The opening of the Met Quarter and Liverpool ONE threatened Cavern Walks’ monopoly as “the” Liverpool shopping destination
The interior of the Cavern Walks shopping centre in Liverpool, Merseyside. 27th July 1993.
From a golden age as the definitive Liverpool shopping destination to a “virtually vacant” underground cave, the Cavern Walks shopping centre has experienced sparkling highs and dismal lows throughout its history. After several years of struggling, could this former beacon of thriving business be due a new lease of life?
The old office, shopping and leisure complex, located on Mathew Street and Lord Street, was developed by Liverpool-based Royal Life Assurance and officially opened on April 26, 1984, on the site of the old Cavern night club. At the time, it was considered the height of retail luxury, breaking the bank at a whopping £9,000,000 – the equivalent of about £30m today.
A £40,000 life-size bronze statue of The Beatles was unveiled by Mike McCartney in celebration of the grand opening. This still stands today beside the Chantilly Beatles Cafe, which itself has been a fixture in the Cavern Walks since 1993, and prides itself on selling “the cheapest all-day breakfast in Liverpool” (sausage, bacon, black pudding, beans, egg and toast for £4.50).
Owner Nina McCormick told The ECHO: “The Cavern Walks was so full of life back in 1984. It was two floors, Cricket upstairs, the ‘kids cavern’, card shops, so many different kinds of shops on two levels.
“It was one of the first shopping centres in Liverpool alongside St Johns, so we didn’t have the Met Quarter, we didn’t have Liverpool ONE. It was the main place to be.”
Nina McCormick, owner of The Chantilly Beatles Cafe in Cavern Walks(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The Cavern Walks dominated Liverpool city centre’s shopping scene until the early 2000s, with high-end brands such as Cricket and Vivienne Westwood spanning its multiple storeys. Celebrity visitors included Katie Price, Coleen Rooney and Alex Gerrard.
But this golden age of bustling business was not to last, as the opening of the Met Quarter and Liverpool ONE threatened Cavern Walks’ monopoly as “the” Liverpool shopping destination.
Cricket, which had operated inside the shopping centre for 28 years, moved to the Met Quarter in September 2019. A few months later, the outbreak of Covid-19 was the death knell for some other shops, which closed during lockdown and never reopened.
A ceiling was also added between the ground and first floors, ensuring the complex lived up to its “cavern” title as the resulting lack of natural light gave the place a subterranean atmosphere.
Cavern Walks Shopping Centre in Liverpool in May 2025, when the centre was “virtually vacant”
Proposals for part of the shopping centre to be developed into a luxury hotel were floated by Signature Living owner Lawrence Kenwright in 2019. But the project never materialised, and the subsequent collapse of Signature Living, which once ran some of the most prominent hotels in the city, meant the dream of a Cavern Walks hotel was set aside.
It was picked up again in April 2023, when new owner Craig Greenwood was given the green light to create a 150-room Beatles themed hotel at Cavern Walks.
Adam Williams moved his vape business, Rojeans, to Cavern Walks in 2017, when its upper floors were still open. He said: “It was booming on the next floor up. What sounded the death knell for me really was Covid, because as a retailer, non-essential as they called it, I had to close. The corner shops were allowed to stay open, so they sucked a lot of the business up. And it hasn’t really recovered since.
“Cavern Menswear moved out during the lockdown and it’s been quiet since then. I rely on existing customers. You get the occasional mention in the ECHO, but there’s no broad advertising.”
Adam Williams, owner of Rojeans vape shop in Cavern Walks(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Cat de Leon, owner of the As Above So Below Emporium for tarot readings and magical supplies, said: “When I came in the plans were there was going to be a hotel imminently, and the shops were going to be alternative businesses similar to mine, or bringing in a similar demographic. The plan was to make this the alternative shopping destination in the city centre.
“This is an ideal location because when people are living on the outskirts they’ve got to come through to get to Lime Street or Queen Square, and then you’ve got the tourists, so I assumed it would be a smart move especially with the hotel going up.
“However there were delays and so for a while I was kind of the only shop in here, and I was obstructed by cladding when they dropped the ceiling, so the only business I was getting was through social media and word of mouth.
She added: “It’s still getting on its feet. It’s still, I feel, struggling to find its identity although now with Mathew Street Records and the new tattooist, that makes a difference as far as the branding of the arcade as a whole
“People have forgotten about it. You’ve got all of Lord Street, you’ve got Liverpool ONE, and when this went pretty much virtually vacant, people forgot about it. People still come in here, and I mean Scousers come in and say ‘I didn’t even realise this place was here’, and they’re not talking about me, they’re talking about Cavern Walks.”
Lisa Trapasso-Emina runs Lisa’s Reborn Baby Dolls, believed to be the only shop in Merseyside that makes super-realistic silicone dolls resembling real-life infants. She said: “We have a nice little community here of business owners. It is quiet though. There’s not much footfall. A lot of people don’t know we’re here. I think a lot of the younger generation don’t know it’s here, and the older generation think it’s closed. I speak to people every week, because we do the market as well, and they say they thought it closed down years ago.”
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For several years after lockdown, a number of units within the Cavern Walks remained shuttered and empty. But the shopping centre has experienced a new lease of life, partially due to the closure of St John’s Market in March 2024.
The Card Empire trading card shop relocated to Cavern Walks the following month. Mathew Street Records music shop moved in in May this year. This was followed by the Goodness Grief tattoo parlour in October, with all three new business ventures taking over previously-abandoned sites.
Janie Fairhurst, of Mathew Street Records, said: “It’s great location and were want to bring that location back to life. It’s so historic music-wise, why not have a music shop here? It’s been good really, we’re having great footfall. It’s just about getting established as ourselves. Hopefully as time goes on it’s going to keep building and keep building.
“We’d like to see it go back the way it was. There used to be weddings in here and we’d love to see that, and this place needs to be on the map. It’s the Cavern Club, it’s the home of The Beatles.”