Christopher Carline claims he has been “forced out” of The Shankly Hotel, which bears the name of his legendary grandfather
Christopher Carline is the grandson of Bill Shankly(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Bill Shankly’s grandson has released an explosive statement after revealing he is no longer involved with the Liverpool hotel that bears his legendary grandad’s name – and is now locked in a legal battle over the site’s future.
Christopher Carline was involved in the launch of The Shankly Hotel in Victoria Street in 2015. The hotel – themed around Shankly’s glittering career and full of memorabilia – was initially operated by Liverpool developers and hotel company Signature Living, with Mr Carline a director.
But issues later emerged and the hotel company went into administration in 2020 amid the wider collapse of its parent organisation, Signature Group. The ECHO reported at the time that consulting firm Kroll was handling the administration.
The hotel, based in former city council offices Millennium House, has continued to trade under the administrators in recent years, with a view to it being sold. A recent progress report said the period of administration had been legally extended until April 2026. The report said that sale of the hotel remains ongoing and is dependent upon an agreement being reached with various investor groups.
In his statement on social media, Mr Carline said that on behalf of the Shankly name, he was asked to work with the administrator to continue to run the hotel pending an eventual sale or rescue.
He said: “Leading up to this myself and my family had become increasingly concerned over how the business was being run and its association with the Shankly name, so we were hopeful that the new regime would be a positive step for the business.
“Unfortunately, in my opinion; this did not turn out to be the case and our concerns surrounding the business only increased which I raised various times over the past three years.”
Mr Carline claimed that as a result of raising these concerns, he was “isolated” from the business and states he left the business in October. He added: “In my view I have been forcibly pushed out of the business due to concerns raised.”
The Shankly Hotel on Victoria Street in Liverpool city centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
He said that at this point, he and his family removed all the items of personal Shankly memorabilia that belonged to them and requested that the hotel removed all references to the Shankly name from the business.
Mr Carline says he then received a letter in November from the administrator’s solicitors, which said the Shankly name would not be removed and warned of legal consequences if he were to make “unfounded allegations.”
He added: “Hence, my statement here is nothing than just open fact to confirm our position on behalf of the Shankly family.
“As a family, we want the public to know that we no longer have anything to do with the hotel and there is no association between the Shankly name and the hotel whatsoever.
“Our position is that the name is being used in an unauthorised manner.”
He added: “l would personally like to thank everyone for their support and guidance during the last 10 years. The staff, the guests, the people.
“We can never thank you enough for helping realise what was a lifelong dream. We continue to push my grandad’s legacy and what he stood for and believed in through our other ventures.”
The ECHO has attempted to contact Kroll for a full response to the claims made by Mr Carline.
Mr Carline, who describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as “owner of the Shankly brand”, is now the owner and director of The Shankly Experience, which offers Bill Shankly-themed tours for Liverpool fans. He is also the owner of The White Star Line Hotel, which opened last summer in the famous Albion House building, the historic former headquarters of the White Star Line shipping company where the Titanic was registered.