Just what is a “public space” in Liverpool?

Dear readers — welcome to your Monday briefing, on a day when last week’s glorious weather seems to have permanently subsided. Never mind — what a week we have planned for you, with another edition of Answers in The Post responding to a reader’s inquiry as well as a detailed investigation into a well-known and controversial Liverpool figure. 

All that still to come. But, in case you missed them, last week’s stories are ready and waiting for you right now:

• Our big story looked into how Liverpool fared in the chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review, and the implications for the region’s transport links. Take a look here.
• For another edition of Answers in The Post — where you, the readers, can direct our investigative resources — Laurence took a trip to Prescot to check-in on how Shakespeare North is doing three years from its grand opening. Has the £38 million theatre lived up to its expectations? Find out — and join the spirited debate in our ever-vibrant comments section — here. 
• And if that wasn’t enough, Laurence and Abi then teamed up for a deep dive into the growing empire of the paradoxical publican and podcast host Rob Gutmann. Are his boozers a fascinating and worthwhile project to revive Liverpool’s pub scene, or a ruthless monopoly homogenising the city’s nightlife? Another piece that has split opinion. Read it — and the comments! — here.

The big story: Are big music events sectioning off our city? 

Top line: On the Waterfront, the Pier Head’s annual music festival, has mostly been a success. But the return of giant hoardings similar to those seen in Sefton Park recently raises the question of just what is a public space.

Context: Last month, Sefton Park hosted BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend. The initial announcement was praised as a major coup for the “City of Music”, the latest in a recent cavalcade of colourful events: from hosting Eurovision in 2023, to Taylor Swift’s hattrick of concerts at Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium last year.

But as the event drew closer, locals, residents and regular park users began to notice large swathes of the park cordoned off, with reports of trees and animal habitats damaged to make way for the massive green hoardings. Weeks before and after the Big Weekend itself, visitors were unable to access Sefton Park in full. The resultant graffiti seemed to represent at least some discontent.

For some, this conjured memories of the “Eurovision Village”, a fan zone erected around the Pier Head for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, held at the M&S Bank Arena. In contrast with those grim-looking boards that would section off Sefton Park, the Eurovision hoardings at least abounded in vibrant colourful patterns, but still prevented full access to the waterfront. 

This is despite the fact that both Sefton Park and the Pier Head are public spaces, areas meant to be accessible to everyone for social interaction, recreation, and community engagement. Sefton Park was envisioned as part of the Liverpool Improvement Committee’s commitment to clean, fresh open spaces in the mid 19th century, while the Pier Head is the public’s main access point to the city’s world-famous waterfront. The Criminal Justice Act 1972 defines a public space as any “to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise”. 

In fairness, access to the Eurovision Village was free and non-ticketed for the first eight days. But then tickets cost £15 for people to enter the public space. And while Liverpool hosting the famous event itself is alleged by the council to have brought £54.8 million into the local economy, the number for Big Weekend is likely to be lower, as only 10% of tickets were sold to people outside of the city. 

Our Answers in The Post edition covering the controversy around Big Weekend attracted a huge diversity of views on social media, as well as a feisty comments section of over seventy replies. Perhaps most contentiously, it was revealed during a Radio Merseyside interview with Harry Doyle, Liverpool council’s cabinet member for culture, that the BBC flagship event actually cost the city council £250,000 to stage.

Now the hoardings have gone up around the Pier Head again, this time for the On the Waterfront music festival. Locals and visitors seeking to walk around the famous waterfront in the hot summer weather were prevented from doing so freely.

Supporters say On the Waterfront is another popular festival likely to bring revenue to the city. The event included performances by Liverpool bands the Wombats and the Christians, the last ever UK show of Irish group the Wolfe Tones, and Sunday headliner Sting, with the Wolfe Tones’ valedictory performance coming in for particular praise. 

But concerns about profiteering from the common good are also understandable. Like Africa Oyé — the usual Sefton Park festival that was unable to go ahead this year — On the Waterfront used to be free. Radio 1’s Big Weekend was also unticketed once upon a time. 

As was the Mathew Street Festival. Unfortunately, that popular city-centre musical celebration ended when the council could no longer afford its £800,000-a-year costs — even though it brought in £20 million for local businesses in just one year. (For comparison, that same year, 2010, On the Waterfront brought in £1.2 million.) 

