One of my most strongly held opinions is that no one should have a strong opinion on Lime St. It's meh at worst but it is indisputably better than the eyesore it was for 40 years, and all the moaning distracts from the many other eyesores, stalled sites and antisocial developments that are causing tangible harm to local people.
Cinemas and theatres seem to have a particularly hard time finding new uses rather than being demolished. Why is this?
Could it be because they have a large footprint and are often located in high value location within city and town centres? Or perhaps it is only those in these locations that are left land-banked, vacant and decaying? There are numerous examples in this City of cinemas being reused - Handymans on Smithdown Road was a former suburban cinema as an example.
The key is that the current owners have to be flexible and imaginative in the new uses they embrace.
As a part-owner of one of the rarest - a suburban Victorian Music Hall - I know the challenges. But it is about vision and commitment. Twelve years ago - "You can't open a horse riding school in an old Victorian theatre ........ Can you?"
Take a look at Park Palace Ponies, 253 Mill Street L8. The countries first starter riding school, and then, if anyone has a larger cinema they want repurposing into a full sized riding arena do let me know .
All architecture is subjective. I don’t mind it. It’s better than a row of derelict buildings in my opinion. One of those old buildings was lovely, The Futurist. But none of them where by the time it come to demolish them and at least the new development is full of businesses. Not many developers will touch an old cinema, hence the ABC is still sitting empty decades after closing
The heading 'Hoardings of shame' said it all. The planners, architects and city council officials responsible for those hideous creations being there for all the world to poke fun at our city with should be hanged from those hoardings.
Those fabulous buildings that used to be there were deliberately left to decay over the past decades in order to have them eventually demolished. In the local newspaper archives one would find it was in the 70s' Militant Tendency's agenda to rip down all those buildings along with most of the Victorian and Georgian buildings in Liverpool, replacing them with what they called at the time 'progressive' stuff like the ones we are now looking at. This goes to show, despite the supposedly reforms having been made, the city council is still operating very much under the shadow of its past.
I quite like the new building. The old Lime Street was a bit of a hotch potch, and people had a nostalgic attachment to the Futurist, but it was in poor condition and not useable for anything else. What I like about the hoardings is that they reference the history of the site, and also echo the hoardings on the front of the Everyman. I think it is very unfair to give it such a negative rating.
Inoffensive and bland when it could be a character statement and introduction to the city. So it’s a disappointment, but hardly the ugliest new building In the city or even the country. Before I got rid of this I would bulldoze the Hatton-era bungalows that intrude into the city centre near the John Lewis car park; or the tacky post-modern housing next to the Anglican cathedral. As for the new Royal Hospital…. visually it’s meh, functionally (speaking as an outpatient not a regular worker) it’s disastrous.
I saw Steve Earle a few years ago at the Phil. He said “you have a beautiful city, don’t fuck it up”. I think maximum effort should be made to preserve the beautiful and unique buildings in the city. It is disgraceful that these buildings are not re-purposed. It may take some skill and vision, but it is possible. Part of the appeal of Liverpool is that it doesn’t look like the other identikit centres we see all over the place.
The reason why the lovely Futurist Cinema got into such a bad state which was beyond repair was that its owner Liverpool City Council allowed it to fall apart for around 30 years!
There's no imagination given to repurposing such buildings.
As a journalist on the Liverpool Echo I campaigned to save the Futurist suggesting it could become a Hard Rock Cafe with its screen showing rock and pop films and video. What an attraction that would have been to our now tourist-oriented city!
Lime Street's other historic buildings could have been saved if only as facades. The Georgian buildings survived the threat of French invasion, two World Wars (especially the blitz) and the city's rampant 1960s redevelopment, only to fall foul to this appropriately branded carbuncle.
Too many mate's favours to developers swirling around me thinks!
A group of local entrepreneurs got together a few years ago as Liverpool Music House & had plans to turn the old ABC Cinema (Grade 2) on Lime St into a music venue. Apparently they got short shrift from council officers & told there were other viable options.
I remember reading similar articles about plans for the ABC on a few different occasions, one of the most recent was an idea to turn it into some kind of version of FACT, housing fashion design centres, some kind of diisplay centre, a few studios and a concert venue.
Speaking as someone who was always puzzled as to why the venue was left to rot, when it could just as easily be into a concert venue. "The endless fun" I and quie a few others had to to endue when we used totravel to Manchester to see bands playing at the Apollo, which itself was a former Cinema, really did do my head in. The ABC had it all there, It was ideal for the main station, only round the corner from the local station and ideally placed for the buses, unlike the Apollo, which is a good walk into the City, and at least half a hour or more from the station, which once again, adds to the "Enjoyment" when you leave after the gig. But obviously, better minds than mine have apparently looked into this and obviously decided that idea wasn't viable.
I have said this before, on a similar subject on here, but I wonder what would happen if the Merseybeat phenomenon had happened during this time, instead of during the sixties? Could well imagine all the bands being actively discouraged from playing at so many of the places they did
You just wonder what's going on in the minds of these gormless people. You really do. The ABC Forum as Liverpool Music House would have been terrific - in fact could have gone in tandem with the Futurist as a Hard Rock Cafe - what a double offering to visitors and locals!
