Last week, we should have been taking a group of students out for an ‘explorer walk’ of another area of the Liverpool City Region start-up ecosystem. We love doing these walks as they bring students from all different subject areas together and they get to see how the start-up community fits together in terms of space and people and networks.

With face-to-face teaching cancelled in light of the Coronavirus and with our team all home working for the time being, the walk could not go ahead but we thought why not do the walk here, in an imaginary walkthrough of our route and who we would have met? So join us as we put on our coats and head out from LJMU …

From LJMU’s Aldham Robarts Library, we head down the hill to the city’s business and commercial district. From our vantage point as we turn the corner from Rodney St, the Liverpool skyline dominates our view with the fabled, iconic Liver Birds of The Royal Liver Building; a Grade I listed building constructed between 1908 and 1911. The birds are named Bella and Bertie and there are many popular legends attributed to them.

Our route continues through the city’s main shopping streets, including Bold Street, which is now home to many independent bars, coffee shops and restaurants. When the Liverpool ONE shopping development opened in 2008, many people were worried how the independent retailers of Bold Street would manage to survive and whilst undoubtedly some did not, it’s the entrepreneurial spirit of the city that has seen Bold Street bounce back and where LJMU law graduate, former barrister and now LJMU Honorary Fellow, Nisha Katona, opened her first Mowgli restaurant. Restaurant entrepreneur Nisha has captured the essence of Indian street food and now has 10 restaurants across the UK. Nisha has given her time to help our own food startups and was a fantastic judge on our Students’ Union ideas pitching event.

As we leave the shopping district on Lord Street and head right towards the commercial district, let’s take a moment to learn about Boodles jewellers. Founded as Boodle and Dunthorne, the first shop opened in Liverpool in 1798 – yes, 1798! It amalgamated with another Liverpool family jewellery store in 1910 and remains a family owned business to this day. There’s no doubt that Liverpool has a thriving entrepreneurial past, present and future.

We’ve reached our first venue on today’s walk; it’s LAB by Capacity. LAB is a coworking space in the Capital & Centric building on Tithebarn Street and is a community-focused workspace that supports businesses, freelancers and the third sector. LAB’s Community Manager is Liz Pascoe and is hosting our student groups when we visit. Liz plans our visits based on the students and their ideas or areas of study and as a Fine Art graduate herself, understands the creative sector really well. Liz is happy to arrange a free trial day of coworking so that you can check out the space. Email Liz for more details and to arrange a visit: liz@labliverpool.co.uk

We’ve left LAB and crossed over the road from Tithebarn Street to Brunswick Street to head to the Cotton Exchange, managed by Bruntwood. The Cotton Exchange is a Grade II listed building that was once the nerve centre of the global cotton trading industry. After extensive refurbishment, it is now a thriving office space and offers everything from coworking to suit freelancers and start-ups, small offices to rent and larger workspaces for established businesses. Communities Manager, Kelly McNair, is our go-to person for our visits and we work closely with her for the benefit of our students, graduates and the Bruntwood tenants. It’s not just space to rent, it’s a space to connect and Kelly extends an invitation to all of our LJMU student and graduate start-ups to their meetups that happen in the lobby of the Cotton Exchange. Contact kelly.mcnair@bruntwood.co.uk to find out more.

We finish our explorer walk today with a quick hop over to Avenue HQ at St Paul’s Square. Avenue HQ opened its first location on the Liverpool waterfront and was co-founded by LJMU business graduate, Matthew Kennedy, with support from Barclays Eagle Labs. The St Paul’s location is in the heart of the business district and our visit today is hosted by Community Manager, Emily Ingram. Emily really understands what our start-ups are looking for and organises our visits based on the interests of the students so that they get maximum benefit from looking around. The location is lovely and suitable for coworking or fixed office space. The community is growing and Emily is always happy to arrange a tour of the facilities so you can see for yourself. Do get in touch with her at e.ingram@avenue-hq.com to find out more.

We can finish our walk today with a coffee and something to eat in St Paul’s Social, downstairs from AHQ. It’s open from morning to evening and I’ve had meetings there as well as relaxation time.

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s virtual walk and it’s given you a flavour of the incredible spaces on offer to start your business, find a change of scene and immerse yourself in the city’s ‘ecosystem’. We plan to do this walk and others when we are back to normal but if you have any requests for places to visit, let us know. Also, can we help you with any introductions? We’ve got a huge A-Z of contacts and friends in our network. We love to help.

By Dominique Aspey, Enterprise Network Manager, LJMU Centre for Entrepreneurship. 

For advice on starting your own business or freelancing, contact LJMU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship at: startup@ljmu.ac.uk.