A piece of Liverpool’s Beatles history has been “left to rot”

The Salvor mast was located on the Strand before it was removed for highway improvements(Image: Graham Jones)

A campaign to save a historic Liverpool landmark that has been “left to rot” has been launched. Merseyside maritime writer and broadcaster Peter Elson is campaigning to save the Mersey Docks’ salvage ship Salvor’s mast, which was the backdrop to the first official photographs of the Beatles with Ringo Starr in the line-up in 1962.

The mast was saved by Liverpool City Council when Salvor was broken up in 1978 and re-erected on Liverpool’s Strand by the Royal Liver Building, but was felled five years ago due to a new traffic scheme.

In 2020, the ECHO reported that the ship mast had been taken down and removed from its popular waterfront spot on the Strand, near the junction with Chapel Street, during highway improvements.

At the time, a council spokesperson said it had been taken down and placed in a “safe space”, and a new location for the mast had “not yet been decided”.

Launched in 1947, The Salvor was a salvage ship that operated on the Mersey until 1978, and its mast was subsequently installed on the roundabout near the Liver Building.

However, Peter said the mast currently “lies in pieces rotting” in a council yard, and that the council now claims it has no cash for restoration and relocation.

The mast is dismantled in Newton Road council yard(Image: Jonathan Brown)

He now wants to save the piece of Beatles memorabilia in time for the visit of Cunard Line’s four Queen cruise liners in Liverpool in 2028, creating a ‘Four by Four’ spectacle for the city.

He told the ECHO: “My ambition is to bring together two sets of four iconic world-famous Liverpool names for the first time, when the Salvor mast, officially marking Ringo’s arrival in the Beatles, is unveiled to coincide with Cunard’s four Queen liners’ visit.

“This would create an international sensation and world news coverage for Liverpool if we could get Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney, or indeed both, to unveil the newly restored and relocated mast.

“It’s a perfect match as John Lennon’s father was a Cunard steward and his grandfather crewed the previous Salvor. George Harrison’s father was a steward for White Star Line, later merged with Cunard. Ringo Starr worked on North Wales excursion steamers, and Paul McCartney’s father worked at the Cotton Exchange, which was maritime-based.

“I want the mast to be in a high-profile public place, with photos and information boards, so visitors can have their selfies taken where the Beatles once stood.

“The incredible popularity of the Pier Head Beatles sculptures with queues practically round the clock shows the public’s appetite for these very simple but hugely emotive attractions.”

Peter added that while the hurdles facing the mast’s restoration and the search for a new home are significant, its status as an irreplaceable piece of Liverpool’s history means its survival should be guaranteed.

He said: “It’s a big object, designed for heavy-duty work lifting navigation buoys in and out of the Mersey. With no maintenance for five years, the mast is in poor shape and rusting badly.

“It would be a civic crime to let it get beyond repair and end up being scrapped.

“Does Liverpool seriously want to be left behind when its world-famous group, the Beatles, are bigger than ever, through sheer ignorance and inertia, destroying this irreplaceable and biggest piece of Beatles memorabilia?

“The eyes of the world will be on Liverpool in 2028 as the gathering of all four Cunard Queen liners will be an incredible spectacle, and the Beatles Salvor mast on the waterfront will be extra big icing on the cake.

“If we don’t grab this opportunity, one unwelcome aspect of my campaign’s publicity is that someone else will swoop in, make an offer the council can’t refuse, and take it off to the US or Far East. Apparently, there’s already been one offer, which luckily didn’t happen.

“Sadly, Liverpool has a history of squandering its unparalleled historic assets, but I’m absolutely determined this is not going to be the case with the Beatles Salvor mast.”

A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “We have previously reached out to our maritime network but unfortunately there has been no interest in taking it. It needs someone who has the means to rehome, recommission and maintain it for years to come. If anyone does come forward as a result of the campaign we are happy to hold discussions with them.”