While a string of eventshonoured the Fab Four’sfirst of 292 appearances atthe iconic venue, a series ofimprovements outside willhelp boost Mathew Street’sappeal to tourists fromaround the world.Funded by Liverpool Visionand City Central BID,they include:• A ceiling of light –

dubbed Lucy In the SkyWith Diamonds – to beinstalled running the fulllength of Mathew Street

• New spotlights on theJohn Lennon statue andArthur Dooley’s FourLads Who Shook TheWorld sculpture

• New spotlights ongateway signs into theCavern Quarter

• New coat of paint forWorld Capital of Pop Wallof Fame

• Deep cleansing ofpedestrianised walkwayand resurfacing ofgranite

The works come from astudy entitled Designing outCrime, commissioned byLiverpool City Council’sCity Centre ManagementTeam, aimed at improvingthe night-time economy inthe Cavern Quarter.

City Central BID hasadopted the environment asa major theme for itsactivities this year andthere’ll be several majorprojects of this kind in2011 to further improve theappeal of the city centre.

“These works arevital to makingmore of Liverpool’smusical heritage.It is the firststage in makingthe area lookmore attractiveto visitors andpotential investors,and will have apositive impacton its night-timeeconomy.’’Jenny Douglas, Head of CityCentre and Urban Design,Liverpool Vision.

An out of this world3D experience is about tohit Liverpool.

Video gaming giant Nintendo haschosen to host an exclusive pre-launch trial of itsrevolutionary new 3D gamingconsole in the city this March.

Featuring 3D cameras, a motionsensor and a 3D depth slider theNintendo 3DS system provideseye-popping gameplaypossibilities – without the needfor glasses.

Working with City Central BID,Nintendo will be taking overWilliamson Square fromThursday to Sunday, 3 -6 March.

Visitors to Nintendo’s Liverpoolroad show will be able to trytheir hand at a whole range of3D games.

The event is part of a newstrategy to attract more bluechip companies and activities toCity Central.

Ged Gibbons, City Central BIDChief Executive, said: “Hostingand attracting brand leaders likeNintendo or Coca-Cola is a bigcoup – they drive huge footfall,attract great PR and crucially,generate revenue which we canreinvest in our own events.

“We’re having some majordiscussions to further developthis approach which shouldbenefit not just the city centrebut every BID member.”

For more information go to:www.nintendo3ds.co.uk

Beatle Street to shine on

sceneFEBRUARY 2011The newsletter for businesses and employees in the City Central BID area

Win a MarriottLeisure prize

Historic theatregoes dark for amajor spring clean.

Security GuardDean comes to atourist’s rescue.

How good are youto your customers?We’ll be finding out.

6 month leisurepass is upfor grabs.

Derek Millar, (Cavern Walks), Bill Heckle (Cavern City Tours), Ged Gibbons, (City Central BID) and Jenny Douglas, (Liverpool Vision)inspecting ceiling of light on Mathew Street.

what’sinside

thisissue

VISITORS to Mathew Street will be tripping the light fantastic following a major revampin celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ first gig at The Cavern.

Royal Courtrevamp begins

Employee ofthe Month

Mystery Shopis back

Future ofis here

?

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

IN BRIEF

But for one Argentinian touristthe despair of losing anexpensive item and countlessmemories soon turned to joy,thanks to the quick thinkingactions of a security guard atCavern Walks.For Dean Fofana January 4was no different from anyother as the working worldreturned after the festivebreak, that is until a crowdgathered around the entranceto Cavern Court.The 26-year-old father of one,from Old Swan, recalled:“I noticed one of the crowdwas a bit agitated and when Iasked what was the matter

they pointed a man out whothey claimed had stolen acamera from a tourist onMathew Street. Straight away Iphoned through to control anddecided to follow the man.”Dean, who has worked asa Supervisor for VSGSecurity for 3 years, pursuedthe criminal along NorthJohn Street.Using the City Central fundedRadio Alert scheme he wasable to notify City Watch whopicked up the individual onCCTV. The thief was then soonarrested on Castle Street.Dean, who is our verydeserving February Employee

of the Month, said: “Whatmakes me really proud is thatI assisted the return of acamera, full of picturesand memories, back to atourist who had travelledthousands of miles to visit thebirthplace of his favouriteband – The Beatles.“Seeing his face light upwhen it was returned waswonderful, the camera wasworth far more to him thanjust its monetary value.“It makes waking up earlyand going into work feelvery worthwhile whenyou make someone’s daylike that.”

