Gaucho cleared for Liverpool debut

Argentinian steak is on the menu at 7 Water Street, now that Liverpool City Council has greenlit Gaucho Restaurant’s proposals to turn the historic building’s ground floor and basement into an eatery.

The planning application, submitted by Greyside Planning, puts the internal area of the restaurant at nearly 13,000 sq ft.

Plans for the restaurant were submitted in March. The grade two-listed 7 Water Street has been vacant since 2017. The building’s owners, Aqua Commercial, are turning the upper floors into apartments.

Under the approved plans drawn up by DesignLSM, the Gaucho restaurant will have two private dining rooms, an open servery and a main kitchen on the ground floor. The focal highlight upon entering the restaurant will be a large central bar. The ground floor will also have accessible toilets and half of the required back-of-house facilities.

The remainder of these facilities, including an additional kitchen prep area, will be located in the basement. That is also where the remainder of the toilets will be, as well as office space and storage facilities.

Gaucho plans to do minimal alterations to the fabric of the building, adding in walls and lower ceilings only towards the rear of the ground floor to keep the kitchen, toilet and back-of-house areas separate from the main dining zone. Guacho will also spruce up the building, painting exiting window frames and fixing up brass wall lights.

Liath Heritage was the heritage consultant for the scheme.

When Gaucho Liverpool opens, it will be the second location for the chain in the North West. Gaucho also operates a restaurant in Manchester.

The application’s reference number with Liverpool City council is 22L/0555.