily ever after, with Errol Flynn. 

But it seemed to ask me questions such as why would you need to wish for another place to dwell?

Its why I stayed really because business has not always been brisk.

Though in reality there was always one question to answer. Where is the rent going to come from?

So I stayed watching other antique dealers close all over the place. Chester was decimated. 

The Internet arrived and changed the face of the trade. 

But I could not get away from the fact that this was not just a job to me. Its a way of life. A learning curve. A thirst for knowledge, and it became apparent that I was not doing it for the money. 

Being involved with art and history and the stories that they tell is far more important to me than money. I could always lose myself.

And like the character I used to watch when I was a kid at times I felt like Mr Benn.

I would put my key in the door and turn it and enter into another world.

Like the world of tales of times gone by, of adventures and history.

I love learning and this is the job to unfurl mysteries and peoples stories.
Insights into personalities who owned or made objects fills my inside with a feeling that you would never get making doors or fitting staircases, even though in different places every week. Although I can never stop using my hands and always keep my skills alive recently i have become interesting in clay and love creating works of art. It may be time to put the key in that door soon and walk through into another life.

So I stayed and then stayed a bit longer and people come and went and new friends appeared as others left and I let it all drift me by and I watched the world go by while fighting vociferous heritage battles for Liverpool's skyline, and trying to get various buildings listed before they would be ruined.
http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/liverpools-world-heritage-site-status.html

I felt the sense of place was being changed all around me. Everywhere was turning into homogenised nothing shops full of stuff you can get anywhere, in any town.

But still India Buildings beautiful arcade stayed the same. Because it always should, its so perfect.

Then they wanted to close me down and I fought hard and got angry. Fighting for the right to survive would always have challenges. The biggest challenge was always the changing times and the regeneration of Liverpool had opened up different aspects of the city that took people in different directions and India buildings drained of offices, and people left.

And now they say the HMRC is going to relocate a regional super call centre here.

I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls.......maybe no more.

Signature Bespoke Has Opened In India Buildings.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Signature Bespoke.... now of India Buildings who have just opened here this week.

 They are to bring their own brand of made to measure tailoring to the beautiful Travertine Marble Holts Arcade of  India Buildings.

http://www.signaturebespoke.co.uk/

A UNIQUE TAILORING EXPERIENCE

Signature Bespoke's Haute couture service offers a unique tailoring experience, which allows you to create the look that expresses your personal style. The care and effort devoted to the tailoring of these hand made suits is what makes our garments so special. All our suits are examined continuously during their production while careful attention is given to each and every detail.

I wish them every success, the shop looks great.

Update; Though I offered them a warm welcome. I quickly found that the owner of the business could not sew a button on. They are what should be called Custom Tailors. Meaning they take the measurements and get the suit made abroad somewhere like China or Greece. 
This is all smoking mirrors. My ex girlfriend was a time served Tailoress with City and Guilds qualifications. This is an insult to word tailoring in my opinion.
 If you want to be fleeced well you had better get down there and see Coco. 
This is the worst sort of bluff. 

India Buildings-Holts Arcade. Is This The Best Christmas Decorations In The City?

At the time of updating November 2022 The building with its beautiful arcade, enjoyed by many, is closed to the public and is solely for use by the HMRC

All the HMRC staff had been told not to come into work due to a massive leak. Which will have done great damage to the structure. This is what happens when greedy people who are only interested in money are in charge.

All the care and attention that was given to the building. The Architect of this historic structure Herbert Rowse will be definitely turning in his grave. What a complete and utter mess.

INDIA BUILDINGS HAS BEEN BUTCHERED BY LEGAL AND GENERAL (THE DEVELOPMENT ARM OF THE FAMOUS INSURERS).

THEY PURCHASED THE BUILDING FOR AROUND £120,000,000 FROM MARWEES LTD. A BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND OFFSHORE BASED COMPANY WHO PURCHASED IT FOR £17,000,000. MAKING A MASSIVE PROFIT.......THAT THE TAXPAYER WILL ULTIMATELY PAY FOR! 

As soon as they purchased the building MARWEES set about evicting all the tenants in a disgraceful act of greed. 

People who had run businesses there were evicted as if they were dirt. Read More Here.

MARWEES  employed a pair of Henchmen. Father and son duo Brian and Mark Rabanowitz of Shelborn Asset Management.

They subsequently slid around, behaving like gangsters, ruining the lives of many of the tenants.......for the HMRC. Read More Here

Update November 2022 And its now closed to the public

Well most people who walk through the magnificent Holts Arcade seem to think so.
You can see their faces light up.
Its tough times out there but the landlords Green Property have kept the Xmas spirit alive with the wonderful festive decorations, through the recession and we can thank them for that.
The Capricio Singers  http://www.capriccio.org.uk/ will be visiting, only for half an hour this year unfortunately.
That will be on the 18th December.
Where they will no doubt fill the barrel vaulted arcade right up to the ornate painted ceiling with lovely Xmas music.
Look forward to seeing them.