Employee of the Month:Dean Fofana

Name: Malcolm KennedyJob: Cabinet Member,Regeneration and Transport

Heard of the TV show Malcolmin the Middle? Well Liverpoolhas its own version – a Malcolmat the heart of city life.This is Councillor MalcolmKennedy and he’s one of the mostpowerful politicians in Liverpool,with responsibilities such asplanning, building control, parkingservices and transportation.A councillor since 1998,representing the KirkdaleWard, Malcolm also sits onthe executive board of CityCentral BID.For him, City Central has a keyrole in ensuring Liverpool keepsits foot on the regeneration pedal.Speaking to Scene, he said:“I’m a great fan of BIDs andLiverpool is lucky to have one ofthe best in the country. I’d like tosee more of them.“Giving the private sector greatercontrol and a bigger say on whathappens in their locality will be akey ingredient to the futureregeneration of this city.”

If you want to contact CllrKennedy you can email:malcolm.kennedy@liverpool.gov.uk or call 0151 225 2366

The theft of a camera is no way to begin a new year – let alone whenyou are on holiday and 12,000 miles from home.

A big hearted CityCentral welcome to:•Mexigo, Bold St•Dr Spa Fish, Clayton Square

5 star hostel forCavern Quarter

A budget hotelchain is set toopen Liverpool’sfirst “five-star

hostel”, in the heart of the city’sCavern Quarter.Starboard Hotels Ltd hopes tosecure permission for the 240-bed development which willoccupy the Kansas Building, onMathew Street.If successful, the project will seethe flagship Wade-Smith clothingstore brought back into use byearly 2012.The “Evolution” hostel would bethe first in England containing240 beds across 49 rooms.

Utility wins SmallShop Oscar

Congratulationsto Utility for afantastic win atthe Daily

Telegraph Magazine’s Best SmallShops in Britain Awards.

The Bold Street store beat offstiff competition in the Best forInteriors category and werecrowned the ‘friendly face ofmodern design.’

Now in its 5th year the awards,which are supported by retailguru Mary Portas, received18,000 votes from the public.

Utility Director, Dick Mawdsleysaid of the big win: “It’s a greattestament to all our super keenenthusiastic team and ourchanging product line up ofbeautiful, design-ledcontemporary homewares.”

BID No2 on its way?Plans to createLiverpool’ssecond BusinessImprovement

District (BID) have been backedby the city council.

More than 800 ratepayers arenow set to be balloted on theproposal to create a new BID inthe city’s commercial district.

The BID plan, created byLiverpool Commercial DistrictPartnership (LCDP), will now goto Communities and LocalGovernment Secretary EricPickles before a spring ballot.

For the third year in a rowCity Central is to host aMystery Shopping exercise.

Building on the success ofprevious years, the 2011programme will be expandedbeyond the retail and servicesector to include pubs.

The visits, carried out byStorecheckers, a Northwestbased market researchorganisation, are based on arealistic but challengingshopping scenario and theresults are used to provide asnapshot of the customer

experience gained by visitors.

The average score last yearwas 82% and there was acommendable increase from46% to 54% in businessesthat scored over 90%.

Five businesses wereidentified as Liverpool’sService Stars, having scored100% in both years –Bravissimo, ChristopherJames Jewellers, GregoryAbrams Solicitors,Paul’s Hair World (Cases St)and Voodoo for Him(Mathew St).

The mystery shopping reviewcovered the key areas of staffattitude, customer serviceand selling skills and 2010showed customer servicerising by 3% to 86%.

These prestigious awards arebeing run again thisSpring/Summer and we are

looking for businesses toenter to show the brilliantexperience that shoppers inCity Central receive.

If you wish to enter theCity Central MysteryShop please email:citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.uk

Mystery Shopping back for 2011

? ?

? ?

? ?? ?

??

Dean Fofana – security guard and a New Year hero.

As February’s CityCentral Employee of theMonth Dean has won:

2 tickets to a Liverpool FChome game, a LiverpoolFC football shirt and afree haircut at Hooka onButton Street.

Do you know a colleaguewho deserves to beMarch’s City CentralEmployee of the Month?If so email:citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.ukand tell us why in nomore than 100 wordsor call us on0151 233 2213.

10 million in CityCentral for Xmas

More than10 millionpeople weretracked through

City Central in the run up toChristmas and throughout theJanuary sales.

Although down by 4% on theprevious year, the figures wereclearly heavily affected by thecoldest December on record.

The severe weather broughtheavy snowfall on the finalSaturday before Christmaswhich resulted in 130,000 lessshoppers compared to thesame day in 2009.

Holiday Inn The DarkThe Holiday Innis sporting anew, darkerlook – courtesy

of the biggest paint jobLiverpool has seen in years.

