Save Madryn Street campaign launched by Liverpool Beatles experts

Phil Coppell outside Number 9 Madryn Street

Beatles experts and fans in Liverpool are uniting to launch a campaign to halt plans to demolish the birthplace of the Fab Four's drummer Ringo Starr.

The Save Madryn Street (SMS) Campaign to be formed with the aim of preserving for posterity number 9 Madryn Street.

The humble terraced house in the Dingle area of the city is where Richard Starkey entered the world on 7th July 1940 and where he lived in the early years of his life.

The SMS campaign group will be officially launched at a public meeting to be held at the Hard Days Night Hotel, North John Street, Liverpool, on Wednesday 25th August, starting at 2pm.

Anyone interested in getting actively involved in the campaign is invited to attend.

Founder members of the SMS campaign include Phil Coppell (Liverpool Beatles guide), Steve Barnes (Hard Days Night Shop and Fab Cabs of Liverpool) Dave Bedford (Beatles historian and author of "Liddypool")
Frank Carlyle (renowned Liverpool historian, author and broadcaster)and Chris Johnson (Journalist)

SMS campaign members believe number 9 Madryn Street is a vital and irreplaceable element of Liverpool's Beatles heritage.

They argue that it is a stopping-off point for thousands of tourists each year and say the news that it has been scheduled for destruction has stirred a storm of angry protests from fans in Liverpool and around the world.

Madryn Street is one of the small estate of "Welsh Streets" that have been scheduled for destruction in a housing regeneration scheme. However, SMS believes Madryn Street must be conserved since it has unique historical importance, as the birthplace of Ringo Starr.

Founder member of the SMS Campaign, Phil Coppell said: "We are going to fight tooth and nail in Liverpool, and around the world, to call a halt to this crazy decision to demolish Madryn Street.

"The homes of Paul McCartney and John Lennon are already preserved and Ringo is no less important.

"He was twenty-five per cent of the Beatles and this was his actual birthplace, not just a place where he lived, so it could be argued that it is more important than Paul's house in Forthlin Road or John's at Mendips.

"The Save Madryn Street campaign will be seeking public and political support to realise a viable scheme to save Madryn Street and preserve it for posterity.

"The Madryn Street houses are not falling down and we have already spoken to developers who say they could easily be renovated to provide a major tourist and residential resource.

"We want to see Ringo's birthplace conserved and turned into proper tourist destination and we are also taken by the idea that some of the houses could be converted for tourist lets.

"Back in the 1970s the city council sanctioned the demolition of The Cavern Club, to make way for a railway ventilation shaft that was never even built.

"Today no-one can understand how that was ever allowed and it is a source of great shame to the city.

"We are not prepared to stand by and let them demolish Madryn Street because it happens to be part of a clearance programme and the town hall planners think it would be inconvenient and would spoil their neat blueprint to keep it standing.

"That would be the kind of mindless municipal vandalism that resulted in the demolition of The Cavern and it has to be stopped."

Added Steve Barnes: "We already have interest expressed from hotel operators who would be keen to look developing part, if not all, of Madryn Street as accommodation.

"We are going to raise a petition to stop the demolition to be presented to the city council and we will be lobbying councillors and MPs in our campaign to get a change of policy to ensure it is preserved.

"Number nine Madryn Street is at the very heart of what we call 'Ringoland' on our guided tours of Liverpool.

"If they knock down down it will be a real source of shame for the city. If we let them knock it down it will be gone forever. Future generations will just not understand how we could do that. The demolition has to be stopped."

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