A problem for organisers and the council could be lack of space. For Liverpool to host large indoor events, it needs a proper area. In our article on Everton’s new stadium, we highlighted the fact that Manchester’s AO Arena holds twice the 11,000-person capacity of Liverpool’s M&S. With Hill Dickinson Stadium intended to complement Anfield, which in addition to the trio of Taylor Swift concerts recently hosted Bruce Springsteen to great effect, more gigs and festivals that do not impinge upon public spaces should be possible in the near future. International superstar Dua Lipa also performs at Anfield this week. 

Bottom line: With the council’s cultural strategy very much envisioning Liverpool as an “events” host, and residents justly proud of its “City of Music” status, these debates look set to continue — especially if that strategy ends up cordoning off parts of the city that are meant to be free to access. The argument that this temporary loss of free movement is a serious one considering the potential benefit to the city’s coffers, but some locals’ irritation should not be dismissed as mere NIMBYism either. Ultimately, though festivals provide brilliant experiences for the attendees, not everyone wants their views or access blocked. 

What do you think of the debate? Let us know in the comments below. 

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Your Post briefing

A shopkeeper has died after a stabbing in a Bootle shop. Merseyside Police said 44-year-old Nilani Nimalarajah died in hospital after the attack in Low Cost Food & Wine, a convenience shop on Stanley Road. Witnesses describe children running from the shop shouting for help after seeing it happen, while bystanders tried to help Ms Nimalarajah who had collapsed by the shop entrance. A 47-year-old man from the Widnes area was arrested and is being questioned on suspicion of murder and possession of a knife. Ms Nimalarajah is described by a worker in the beauty salon next door to Low Cost Food & Wine as a "hardworking and very friendly" shopkeeper and mother who leaves behind young children.  Meanwhile, the teenager who fatally stabbed 12-year-old Ava White has been named for the first time. Harry Gilbertson was 14 when he carried out the attack on the schoolgirl on 25 November 2021. In 2022 he was convicted of her murder and was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years. 

Following the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, another demonstration against the war on Gaza and Israel’s conduct in the Middle East took place in Liverpool yesterday, marching from Hope Street to Derby Square. Attendees included members of the Liverpool Community Independents Group on the city council, such as Orrell Park councillor Alan Gibbons, and a speaker from Palestine Action — the group that home secretary Yvette Cooper is moving to proscribe as effectively a terrorist organisation after their activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed two military planes with red paint. The protest in Liverpool yesterday included calls for the Merseyside Pension Fund to divest from UK and US arms manufacturers supplying the Israeli Defence Forces — which, according to the Liverpool Friends of Palestine group, represents £32 million of the fund’s holdings. Last month, during a secretly-held event to celebrate the anniversary of Israel’s founding, Liverpool Garston MP Maria Eagle confirmed that the RAF conducted surveillance flights in support of Israeli forces during the Gaza genocide. Meanwhile, a man from Liverpool — Armin Hasanlov, 35 — has been arrested alongside six others after a protest turned into an altercation outside the Iranian embassy in London.

And an online pet supplies store has received a legal letter from Hugo Boss over its name. Bootle’s Ben McDonald, who set up Boss Pets in February this year, told the BBC his "whole world collapsed" after a communication from the designer brand demanded he take down the website within ten days or face legal action. Mr McDonald, who described himself as "just a lad from Bootle", said he had spent "every spare penny" on his website delivering pet-related products. A spokesperson for Hugo Boss said: "We are aware that the English word 'boss' is one that is commonly used”, adding that "nevertheless, it's our responsibility to monitor and protect our brand rights globally and address unclear cases where needed". Mr McDonald’s lawyer said his client had no case to answer and accused the clothes retailer of bullying his client. 

Post Picks

🎸 Black Uhuru take over the Future Yard Garden this Friday 27th June. The pioneering reggae outfit will perform under the Birkenhead sun (touch wood) before making their way down to Glastonbury. To buy a ticket, click here.

🖼️ The Little Liverpool gallery opens this week at the Museum of Liverpool, an interactive experience for children of all ages. To book a free ticket until 31st July, click here. 

🎭 Speedo Mick: the Musical launches at the Royal Court this week, about the iconic barely-clothed Everton fan who has raised £1 million for disadvantaged young people and the homeless. For more information on how to buy a ticket, click here.

🎤 Last-minute tickets for Dua Lipa’s Anfield gig on Wednesday can still be ordered from Liverpool FC’s website.