Demolition works have started on an iconic Liverpool building to make way for over 200 apartments.
TJ Hughes has sat at the heart of London Road for almost 100 years, but changes are on the way.
Last year, plans were submitted to convert Audley House, the current site of TJ Hughes on London Road, into a new residential complex with 266 apartments.
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The proposals came as demolition works began to get underway next door on the former Hughes House, which will see it become home to almost 250 apartments.
If you are passing by the once iconic building, you will notice that demolition works have already started at Hughes House on London Road.
Images by the ECHO captures the demolition in progress as work begins on gutting the building.
TJ Hughes has a long running history in Liverpool, which many will look back on with fond memories.
The business began back in 1912 when it opened in a different building on London Road with five shop assistants, but within 20 years the business had grown into one of the city’s biggest department stores with over 400 staff.
TJ Hughes iconic department store,Hughes House, being demolished on London Road
(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
This success was a testament to founder Thomas J Hughes’ hard work and vision.
Sadly, in 1933 Thomas J Hughes had died after taking his own life aboard a steamship travelling to Belfast.
The ECHO previously reported that according to the submitted application for Audley House, the plans to move the retailer’s site closer to the city centre respond to a significant drop in retail footfall in the London Road area.
Demolition at TJ Hughes
(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
It added that the retail footfall in London Road has “significantly reduced over the years” and the company’s main priority is to “safeguard the future of the business and the jobs of its employees”.
The demolition of the once popular building will be sad news to some who remember the days of long queues from eager shoppers.
Hughes House
(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
One ECHO reader said: “Apartments are not the answer we have too many in Liverpool now.”
Another reminisced: “Anyone remember the pram park, run by TJs, you could leave the babies pram while you shopped and if the baby was asleep you could leave the baby as well. Most prams then we’re big silver cross prams.”
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https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/demolition-begins-iconic-tj-hughes-23289024