A whopping 2,045 litres ofpaint were used to give the citycentre base a new coat, takinga team of 6 men working 7days to complete the job.

Manager Jonathan King, whowas appointed to the OperatingBoard of City Central BID at ourrecent AGM, is also overseeinga major revamp of all 139rooms at the 3 star hotel.

Holiday Inn offer forScene readers...

Free refreshmentswith every meetingroom booked.The Holiday Inn areoffering complimentaryunlimited use of theirConference Café withevery meeting booked andheld during February andMarch 2011.

Unlimited use of theconference café whichincludes a selection offresh fruit, yoghurts,pastries, cakes andbiscuits served with teaand coffee.

Offer valid untilThursday 31 March.

Call 0151 705 2805.

Scene readers shouldquote TCB Offer.

IN BRIEF

Delivered by local CounterTerrorism Security Advisors,the event uses a multi-media simulation so youcan both learn from andcontribute to valuablelessons that will helpprotect your business andyour community.

You will work individuallyand in small syndicategroups with other localbusiness representatives toface a series of questionsand challenges. You willdevelop new contacts,understand how theemergency services andother agencies respond to

major incidents and developtools and skills to help youprepare for disruption.

The event is FREE so itis expected that demandfor places will be high.Places will be allocatedon a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis.

Date: Tuesday 1 March 2011

Time:Registration 09.30hrsStart 10.00 hrs promptFinish 13.00hrs

Venue:Holiday Inn, City Centre,Lime Street

What’s going onat the court?Having produced shows52 weeks a year for thepast three and a halfyears, Royal CourtLiverpool is having abreak in production untilApril 2011.

The break will give theCourt a chance to pursuea schedule of works inpreparation for a newcollection of shows,including rebuildingthe front of the stage,overhauling the flying

system, clearing thesubstage and installingsome new lightingpositions in the circleand balcony.

During the work the BoxOffice will remain openand shows will be on salefor later in the yearincluding The WizardOf Oz, Dylan Moran,

Milton Jones and thesmash hit Brick UpThe Mersey Tunnels.

The works are notrelated to the widerredevelopment of thebuilding which involves a£10m programme that isbeing run by the RoyalCourt Liverpool Trust.

The Trust has a firstround pass from TheHeritage Lottery Fundand if additionalfundraising is successfulthen the first stageof works will beginearly in 2012.

Help Bold Streethelp itself!City Central BIDhas arranged ameeting whichcould raise fundsto further improvethe facilities foryou and yourcustomers, clientsand visitors.

As we all know VATincreases, thegrowth of theinternet and hugepublic sector cutsand job losses will makelife difficult on the highstreet for the foreseeablefuture – so any savings areat a premium.

We are holding a meeting at6pm on Wednesday 9 Marchin Studio 2 at Parr StreetStudios, to show you how, byworking together, we may beable to reduce youroutgoings and therebyincrease your profits.

In addition there is anopportunity to promote the

Bold Street Scheme to yourvisitors and customerswhereby they can alsosave money.

There is also an opportunityfor Bold Street to receivemonthly funding to reinvestin the area.

We hope to see you onthe night.

To register yourattendance please email:citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.uk or call0151 233 2212

Do you know what todo in a terrorist attack?If not, then read on….

Project ARGUS, a National Counter Terrorism SecurityOffice (NaCTSO) initiative, has teamed up with

City Central BID to aid you in preventing, handlingand recovering from a terrorist attack.

ATTENTION ALL BOLD STREET BUSINESSES!

A Right Royal Revamp

To book contact susan.kelly@liverpool.gov.ukor call 0151 233 2213

For more info on Royal Court’s £10m plan go towww.royalcourttrust.org

The public can donate through that website orwww.royalcourtliverpool.com

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

COMPETITION

City Central BID, c/o Rapid, Williamson Square, Liverpool L1 1EATel: 0151 233 2213 Fax: 0151 233 2218 www.citycentralbid.comEmail your latest news, views and pictures to: mike.doran@liverpool.gov.ukYou can now follow City Central on and

Send usyour views

Who’s your double?Your doppelganger?I ask because, before beingdemolished in 1970 as partof the redevelopment of StJohn’s, Queen Square wasconsidered the CoventGarden of Liverpool.The market was a hive ofactivity, with buyers andsellers haggling over theprices of flowers and fruit,as the perfumes and aromasfilled the air.It also contained a theatre –the Royal Amphitheatre –now the site of the RoyalCourt in Roe Street.

