LEWIS’S department store owner David Thompson last night issued a “use us or lose us plea” to Liverpool shoppers as the iconic retailer faced tough negotiations to stay in its city centre home.

Mr Thompson insists he is confident about the long-term future of the business despite the £105m redevelopment plans unveiled yesterday for Lewis’s building.

The building’s joint owners – Merepark and Capital & Counties – have put in a planning application that will see the Grade II listed site redeveloped into a “full and vibrant mixed-use leisure destination”.

This will include a boutique hotel, cinema, a music venue and possibly new bars and restaurants.

Total floorspace is 420,000 sq ft – with the department store, operated by Mr Thompson’s company Vergo Retail, currently across 170,000 sq ft. The fourth, fifth and sixth floors are presently unoccupied.

The building is to form part of the huge £160m Central Village scheme – a mixed-used development with hotel, retail and leisure uses and a high-rise residential tower – that Merepark will construct with another developer, Ballymore.

The plans for Lewis’s specify there will be space for two large tenants with a major street frontage.

The Lewis’s department store already has such a frontage but Vergo’s lease only has around two years to run and it is now having to renegotiate with the building’s owners if it wants to stay beyond that.

However Mr Thompson told the Daily Post he believed his store would continue to occupy the site beyond the current agreement.

He added: “The proposals include sufficient space for us to continue our retail operations. We are actively in discussions with the landlords to agree a way forward and confirm it is business as usual.

“It is very important that the shoppers of Liverpool show their support for independent retailers and ensure we keep the character of Liverpool city centre intact.”

The store was only rescued last May when previous owner Owen Owen fell into administration.

Subject to approval, the striking frontage and famous statue will be cleaned and a new glazed canopy and shopfronts added.

Plans for the interior of the nine-storey building include a new open pedestrian street leading out onto a new plaza, connecting the Central Village development.

Overall, the scheme is expected to create 500-1,000 new jobs.

Merepark director Ian Jones, saying he would be keen for Lewis’s to remain as a tenant, added: “We’ve developed a scheme which will preserve the character of Lewis’s, with the key historical features being retained.”

The plans will also see several of the building’s original but ‘forgotten’ elements returned to public view, including historically important features on the building’s unused fifth floor.

Mr Jones added: “We’ve worked closely with the local conservation officer to preserve and conserve some of the building’s hidden gems.

“The Festival of Britain tiles in the café will be retained within the hotel’s restaurant.”

Merepark and Ballymore will begin work on the £110m first phase of the £160m Central Village development in the coming months.

tonymcdonough