‘Extraordinary’ new Beatles attraction to open in Liverpool
The expansive 100,000 sq foot attraction will open its doors in 2028.
By Nick Reilly
Liverpool is to unveil a huge 100,000 sq ft visitor attraction dedicated to The Beatles, which has been hailed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham as displaying “the kind of ambition I want to see more of across Britain”.
Set to open in 2028, the project will see The Beatles Story, which opened in 1990, moving into the hands of the Beatles company Apple Corps, marking the first official fan experience in their home.
The project has also been backed by former Fabs Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and will be located at the city’s former shopping centre St John’s Market, which closed its doors in 2024.
It is expected to be four times bigger than the current Beatles Story experience and will include props and sets from Sam Mendes’ hugely anticipated four films about each member, which will be released in 2028.
In addition, Apple Corps will also take over Liverpool’s iconic St Johns Beacon, a 450ft tower, for a separate attraction themed around the band’s celebrated Yellow Submarine film.
Described as a “multi-hour experience”, visitors can also experience settings from the group’s illustrious history, including their childhood homes in Liverpool, The Cavern Club, the locations of their early gigs in Hamburg and US triumphs at New York’s Shea Stadium.
McCartney said: “I find it incredible and humbling that people are still interested in our story and it’s very exciting to me that the Beatles Story and the Beacon are being transformed in such an exciting way in the heart of Liverpool city. I love Liverpool. It’s part of who I am, it’s part of who the Beatles are. If you’d told us this was going to happen when we were hanging out and getting started, we’d never have believed it.”
Ringo Starr added: “It is great to be part of this – deep down I am still a scouser. Liverpool was, and still is, a music city. And now we are expanding the Beatles Story … how far out. The beat goes on.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “The Beatles are one of the greatest examples of what Britain can give to the world.
“Four young men from Liverpool changed music and popular culture forever and, more than 60 years later, their story is still a source of enormous pride for this city and for our whole country.”
A separate fan experience, the band’s first ever, will also open in London next year on the site of their Apple Corps headquarters.
3 Savile Row – the site where they recorded Let it Be and played their legendary final rooftop gig in 1969 – will open its doors to fans for the first time next year. They will be able to experience never-seen-before material from Apple Corps’ extensive archives, rotating exhibitions, fan store, and the recreation of the original studio where Let it Be was recorded. Fans will also get the chance to relive the iconic rooftop concert- as immortalised in Peter Jackson’s Get Back – on exactly the spot it happened.