In the early 20th century,Queen Square alsocontained three hotels, thepremier one was called TheStork Hotel and its patronsincluded Charles Dickens.The Stork Hotel was built inthe late 1700’s and itsoriginal purpose was as amansion for William Roe, awealthy merchant, to whichRoe Street is named after. Another connection toWilliam is WeatherspoonsFall Well on Roe Street. Thisis situated near the site ofthe original Fall Well. Whenthe well was no longer

required, the water waspiped to the back gardenof the mansion and used asa fountain.Today, Queen Square is oneof the main bus stations inthe city with over 950 busesand 44,000 passengers aday travelling through. Afigure I think William Roe inhis wildest dreams wouldnever have imagined.However, the square has atranquil side that Williamwould appreciate.Behind the Marriott Hotel,there is a hidden gem; La Tasca (on the site of

William Roe’s mansion)resurrecting the exoticaromas and perfumesof yesteryear.On a warm summer eveningrelaxing outside, enjoyingpaella and tapas, with thedistant hum of traffic, youcould almost imagine youwere sitting in a plazuela incentral Madrid.

Terry AllenCity Central CommunicationsOfficer and part-time qualifiedLiverpool City Guide.

Terry’stimes past

TM

How to make the perfect ...pancakeStewart St. John atSignature Café, based onRapid’s 2nd floor, providesa foolproof recipe forpancake day (March 8).

For the batter:Equal quantities of flour, milkand eggs saves any need forfussing with scales. Next, usea mug big enough to takeabout 4 eggs giving youenough batter for 12/14pancakes. Fill the bowl firstwith a mug of flour, then themilk, then crack the 4 eggs.Whisk until smooth.

Leave to rest in the fridgefor an hour.

To cook:Place a good non-stickcrêpe pan on the heat andget it nice and hot.Use a little oil or melted

butter to grease pan and ladlethe batter into the centre ofthe pan (you are trying tothinly cover the surface withbatter). Lower heat tomedium. After a few minutes,flip the pancake. Be safe anduse a fish slice or pallet knife.

Cook for a few minutes moreand serve.

Voila – Happy pancake day!

Top Tip: Practice first – all the bestchefs do – and eat them fresh.

Top Toppings:We like to serve ours withlemon wedges and sprinkle

with sugar. You can’t improveon perfection. Syrup andlemon or maple syrup for theAmerican in us or chocolatesauce and whipped cream forthe French.

• Oedipus by Steven BerkoffPlayhouse TheatreNow – 12 March

• Liverpool’s Finest Wedding FairMetquarter (free event)26, 27 February

• Nintendo Games eventWilliamson Square. 3-6 March

• IBM Systems Technology Truck emergency planning in WilliamsonSquare. 21-22 March

• Ambassador Awards Crowne Plaza Hotel 23 March

• The Gruffalo’s Childby Julia Donaldson and Axel SchefflerPlayhouse Theatre25-26 March

• Roald Dahl’s Twisted Tales by Jeremy DysonPlayhouse Theatre30 March-23 April

Coming up...

10%Discount

2 pancakes £1.99toppings 99p each•fresh lemon & sugar•chocolate & cream•maple syrup•scoop of ice cream,

fresh fruitJust say “outside café nowopen” at the till!Discount from 4-9 March

The Marriott Leisure Club hasundergone a makeover and tocelebrate Scene readers canenter a fabulous competitionto win 6 months freemembership worth morethan £250.The Leisure Club, situated inthe four star hotel in QueenSquare, is one of the best inLiverpool city centre offeringusers a great place to relax,unwind and refresh.An oasis in the heart of ourvibrant city, it is the perfectplace to rejuvenate yourself withfacilities such as:• Fully equipped gym• Bespoke fitness programmes• Fitness re-assessments• Heated swimming pool• High powered Jacuzzi• Sauna• Solarium To win this fabulous prizeanswer this question:Which hotel stood inQueen Square for morethan 200 years.Answer to:citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.ukDeadline – Friday 18 March

If you want to be amember of The MarriottLeisure Club...call 0151 476 8000option 3 or visitwww.liverpoolmarriottcitycentre.co.ukMembership benefits include:• Reciprocal usage of other

Marriott Leisure Clubs • 2 hours FREE city centre

car parking• Personal training

Win a MarriottLeisure ClubMembership

Star EventLiverpool DiscoversLiverpool Discoverssees the city revealingits greatest storiesnever told. 11 funand informative artinstallations, createdby exceptional artists and a brand-newLiverpool map will link together the city’spoints of international interest for fiveweeks until March 20.www.liverpooldiscovers.co.uk

HHHH

H H

HHHH

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

H

Easter PromotionCity Central BID team arelooking to run an EasterGolden Ticket promotion inApril, which will be heavilyfeatured in local media.If you want your business toparticipate, please contactmike.doran@liverpool.gov.ukor call 0151 233 2212.