Liverpool looks to Beatlemania legacy in regeneration plans

A regeneration masterplan to improve Liverpool’s built musical heritage will go out to public consultation later this month.

A draft Spatial Regeneration Framework (SRF) for the area around Mathew Street – home of the legendary music venues the Cavern Club and Eric’s – will go before Liverpool City Council’s cabinet on Friday (October 11).

The draft SRF, which also includes the adjacent Williamson Square area, contains a range of recommendations to help attract new investment and to enable the council to steer the future use of existing buildings.

The document is being created to address a recent tourism report that called for the city to ‘curate a clearer proposition’ around Liverpool’s pivotal role in the story of popular and contemporary music.

Although the city’s music heritage industry – which is centred around The Beatles – is now worth more than £90m a year, a tourism report has found visitors are increasingly looking for a ‘quality experiential visit.’

The draft SRF makes a number of recommendations to imrpvoe across three specific zones: Cavern Quarter, Whitechapel and Williamson Square.

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, who has also created a Beatles Legacy group, said: ‘Liverpool’s musical heritage is known around the world but we can and must do more to showcase it to visitors who travel thousands of miles from all corners of the globe because of it.

‘This is a unique opportunity to establish an experience no other city can offer, with high quality design which will sustain thousands of jobs for generations to come. I welcome these proposals and look forward to the public’s thoughts and feedback.’

Peter Hooton, chair of The Beatles Legacy Group, said: ‘There is a huge amount of untapped potential around the city’s pivotal role in music, past, present and future, which is why it is vital we seize this opportunity to make the most of Mathew Street.’

In other Liverpool news, Liverpool City Council recently announced they will buy 55,000 sq metres of dockland from Homes England for £1.