ITS glazed green tiles and marble slabs made it unique among butchers. But the owner of historic Liverpool firm Galkoff’s fears plans to rip down the neighbouring building could spell ruin for the property.

The old Pembroke Place shop is renowned as the only surviving example of a tiled Kosher butchers.

Percy Galkoff – a Russian emigré who fled his country after being conscripted into the army as a drummer boy – is also reputed to have been the first meat seller to use a fridge.

He moved his Jewish business from Brownlow Hill to 29 Pembroke Place in 1907. The terrace had been built in 1825 with the distinctive tiling added later.

Galkoff’s current owner, Rob Ainsworth, said the Grade II-listed building was left in a perilous state when developers tore down number 27 to make way for a block of flats and shops in the mid-1990s.

It only remains standing after being bolted to number 31 for support.

But in May, Liverpool City Council sold 31, along with a patch of land where 33 once stood, to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Now the school says their building is in a dangerous condition and may have to be demolished. They are buying up nearby buildings with a view to expanding their campus.

The school has vowed to preserve Galkoff’s if its plans get the go-ahead.

But Mr Ainsworth, 54, fears history could repeat itself, or worse.