Hard day's light for Beatle Hotel

Hard day’s light for Beatle hotel
May 11 2007
by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo


THE opening date for Liverpool’s new £18m Hard Day’s Night hotel is in the balance over a power supply crisis.
Owners of the Beatle-themed hotel in North John Street say Scottish Power has run into difficulties supplying electricity despite an agreement signed a year ago.
The power company needs to access cables in nearby Harrington Street.
But that means digging through new paving and concrete laid as part of the £73m City Centre Movement Strategy. There have also been fears the work could leave other businesses in the area without power for several days.

The restaurant will be a focal point in the Hard day's night hotel

The hotel says unless the problem is resolved within the next three weeks, their planned October launch is in doubt.
Jimmy Tyrer, of developers Bowdena, said: “We’ve had the electricity substation in the basement since last year, and in January we were given a date in March to get the power supply up and running.
“It was only when that didn’t happen that we found out about this problem.
“There’s a massive amount of work going on inside the building. However, we can’t finish anything until the power is sorted out.
“With this problem hanging over us we can’t start hiring people or taking bookings.
“We don’t want to apportion blame. We just want everyone to work together and try to sort this out.”
Scottish Power today promised it would sort the problem out.
A spokeswoman said: “We’ve been working closely with the city council over this issue.
“The reason for the delay is a need to ensure we comply with health and safety guidance when working in the Harrington Street area and excavating in the vicinity of live cables.
“This area has been resurfaced with a reinforced concrete sub base to support the new granite footway.
“We’ve looked at alternative locations to provide a connection to the hotel and have selected a revised position in North John Street, which we expect to be completed within the timescales expected, enabling the hotel to open on schedule.”
catherinejones@liverpoolecho.co.uk