Penny Lane's £1 Beatle building

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Penny Lane’s vacant £1 Beatle building: A Mossley Hill community centre left vacant for ten months has finally been listed for sale. The Penny Lane Development Trust vacated the building, which also served as a Beatles memorabilia attraction, on New Year’s Eve 2025 after going into liquidation. 

Local councillor Richard Kemp told The Post in a statement that it was “disgraceful” that the building had been empty “for so long”, and said it would be “well over a year” before any successful bidder could start to use the building. 

The city council owns the freehold of the site. A spokesperson said the council has been working with liquidators to “secure the best possible outcome for the local community”. The building is held under a 99-year lease dated July 2009 with rent of £1 per year, and must be used by a community or charitable organisation

"Is our relationship with alcohol the right one?” Councillor Harry Doyle asked in a BBC report last week. “Is it balanced? Right now, the answer is no." 

Doyle was announcing the council’s new strategy to tackle Liverpool’s drinking problem. It could become harder to open pubs, bars and off-licences in some parts of the city, alcohol treatment services will be strengthened, and the Lower My Drinking app will encourage the city’s sober hangouts. According to the council’s estimates, 67,000 adults in Liverpool binge drink.

The city has often been lumbered with a reputation for drinking. In 1866, The Times labelled Liverpool "The Most Drunken Town in England.” In 2023, we took a deep dive into whether that was still true. The answer, it seems, is more complicated. The city drinks at roughly the same rate as comparable cities, but suffers far worse consequences: the rate of alcohol-related deaths in Liverpool is 41% above the national average. 

This is the “alcohol harm paradox” referenced in the council’s plans. People in poorer communities suffer disproportionately from alcohol-related harm, even when they drink less. This likely means that pubs and off-licences will be denied in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods.