Liverpool warehouse set for new life as comedy club

Hot Water Comedy Club’s application to transform a former transport depot into a live music and comedy venue with recording studios and a food hall is recommended for approval by city council planning officers.

To be known as Blackstock Market, the venue would also have a rooftop terrace and three ensuite rooms for performing acts to stay the night.

The site in question is 15-17 Blackstock Street.

Under the designs by architect Smith Young, this currently vacant warehouse would be refurbished to provide more than 45,000 sq ft of usable space. This includes 26,400 sq ft for food and drink consumption, spread out between a basement bar, a ground floor food hall, a mezzanine bar, and a roof terrace bar area.

There would also be three theatres that together could hold a total of 983 people. There would be nearly 3,000 sq ft of recording studio space and a separate podcast theatre as well.

The plans include two spaces for cars to park and 18 cycle storage spots.

Mewies Engineering Consultants is the highways consultant for the scheme. AMC Ecological is the bat surveyor and Hepworth Acoustics is the noise consultant.

The council will vote on the planning application at its meeting on 1 November. The project’s application reference number with the council is 22F/1510.

During that same planning meeting, Liverpool City Council is advised to approve a new office building at Paddington Village. Read more about that project.