Liverpool City Council’s Heritage Team has been working with National Museums Liverpool to save the listed frontage of Galkoff’s kosher butcher’s shop.
The listed shop at 29 Pembroke Place was built around 1820 originally as a dwelling house and then a hardware shop. It then became a furniture shop before becoming a kosher butcher’s in 1907 when it was bought by Percy Galkoff and in 1912 it supplied the Titanic with meat.
In 1930 Percy Galkoff put up the distinctive green art deco tiles with the name P Galkoff in gold lettering and the Hebrew symbol for kosher food. It was for these unique features and the important role Galkoff’s plays in the story of the city’s Jewish community that the frontage was listed in 2007. The Galkoff family’s involvement in the business ended in the 1960’s and sadly the shop closed for business in 1978.
There were concerns about the future of the frontage due to the expansion plans of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) – but now it has been announced that it is to be saved and placed on display at the Museum of Liverpool.
Assistant Mayor and Central Ward Councillor Nick Small has been working behind the scenes with LSTM, members of the Galkoff family and the city’s Jewish Community Council to find a solution.
The frontage of the shop will be taken away when work starts on the LSTM expansion and will be displayed prominently at the museum at Mann Island.
Cllr Small said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to find a way forward. It’s great for Liverpool that LSTM is expanded, but we shouldn’t forget our past.
“Preserving Galkoff’s frontage and displaying it at the Museum of Liverpool means that future generations will be able to find out about this remarkable building and what it means to Liverpool’s heritage and our city’s Jewish community.”
Lawrence Galkoff, spokesman for the Galkoff family, said: “There can be no more fitting tribute to the significance of the Galkoff building and its importance in the history of the city and the community, that the Museum of Liverpool has offered to help save the frontage for the future.
“The Museum is a magnificent asset to Liverpool and visitor numbers are a testament to that. We are absolutely delighted that as many people as possible will now be able to enjoy and learn about the importance of 29 Pembroke Place and that it has been saved for future generations.
“Cllr Nick Small has played a very important part in making this happen, it would not have done so without his efforts and we are tremendously grateful for that.”