The last iteration of Lime St before this building was Georgian as in George V not George III so I don't think there was much fear of Napoleon showing up!
Lime Street is definitely nothing to be proud of. But surely the Premier Inn on Hanover Street far outdoes it in the ugly stakes. It takes great imagination to create something so bad.
Of course opinions on new builds are subjective but we have no new buildings of aesthetic merit that's the point. If you walk around the city most of the new residential blocks are grim dull bland and boring little ito appreciate in the way of design. Clearly budget is the dominating factor.Liverpool is constantly becoming known for ugly design because of this trend .Sad when you think we were once known for being trailblazers for architecture Grade I star Oriel Chambers designed by Peter Ellis Martins Bank grade II star by Herbert Rowse internationally renowned and admired. There are conditions within the national planning guidelines around design and but sadly they seem never to be applied and developers are free to throw up anything. I would imagine the argument will be that it is hard reject as we need housing but what is the point of planning policy if you need to follow it?
Was never aware that there had been a fire at the ABC, but not in the very least surprised. I recall a friend of mine, who is now living in Canada. he was over for a visit one time, many years back, and I introduced him to a neighbour in my local, who was also a Blue Badge Guide, my mate asked him how come there were so many buildings boarded up & left empty, yet with no roof, or many slates missing.
He explained to us that that is the favourite ploy of deveopers, "They buy a property with an eye to modernising it in some way, or replacing it completely, but, they then find out that the building is either in a conservation area, or has some kind of preservation order on it, thus preventing much in the way of alteratiion work (especially knocking it down & replacing it with something complegtely "out of sync" with the rest of the area) so what usually happend is that the building is left untouched completely and eventually decays. somebody comes along and removes a few slates off the roof, and before they can actually be replaced, it falls victim to the bad weather, this obviously affects the rest of the building, and before too long it becomes "structurally unsound" leaving no option but to remove it completely."
I am guessing over this next bit, so obviously can't state it with any kind of certainty and would never dream of trying to claim it as fact, but it would be very easy (and no doubt cynical) to think that this could also be a cause of so many buildings "catching fire".
As Robert Plant sings on Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" "it makes me wonder"
It's awful and the clear "winner" of this accolade when you look at the competition, which all have at least some redeeming features. Stuck with it for many decades.
One of my most strongly held opinions is that no one should have a strong opinion on Lime St. It's meh at worst but it is indisputably better than the eyesore it was for 40 years, and all the moaning distracts from the many other eyesores, stalled sites and antisocial developments that are causing tangible harm to local people.
Cinemas and theatres seem to have a particularly hard time finding new uses rather than being demolished. Why is this?
Could it be because they have a large footprint and are often located in high value location within city and town centres? Or perhaps it is only those in these locations that are left land-banked, vacant and decaying? There are numerous examples in this City of cinemas being reused - Handymans on Smithdown Road was a former suburban cinema as an example.
The key is that the current owners have to be flexible and imaginative in the new uses they embrace.
As a part-owner of one of the rarest - a suburban Victorian Music Hall - I know the challenges. But it is about vision and commitment. Twelve years ago - "You can't open a horse riding school in an old Victorian theatre ........ Can you?"
Take a look at Park Palace Ponies, 253 Mill Street L8. The countries first starter riding school, and then, if anyone has a larger cinema they want repurposing into a full sized riding arena do let me know .
Keith Hackett 07969 497048
All architecture is subjective. I don’t mind it. It’s better than a row of derelict buildings in my opinion. One of those old buildings was lovely, The Futurist. But none of them where by the time it come to demolish them and at least the new development is full of businesses. Not many developers will touch an old cinema, hence the ABC is still sitting empty decades after closing
The heading 'Hoardings of shame' said it all. The planners, architects and city council officials responsible for those hideous creations being there for all the world to poke fun at our city with should be hanged from those hoardings.
Those fabulous buildings that used to be there were deliberately left to decay over the past decades in order to have them eventually demolished. In the local newspaper archives one would find it was in the 70s' Militant Tendency's agenda to rip down all those buildings along with most of the Victorian and Georgian buildings in Liverpool, replacing them with what they called at the time 'progressive' stuff like the ones we are now looking at. This goes to show, despite the supposedly reforms having been made, the city council is still operating very much under the shadow of its past.
I quite like the new building. The old Lime Street was a bit of a hotch potch, and people had a nostalgic attachment to the Futurist, but it was in poor condition and not useable for anything else. What I like about the hoardings is that they reference the history of the site, and also echo the hoardings on the front of the Everyman. I think it is very unfair to give it such a negative rating.
Inoffensive and bland when it could be a character statement and introduction to the city. So it’s a disappointment, but hardly the ugliest new building In the city or even the country. Before I got rid of this I would bulldoze the Hatton-era bungalows that intrude into the city centre near the John Lewis car park; or the tacky post-modern housing next to the Anglican cathedral. As for the new Royal Hospital…. visually it’s meh, functionally (speaking as an outpatient not a regular worker) it’s disastrous.
