PARR STREET RESCUE FAILS

Genesis' plans to have Liverpool's Parr Street Studios turned into luxury flats for people as rich as they are will go ahead, after a consortium looking to buy the business had their bid rejected:

Last night Thomas Lang, a member of the consortium, said: "I'm heartbroken and completely disillusioned. We were promised that if we could come up with the money we could have the studios. "That has not happened and I do not know what the motivation for the decision is."

Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch, whose management is based at the centre, said: "I'm extremely disappointed that one of the city's most successful cultural assets is being closed to line the pockets of corporate property developers.

The studios, which have been used by Coldplay, New Order and countless local bands, are said to have been losing money; a figure of £1.35 million had apparently been agreed to transfer them to the consortium but it seems like Hit and Run, Genesis' property company, wants more money:

Hit and Run is owned by three members of Genesis, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. A spokesman for Hit and Run said: "I have been instructed to sell the property. It is the first time we have put this property on the market. We are looking for offers in the region of £1.6m and if the consortium wish to come back with a new offer, they are welcome to."

Well, you wouldn't want to think of Phil Collins starving to death in his old age because he missed out on a few thousand quid, would you?

Naturally, if Liverpool City Council actually cared about its local culture - rather than only embracing it as a marketing opportunity - they would by now have made it perfectly clear that no planning consent would be given to change the building into flats, but they seem reluctant to actually do anything that might upset property developers.

music phil collins genesis parr street coldplay echo and the bunnymen corporate greed