Plans to create a 150-bed Beatles themed hotel at Cavern Walks have been given the go-ahead.
After initially securing planning permission for 125 rooms at the site on Mathew Street, entrepreneur and owner of the famous location, Craig Greenwood, has won the backing of Liverpool Council’s planning committee for a further 25 rooms to provide almost 300 beds. Mr Greenwood acquired Cavern Walks in a joint venture with JSM Company Group in October.
He started out with refrigeration engineering firm Everkool before moving into property investment. As part of the new plans, a function suite will be installed on the first floor of seven, with a variety of suites ranging from six beds to one in each room.
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Of those a total of 15 suites would be fully accessible, 14 are one-bed suites, and one is a three-bed suite with a ceiling track hoist. The upper levels of the Cavern Walks building were previously office accommodation, but have been vacant for several years, despite marketing efforts by the owners, according to Liverpool Council’s planning documents.
As well as Beatles themed bedrooms, Mr Greenwood’s plans for the venue also include a cinema room, function room and a bar. Peter Jones, city centre planning team leader, told the committee the application “compliments the businesses in the area” while planning documents said: “The change of use to a hotel offers a repurposing of the space for a use which is well suited to the location in the Cavern Quarter, where there is an emphasis on the night time and tourism economy.”
The committee also signed off on two further developments within the city centre, including a stalled site in the Baltic Triangle. Permission was granted for 56 apartments to be built on land around St James Street, Norfolk Street and Brick Street in the Baltic Triangle area of the city back in 2019.
An amended proposal for an additional eight was lodged with Liverpool Council a year later. However, the major scheme which involved the construction of a new tower block up to 10 storeys high faced a bleak future 12 months ago, when as the development was around halfway finished, its contractor Mersey Contractor Limited went into liquidation and work ground to a halt.
A new application by Torus Housing has been successful in winning permission to restart the scheme to provide 64 “100% affordable” rent to buy homes. Committee chair Cllr Tony Concepcion said: “We all know about stalled sites in this city and now this will be completed.
“It will further improve that particular area.” More than 260 new student beds are also to be provided after plans for three multi-storey blocks were approved for land at Oldham Place, Roscoe Street.
Architect Paul Johnson said the scheme would get underway from the end of May with a two year build programme to be in time for the 2025 academic year. Mr Johnson said the proposals were “more in line with the area” and would bring to an end issues with anti-social behaviour around the currently vacant site.
Cllr Concepcion, in his final meeting as chair ahead of his retirement following next week’s local elections, said he felt the scheme would provide “major jobs and investment” for the city.
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