‘Shocked, angry’: Students react to the proposed closure of Liverpool’s Caribbean Centre

Students and members of the local community have joined forces following Liverpool City Council’s release of plans proposing the closure of the Merseyside African Caribbean Centre on Amberly Street.

A large group of local residents and university students gathered outside the town hall on Water Street on February 25th to showcase their support for the centre as the council took a recommendation report to cabinet.

The site the community centre sits on in Toxteth has been recommended as the location for a new, all-girl Muslim designated-faith secondary school on the edge of the city centre.

Community members and students alike were “shocked, angry and extremely saddened” to find the proposed area for the site would be on one of the only small pieces of land that represents the African and Caribbean diaspora in Liverpool.

During the gathering at the town hall on Tuesday, members stressed that they want to see a school on the site, and aim to work with the Muslim community, who often use the space, to keep the centre alive. They emphasised that the two communities must not be pitted against each other, and working in unity, they harbour the most power.

Councillor Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council, was contacted for comment by The Liverpool Tab. He shared a statement which sad: “We will now consult with the local community and hear from them what they want for the future before anything is decided”.

‘The people united shall never be defeated’

An emergency board meeting was called upon complaints from the centre’s board. The meeting took place at 5pm at Liverpool Town Hall. Local community members, including Liverpool students, gathered in solidarity outside the town hall.

Most Read

This video of Lacey from MAFS and her mum at the club has leaked and I don’t know how to feel

The hardest Russell group unis to get into, based on offer rate – and it’s not just Oxbridge

Juicy details leaked about the Love Is Blind season eight reunion and it’s going to be feral

For just under three hours, students and other community members chanted powerful messages including “the people united shall never be defeated” to highlight the strength of local support, when their centres are under threat. From daylight to dusk, protesters showed their unwavering devotion to save the centre.

The Liverpool Tab spoke to student voices at the protest, who believed it is integral for university members to support their city and community residents when in crisis. They held banners reading “leave our centre alone Liverpool City Council” and “keep the community hub alive”.

‘We won’t be silenced’

A gentleman working for the council came outside to tell the peaceful protesters that all they could hear inside the cabinet meeting were the voices of resistance. During the hearing, only three members of the community were able to speak for two minutes each. Speakers and students told The Liverpool Tab: “Liverpool City Council are trying to silence us, but we won’t be silenced”.

‘This was the alternative’

Disappointment at Liverpool City Council is not a new feeling for community members as this marks the second time the council have attempted to push the community out of their cultural hub.

In conversation with The Liverpool Tab, Carol Darby-Darton explained that “before the Caribbean Centre, we had a place called Stanley House.

“It was a convent, which the nuns let us use, however, that was demolished, and the council built this centre for us. This was the alternative”.

Now years later, they face the same problem. She emphasised the importance of the community centre, sharing that her family has been here in Liverpool since 1818.

‘The bricks of Liverpool are cemented with the blood of slaves’

Another powerful voice at the meeting added: “Our community isn’t new. African people have been here since 1710. Before the Irish, before the Chinese.  They have things in place, and we have to keep begging and scraping for certain things.

“And the irony of it is that the wealth of the city was made from I and I. Not the Chinese, not the Irish, but from African people, people of African descent, sugar produced in the Caribbean”.

He quoted George Cooke, who in 1772 wrote, “the bricks of Liverpool are cemented with the blood of slaves”, a powerful statement, which should not be forgotten when walking around the city.

‘It feels like we’re begging for something we’re entitled to’

The result of the meeting consisted of one council member saying they would not make a recommendation on the site today. However, a different cabinet member said they would go forward with the recommendation. They then went on to share plans attempting to split and share the land, which community members vocally felt very against. The council will have to listen to that mandate.

Members who were able to sit in the gallery felt “very upset” and the council made them feel “unshown”.

Maleka, an attendee of the peaceful protest, said that “it feels like we’re begging for something we’re entitled to.”

She added: “It felt like the most colonial space I have ever been in. In terms of speaking to an all-white cabinet today, pleading for the small bit of land we’ve got in the whole city”.

The local council aim to wrap this issue up by June 2025, however the community are not happy about this.

“We need to stay together at this point and we really need to make sure that we stay on it”.

When contacted by The Liverpool Tab, Councillor Liam Robinson continued to explain that Liverpool City Council’s planning “will be meaningful, will be thorough and handled sensitively respecting the importance and heritage of the facility to the people of Liverpool 8 and further afield.

“It is regrettable the council hasn’t got that balance right in the past. I apologised to representatives of the community when I met with them recently, that communication and meetings with council officers over many years has at times fallen below the professional standards I expect.

“To re-iterate, no decision has been taken in relation to the African Caribbean Centre, other than our preferred option being it stays on the existing site. We will now consult with the local community and hear from them what they want for the future before anything is decided”.