From its creation in the 1960s, the Piazza Fountain, known to us all as the bucket fountain, was in public ownership for many years. However, in January 2019 a private developer acquired the long term lease for Beetham Plaza, and announced his intention to remove our fountain and to build a hotel in this important piece of public open space.  This proposal was supported by Liverpool City Council. This prompted some of us who love the fountain to form the Friends of the Piazza Fountain, and to support the existing application for its listing. 

One of the ways we did this was to launch a petition to save the fountain, which soon had more than 4,000 signatures. This included many comments, which are the serious and considered views of Liverpool residents and beyond, and are eloquent testimony to how much our fountain is appreciated and valued in its current location.  The fountain incorporates an African shield which commemorates the old Goree Piazza warehouses.   These stood nearby and were named after an Island off the coast of Senegal where Liverpool ships went to purchase and transport enslaved people.You can read more about this here:  https://www.engageliverpool.com/news/the-voice-of-the-people/

In August 2019, the Piazza (bucket) Fountain was Grade 2 listed and later chosen by Historic England as one of the most notable of over 500 structures newly listed last year. You can read all about the history of our fountain, its listing and its proposed future revitalisation in the Plaza here:- http://www.merseysidecivicsociety.org/news/a-waterfall-of-a-strange-new-kind

The owner’s Managing Agent, however, has recently called the fountain “An eyesore and a wholly unnecessary expense to all” and, consequently, despite its listing, the fountain is not thought safe left in private hands. For the full story see

https://www.engageliverpool.com/news/take-back-control/

Many people who were inspired by our previous campaign were eager to see the fountain fully restored and celebrated for future generations. Engage Liverpool and the Friends of the Piazza Fountain believe that in order to achieve the necessary grant-funding to do that, it will be necessary to first take the fountain back into public ownership. We will be doing this by calling on Liverpool City Council, and especially Mayor Joe Anderson and Chief Executive Tony Reeves, and Kim Johnson, MP for Riverside constituency, to assist us to secure the future of this part of the heritage of our city for posterity. To help us to achieve our aim please sign and share our new petition – to restore the bucket fountain to public ownership.”