Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged to provide £2m for preliminary work on a new Beatles attraction on the Liverpool waterfront as part of his 2021 Budget.
The sum will enable the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to develop a business case for the attraction. Future funding for the project will be considered subject to that business case, Mr Sunak announced on Wednesday. The proposal has prompted a widespread backlash from those who feel the money could be better spent.
Local councillor Andrew Makinson was among its critics, saying the project is one “nobody in Liverpool is aware of asking for”. According to Liverpool’s Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, the attraction will be a “globally significant” and “exciting immersive experience”.
“It has the potential to become an unbelievably important tourist attraction, unlike anything on offer anywhere else in the world,” he told the Liverpool Echo. The announcement was enthusiastically welcomed in Parliament by culture secretary Nadine Dorries, a Liverpool native.
“What a result! Even more investment in arts and culture,” she wrote on Twitter, posting a gif of her thumbs-up reaction.
Ms Dorries followed that up with another celebratory post making copious references to a number of Fab Four hits.
Yet the news has received a more hostile response elsewhere, with several pointing out Liverpool is hardly short of Beatles-themed attractions.
The city already plays host to The Beatles Story, the Cavern Club, where the band used to perform, and the nearby Liverpool Beatles Museum.
Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s childhood homes are preserved by the National Trust, while Strawberry Field – a former Salvation Army children’s home where the young Lennon used to play – has its own exhibits.
Liverpool’s waterfront area already plays host to a musical attraction in the form of the British Music Experience, though it is not exclusively Beatles-related.
According to the Echo, the news “has left many in the city questioning if what Liverpool really needs right now is another Beatles attraction”.
Those sentiments were echoed widely on Twitter, with users variously describing the project as “a joke”, “pointless”, and a “waste of money”.
Source: bbc.com
