Should Plymouth 'keep its history' with signs for Britain’s first slave trader?
Plymouth City Council is being asked to vote on reinstating signs
Last updated 7th Sep 2026
A Reform UK councillor in Plymouth is calling for the restoration of street signs in the city named after the man known as Britain’s first slave trader.
The Sir John Hawkins Square street signs were removed in 2020 by Plymouth City Council following the Black Lives Matter protests.
The council later proposed renaming the site Justice Square due to its proximity to the local magistrates’ court, but suspended the process as a result of ongoing legal hurdles and updated regulations governing the renaming of streets.
Now Cllr Andy Rose, who represents St Peter and the Waterfront for Reform UK, is calling for the council to take immediate steps to replace the three street name signs saying they are part of the city’s history.
He will propose it in a notice on motion at the full council meeting this afternoon (Monday)
John Hawkins, was an English naval commander born in Plymouth in the 16th century.
He pioneered, and was an early promoter of, English involvement in the Atlantic slave trade and considered to be the first English merchant to profit from selling enslaved people from Africa to the Spanish colonies in the West Indies in the late 16th century.
An information board was installed in the square by the city council after the street signs were removed to tell people about Hawkins’ role in the slave trade.
Hawkins’ cousin Sir Francis Drake who hailed from Tavistock also participated in some of the early English slaving voyages.
Both men were also key figures in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
A bronze statue of Drake stands in Tavistock but calls were made to remove it, along with others commemorating people linked to the slave trade in the UK, during the global anti racism protests which resulted from the death of George Floyd in the USA.
Tavistock Town Council decided against this, after considering arguments on both sides, and instead added an explanatory plaque near the statue detailing Drake’s darker history.