Ma Pub Group, operator of one of Liverpool’s best-known pubs, Ma Boyle’s is investing around £250,000 in the new venue in the heart of the city’s business district. Tony McDonough reports

A new cafe bar with a “heavy nod” to the famed eateries of New York’s meatpacking district could be open in Liverpool city centre by Easter, creating up to 40 jobs.

Ma Pub Group, operator of one of Liverpool’s best-known pubs, Ma Boyle’s, is taking over the former Hus cafe bar space at The Tempest Building in Tithebarn Street. It will launch a new hospitality venture called ‘Tempest on Tithebarn’ in a £250,000 investment.

It spans 5,000 sq ft across the ground floor and basement as well as a roof terrace, which was particularly popular with revellers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on when the Government starts lifting restrictions, Ma Pub Group owner Iain Hoskins hopes to have the venue open by Easter.

He said: “The cafe bar unit at The Tempest is an incredible space with the addition of some fantastic outside areas that are an absolute  premium for the times we are living in right now.

“Tempest on Tithebarn will be an exciting addition for the business community with which we already have a long-standing relationship, having run Ma Boyle’s for the past six years.”

Ma Boyles, located at the back of Tower Building and close to the historic Our Lady and St Nicholas Church, has just celebrated its 150th anniversary. Ma Pub Group has also recently disposed of Ma Egerton’s Stage Door in Liverpool and Bøck Biere Cafe in Manchester.

Tempest on Tithebarn will look to recreate the atmosphere of the iconic eateries in New York’s meatpacking district and will offer brunches, lunches cocktail and craft beers. The building has been refurbished in recent years by Capital & Centric. The new venture will create up to 40 part-time and full-time jobs.

Iain added: “Liverpool’s business district is unlike any other UK city’s CBD because it’s so diverse. You have the commercial element interwoven with a heavy student offering as well as the great variety of residential, hotels and leisure mix – and being only a stone’s throw from the docks and Liverpool ONE.

“Most other CDBs are incredibly dry – full of chains and tend to become ghost towns during the evenings or weekends. Liverpool’s offering is very different and what we’ll be providing is a really rounded offer that appeals to all of that.

“The lack of footfall created by the pandemic is a worry and will continue to be so until we fully know that we have beaten COVID-19 and office staffing levels return to normal. However, as we’ve found with Ma Boyle’s, the weekday office trade is actually only one of many parts that will make up our core audience.”