A state-of-the-art new Beatles attraction in the heart of Liverpool will not get in the way of a broader multi-billion pound vision to redevelop vast swathes of the city centre, the ECHO understands.
This week, Apple Corps, the company founded by the Fab Four, revealed exciting plans for a new multi-million pound Beatles Story experience, which will take over both the vacant St John’s Market site and the iconic St John’s Beacon, Liverpool’s second tallest building.
Backed by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the British government, the new attraction is expected to be up and running in 2028 to coincide with the hotly-anticipated new Beatles films, which are being directed by Sam Mendes. The new experience will use sets from those films as well as the latest technology to transport visitors through all the key moments in the lives of the four lads from Liverpool who became the biggest band of all time.
The area of the city centre where Apple Corps intends to launch the first official Beatles attraction in Liverpool is somewhere that is already a target for major, wider regeneration ambitions.
£5bn plan for new ‘Liverpool One’ in the city centre
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has spoken regularly about an ambitious £5 billion vision that would seek to revamp Liverpool’s central public transport stations and the areas around them.
This vision covers an area of 86-acres in the city centre, but the two key train stations – Liverpool Central and Lime Street – are central to the vision.
Mayor Rotheram has spoken previously of the grand ambition to reconfigure and revamp both of these stations and the area around them, possibly connecting the two facilities via an underground tunnel.
City region leaders are keen to rework the current city centre hubs to both accommodate promised new high speed lines and to relieve network capacity issues both at Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central Merseyrail station – one of the busiest rail hubs in the country.
He has previously compared the idea to Kings Cross and St Pancras stations in London, adding: “We would connect Lime Street and Central better than it currently is. That would probably mean subterranean, like with those London stations, so people could move easily from one to another.
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“You would take some of the stopping services from Lime Street, say to Manchester, and you would direct them to a revamped Liverpool Central Station, with more capacity. Then you could run the fast trains from Lime Street to Manchester, with hopefully a new parkway stop in the Liverpool City Region, we haven’t decided where that will be yet.”
But this vast plan is about much more than just transport – it is about the reconfiguring of a large chunk of Liverpool city centre, which could include thousands of new homes and new mixed-use developments.
“This would be as transformational as Liverpool One. It would be a complete mixture of uses, all planned so we know what each bit of it does and how they interconnect.”
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So how does a new Beatles attraction in the space between Liverpool Central and Lime Street fit into all that? Well it is early days on that front, but speaking to officials this week, it is clear that the arrival of a major new tourist attraction dedicated to the most popular music group of all time can only be seen as a catalyst for the improvement of this part of the city.
Actor Paul Mescal getting on his bike as Paul McCartney while filming at John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool
Particular concern for leaky Central Station
It is accepted that while the Liverpool Central plans are long-term, The Beatles proposals are very much in the here and now – but the prospect of hundreds of thousands more people flowing into the city centre specifically for the new attraction each year will place a focus on the improvements that are needed to meet that extra capacity.
Liverpool Central is a particular concern. As well as its leaky and increasingly faulty infrastructure, there are fears that it is already struggling to deal with the volume of passengers travelling through it and an influx of new visitors could create a real safety issue without redevelopment.
Plans are already being worked on for a ‘place-based’ business case that would redesign Central Station and the area around it. When she was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves listed the £2.5 billion project as one that could benefit from a reformed Treasury methodology for funding major projects.
There is a broad ambition to redevelop and reconfigure Liverpool’s main rail stations and the areas between them(Image: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority)
Plans to upgrade tired part of Liverpool city centre
Separately, but linked to this, proposals are also being put together for a new Liverpool to Manchester rail plan, which would reduce travel times between the two cities and create a new ‘gateway’ station just outside Liverpool. This would also require a reconfiguration of how Lime Street Station currently works. This will also seem increasingly important with more Beatles fans pouring into the city’s main train station.
Apple Corps will have been briefed on and be cognisant of all of these plans for an area that they now intend to transform into a shrine to the Fab Four. As one official said this week: “Apple know they are investing in an area of the city that is a bit tired, but where the city and city region have plans to upgrade it – so they obviously see it as an opportunity in that area.”
Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Joseph Quinn (George Harrison), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr) and Harris Dickinson (John Lennon) promoting the upcoming films “The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event” in Las Vegas in March 2025
Everyone will want to be next door to this
Importantly there is real hope that to have such an important commercial entity like Apple putting down roots in that part of the city centre, it will inevitably lead to others doing the same.
One source said: “The response from the development community to the Apple announcement has been mega. When you geta major brand investing in a city, that breeds confidence. This will have a ripple effect that goes way beyond this. Everyone will want to be next door to this.”
That could lead, it is hoped, to investment in and redevelopment of other buildings in the area, with the former ABC Cinema one that springs to mind.
One official put it well this week when they said: “This could have a seismic effect for that part of the city centre – and we know that is needed.”