The birthplace of The Beatles in England is about to get even more of the Fab Four.<\/p>\n
Plans were announced recently for a huge new visitor attraction that backers say will give Liverpool a tourist draw about its famous sons to rival Elvis Presley\u2019s Graceland and Dolly Parton\u2019s Dollywood, both in the United States.<\/p>\n
Apple Corps, the company that oversees The Beatles\u2019 business interests, said an expanded version of The Beatles Story museum is coming to the centre of Liverpool in 2028. It\u2019s scheduled to open soon after the release of filmmaker Sam Mendes\u2019 quartet of feature films about John, Paul, George and Ringo, which are expected to unleash a new wave of global interest in the band that transformed rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n
The plan will see Apple Corps take over The Beatles Story and move it from its current home in Liverpool\u2019s docklands to the former St John\u2019s Market, a 9,290sq m site across from the city\u2019s main Lime Street train station.<\/p>\n
Apple Corps said the new venue will use \u201cimmersive technology, original artefacts and spectacular reconstructed sets\u201d to take visitors from the band members\u2019 childhoods in postwar Liverpool through their hard scrabble years in the bars of Hamburg, Germany to the explosion of \u201cBeatlemania\u201d and global fame.<\/p>\n
Sets and props from Mendes\u2019 movies will create versions of Liverpool\u2019s Cavern Club, where the band got its start; the famous Abbey Road studios in London; and Shea Stadium, the site of their legendary 1965 performance.<\/p>\n
The nearby St Johns Beacon, a 122m-high former radio tower, will be transformed into a tourist attraction inspired by the band\u2019s song and animated movie Yellow Submarine, offering views over the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like Graceland or Dollywood, it\u2019s fitting that The Beatles will have a world class destination for fans to visit in the centre of the city where the story started,\u201d Apple Corps chief executive Tom Greene said.<\/p>\n
Apple Corps said a portion of the ticket revenue will support a charity set up to nurture new artists in Liverpool.<\/p>\n
The two surviving Beatles welcomed the development. Paul McCartney said the band\u2019s success \u201ccouldn\u2019t have happened without Liverpool and I can\u2019t wait for people to be able to step into our story and share the experience\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ringo Starr said \u201cLiverpool was, and still is, music city\u201d.<\/p>\n
The announcement is the latest chapter in a Beatles boom, 56 years after the band\u2019s breakup. Apple Corps has already announced that a new fan experience will open in late 2027 in the band\u2019s former London headquarters at 3 Savile Row, whose rooftop was the site of The Beatles\u2019 last public performance in 1969.<\/p>\n
Mendes is directing a quartet of biopics starring Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Paul Mescal as McCartney and Barry Keoghan as Starr. All are due for release in April 2028.<\/p>\n
The legacy of The Beatles has helped transform Liverpool into a culture and nightlife destination, reviving the city\u2019s economy after decades of decline following the closure of its docks.<\/p>\n
Mike Jones, a Beatles expert at the University of Liverpool, said the \u201cdouble boost\u201d of the films and attractions will bring in many more Beatles fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure that the city\u2019s quite prepared for it,\u201d he said, calling it both a risk and an opportunity. \u201cWhat we have to resist is the \u2018Disneyfication\u2019 of Liverpool, the Disneyfication of the Beatles.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, there\u2019s a lot more that people should know about the band and its legacy, Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a rich story to be told about the relationship between Liverpool and the Beatles, a very rich story,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not sure that story\u2019s been told.\u201d \u2013\u00a0JILL LAWLESS\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The birthplace of The Beatles in England is about to get even more of the Fab Four. Plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1634,156,2024,52167,8793,157,315539,111,139,69,469,315540,10097],"class_list":["post-643607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-england","tag-entertainment","tag-europe","tag-liverpool","tag-museums","tag-music","tag-music-tourism","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-the-beatles","tag-the-beatles-story-museum","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}