I saw Steve Earle a few years ago at the Phil. He said “you have a beautiful city, don’t fuck it up”. I think maximum effort should be made to preserve the beautiful and unique buildings in the city. It is disgraceful that these buildings are not re-purposed. It may take some skill and vision, but it is possible. Part of the appeal of Liverpool is that it doesn’t look like the other identikit centres we see all over the place.
The reason why the lovely Futurist Cinema got into such a bad state which was beyond repair was that its owner Liverpool City Council allowed it to fall apart for around 30 years!
There's no imagination given to repurposing such buildings.
As a journalist on the Liverpool Echo I campaigned to save the Futurist suggesting it could become a Hard Rock Cafe with its screen showing rock and pop films and video. What an attraction that would have been to our now tourist-oriented city!
Lime Street's other historic buildings could have been saved if only as facades. The Georgian buildings survived the threat of French invasion, two World Wars (especially the blitz) and the city's rampant 1960s redevelopment, only to fall foul to this appropriately branded carbuncle.
Too many mate's favours to developers swirling around me thinks!
A group of local entrepreneurs got together a few years ago as Liverpool Music House & had plans to turn the old ABC Cinema (Grade 2) on Lime St into a music venue. Apparently they got short shrift from council officers & told there were other viable options.
It's still unused.
I remember reading similar articles about plans for the ABC on a few different occasions, one of the most recent was an idea to turn it into some kind of version of FACT, housing fashion design centres, some kind of diisplay centre, a few studios and a concert venue.
Speaking as someone who was always puzzled as to why the venue was left to rot, when it could just as easily be into a concert venue. "The endless fun" I and quie a few others had to to endue when we used totravel to Manchester to see bands playing at the Apollo, which itself was a former Cinema, really did do my head in. The ABC had it all there, It was ideal for the main station, only round the corner from the local station and ideally placed for the buses, unlike the Apollo, which is a good walk into the City, and at least half a hour or more from the station, which once again, adds to the "Enjoyment" when you leave after the gig. But obviously, better minds than mine have apparently looked into this and obviously decided that idea wasn't viable.
I have said this before, on a similar subject on here, but I wonder what would happen if the Merseybeat phenomenon had happened during this time, instead of during the sixties? Could well imagine all the bands being actively discouraged from playing at so many of the places they did
You just wonder what's going on in the minds of these gormless people. You really do. The ABC Forum as Liverpool Music House would have been terrific - in fact could have gone in tandem with the Futurist as a Hard Rock Cafe - what a double offering to visitors and locals!
The last iteration of Lime St before this building was Georgian as in George V not George III so I don't think there was much fear of Napoleon showing up!
Lime Street is definitely nothing to be proud of. But surely the Premier Inn on Hanover Street far outdoes it in the ugly stakes. It takes great imagination to create something so bad.
Poor Walton, peak example of the stupidity of this region.
Of course opinions on new builds are subjective but we have no new buildings of aesthetic merit that's the point. If you walk around the city most of the new residential blocks are grim dull bland and boring little ito appreciate in the way of design. Clearly budget is the dominating factor.Liverpool is constantly becoming known for ugly design because of this trend .Sad when you think we were once known for being trailblazers for architecture Grade I star Oriel Chambers designed by Peter Ellis Martins Bank grade II star by Herbert Rowse internationally renowned and admired. There are conditions within the national planning guidelines around design and but sadly they seem never to be applied and developers are free to throw up anything. I would imagine the argument will be that it is hard reject as we need housing but what is the point of planning policy if you need to follow it?
Was never aware that there had been a fire at the ABC, but not in the very least surprised. I recall a friend of mine, who is now living in Canada. he was over for a visit one time, many years back, and I introduced him to a neighbour in my local, who was also a Blue Badge Guide, my mate asked him how come there were so many buildings boarded up & left empty, yet with no roof, or many slates missing.
He explained to us that that is the favourite ploy of deveopers, "They buy a property with an eye to modernising it in some way, or replacing it completely, but, they then find out that the building is either in a conservation area, or has some kind of preservation order on it, thus preventing much in the way of alteratiion work (especially knocking it down & replacing it with something complegtely "out of sync" with the rest of the area) so what usually happend is that the building is left untouched completely and eventually decays. somebody comes along and removes a few slates off the roof, and before they can actually be replaced, it falls victim to the bad weather, this obviously affects the rest of the building, and before too long it becomes "structurally unsound" leaving no option but to remove it completely."
I am guessing over this next bit, so obviously can't state it with any kind of certainty and would never dream of trying to claim it as fact, but it would be very easy (and no doubt cynical) to think that this could also be a cause of so many buildings "catching fire".
As Robert Plant sings on Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" "it makes me wonder"
It's awful and the clear "winner" of this accolade when you look at the competition, which all have at least some redeeming features. Stuck with it for many decades.