One man’s “unrealistic dream” has “blighted” a world-famous area for 23 years. Raad ‘Ray’ Maatook, 70, has owned the bus shelter featured in The Beatles‘ Penny Lane since 1989.
The former public toilet in Allerton became Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro under Ray’s ownership, but the building closed in 2003 and has stood empty ever since. For the first time, the ECHO was granted access to the decaying building, and was told by owner Ray about the “dream” that has kept the building disused for over two decades.
Inside, the whole building is decaying. A thick layer of dust covers the floor, a large antique coffee machine is the only piece of furniture. Other signs of decay appear through the half-light through the covered windows. Ceilings are ragged, insulation hangs down. Upstairs, moss is growing on the concrete floor.
Stood in the dirty glass-paned rotunda, with views of the famous barber shop and the bank, Ray said: “People give me dirty looks, kids on bikes shout at me. People don’t think I have a dream, and that I don’t care about the city.”
‘An unrealistic dream that is blighting the area’
Ray Maatook (left) and architect Kevin Loughrey, who has been involved in the project for more than a decade.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Ray does indeed have a dream, which was described as “an unrealistic dream that is blighting the area” by veteran local councillor Richard Kemp. Ray wants to turn the bus shelter, which has stood empty for 23 years, into a “well-established franchise” such as a McDonald’s.
Ray said: “The dream is to have a proper franchise here. It’s like having a baby, you have to leave it in the right hands. I will not take risks with people who have no experience. I want to have a well-established franchise.”
Ray said that he has refused publicans, restaurateurs and other businesses as he holds out for a major fast food giant to take on the building. Ray says representative McDonald’s have visited the site twice. He also claims to have had interest over the years from Pizza Hut and Starbucks. He says the stumbling block is the lack of space to the back of the venue, currently occupied by bus stops.
“I have written to Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway. None of them will touch a place outside the city centre without a drive-thru,” he said. Ray said he wants to extend the back of the venue out into the road to allow room for a drive-thru.
Cllr Richard Kemp, a local politician for over 50 years, has represented the area for decades. He said: “Mr Maatook has always talked about having a drive-thru, and no one is going to give him that because the city engineers say it’s dangerous. It’s a major junction. It’s an unrealistic dream that is blighting the area.”
Ray told the ECHO he had spent £160,000 on renovations to the shelter, including adding a first floor. “I stopped the work and cannot go any further. The franchise will want to do their own design, so I can’t do any more. I am retired.”
‘I’ve refused pubs and restaurants’
The Penny Lane bus shelter in Allerton.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“If Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro comes back, it won’t be with me. I’ve refused pubs and international food restaurants. Can you imagine coming to Sergeant Pepper’s and it’s a kebab place? Tourists want something recognisable; they are used to the franchises. I am trying to work with the city.”
Speaking of tourists, in the area close to the building the ECHO spoke to Jennifer Thomas, 67, visiting from Hollywood, Florida, who said: “I hope someone comes in and does something with it, but it doesn’t dampen our appreciation of the place.”
Dave Keller, 73, also from Hollywood, Florida, has been “hooked” on The Beatles since 1964, when he saw the band on The Ed Sullivan Show. He said: “I’m thrilled to be here. Times change, but it’s still very beautiful.”
Cllr Richard Kemp has represented the area for decades. He told the ECHO: “If I had a pound for everyone who asks me who owns the bus shelter because they’d like to buy it I’d be quite rich.
‘A number of troubles’
Ray Maatook at the Penny Lane bus shelter.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“There are a number of troubles with Mr Maatook’s ideas. It’s too small for a franchise. At the other end of Allerton Road we have a KFC coming in, it’s a 52 seat restaurant with a takeaway. I used to go into Mr Maatook’s restaurant, and there were maybe 35 seats.”
Cllr Kemp added: “We’ve commissioned the University of Liverpool to look at everything from the former Welsh Chapel through Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro, along penny lane, over the bridge and all the way to the halls of residence, including the area next to the Penny Lane Development Trust.
“We have plans for the area, but those plans will never be complete unless there is a sensible realisation by Mr Maatook. We’re having to work around him rather than with him.”
Ray says he is losing out on between £30,000 and £40,000 per year by not renting the venue out. “Which shows I am not greedy,” he says. “Once a restaurant takes the lease, the dream is over. There are people waiting to take it, but once I release it, I cannot control it.
‘Once I release it, I cannot control it’
Inside the former Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“I am not crazy. I was educated in this country. I came in the 70s and studied electronics at Liverpool Uni. I like to entertain, I like to be with people, so I changed course and went into hospitality. I’ve stuck with this because it’s bigger than me.
“I have had a dream since 1989. I was working in Casa Italia as a waiter,” said Ray. Images in the ECHO when he bought the shelter, previously a toilet, show Iraqi-born Ray sporting a large moustache, which he says he was told to grow to make him look “more Italian” while working at the restaurant.
Ray said: “I want this story to say that the dream could happen if the planning department understand. I could rent it to anybody and walk away.”
Ray Maatook with 2003 artist’s impressions of his closed Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro.(Image: Liverpool Echo/Jonathan Blackburn)
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council told the ECHO that Ray’s planning applications would be dealt with in the same manner as every other planning application in the city.
Ray planned to build a statue of the Beatles scaling the building. Concept menus from 2003 for Sergeant Peppers Bistro show the statue, which consists of the four using their instruments to scale the building, pulling each other up, with John Lennon at the top pointing towards Strawberry Fields.
Ray says that, whatever franchise he believes he could get into the building, he would not compromise on building this statue and a pair of iron gates dedicated to the Beatles.
‘I still have control of the dream’
Ray Maatook on the top floor of the former Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro. (Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Ray added: “My friends say I should just take the money and leave the dream behind. But I still have control of the dream.”
Ray has had several planning applications approved by the city council since the restaurant closed in 2003. Of the last 23 years, he said: “Anything I put my hand to gets rejected. It’s been like hell. It’s been hard, losing so much respect. I’m trying to leave a legacy.
But near the scene we spoke resident Lesley Campbell-Hunter, 74, who rejects the idea of the idea of turning the bus shelter into a Starbucks, and says a McDonald’s would be “even worse”. She said: “It needs to be Sergeant Pepper’s Bistro. You’d get loads of people eating there, and tourists would visit.”