The Beatles Story to Quadruple in Size with 2028 Move to Liverpool Shopping Centre

The Beatles Story will leave its home of 35 years on Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock in 2028 and reopen across roughly 9,300 square metres at St Johns Shopping Centre and the former Radio City Tower — more than four times its current footprint. Apple Corps, the multimedia company founded by the four band members in 1968, announced the relocation and will take over ownership of the attraction from Mersey Ferrys.

The expansion aligns with the release of the upcoming The Beatles movie, timed for the same year as the move.

What will the new attraction contain?

The majority of the museum will occupy the former St Johns Market within St Johns Shopping Centre, which English architect James A Roberts designed and which was built opposite Liverpool Lime Street station in 1969. The enlarged site will house immersive exhibition design, original artefacts and reconstructed sets chronicling the different eras of the band as they rose to international fame.

The Grade II-listed Radio City Tower, also known as St Johns Beacon, will be transformed into a Yellow Submarine-themed observation platform with views across the city. The 138-metre structure, formerly a communications tower with a revolving restaurant, will operate as a standalone attraction complementing the museum.

What have the surviving Beatles said?

Ringo Starr endorsed the plan in characteristic terms: "Liverpool was, and still is, music city, and now we are expanding The Beatles Story Experience in Liverpool – how far out. The beat goes on."

Paul McCartney struck a longer note: "If you'd told us this was going to happen when we were hanging out and getting started, we'd never have believed it. The extraordinary plans the Apple Corps team have shown me for The Beatles Story take me right back to that journey, from Liverpool to the world and back home again. It couldn't have happened without Liverpool and I can't wait for people to be able to step into our story and share the experience."

Who is backing the move?

UK prime minister Andy Burnham framed the relocation in economic terms. "This is the kind of ambition I want to see more of across Britain – backing the things our great cities do best and turning that global reputation into jobs, opportunity and growth," he said. "This will be a world-class addition to Liverpool and another showcase for British music and creativity on the international stage."

That is a political promise, and it comes without figures attached. No opening date beyond the 2028 target, no cost for the conversion, and no attendance projections appear in the announcement.

Why this tower, and why now?

The Radio City Tower has a history of contested reuse proposals. A previous, controversial plan sought to connect the tower to the roof of the 19th-century Central Library by a zipwire — a scheme that drew a legal challenge and never proceeded. The Beatles conversion is the first proposal to reach announcement stage since.

The Beatles Story first opened on the Royal Albert Dock in 1990 and has operated there ever since. The 2028 relocation will end that 38-year tenancy and place the attraction in the heart of the city's commercial district rather than its waterfront heritage quarter.

What does this change for Liverpool?

For visitors, the change is scale and setting: a fourfold increase in exhibition space, a new observation attraction in a listed 1960s landmark, and a location directly opposite Lime Street station. For the city, the unanswered questions are practical — how a 1969 market building accommodates immersive set construction, and what happens to the Albert Dock site the museum vacates. Apple Corps says the project will showcase British music globally; the details that would test that claim are still to come.