Alternative icon Quiggins goes - but not quietly

3 Jul 2006 

Liverpool's Quiggins store said goodbye on Saturday with a memorable party.

FOR many in Liverpool, the hardest loss to take on Saturday had nothing to do with penalties and the Portuguese.

For Saturday also marked the end of Quiggins, Liverpool's famous alternative retail centre, finally losing its battle for survival as the looming Grosvenor project could be defied no longer.

They came in their hundreds throughout the day just to say goodbye to something which has been part of Liverpool's cultural landscape for close to 20 years.

As ever with Quiggins, promoting local talent was at the heart of the occasion, with a number of bands providing a suitably raucous end for a venue that was never going to go quietly.

By 8.30pm the crowds had been such that the bar had run out of beer and new supplies were hastily drafted in.

Looking on throughout was Peter Tierney - "Peter Quigs" to many - the co-owner of Quiggins and the man who embodies everything it stands for.

It was difficult to hear his short speech on the stage such was the strength of cheering from the floor as Liverpool's youth, and a few elder hands too, thanked the man who has given them all a home for so long.

But the message was definitely clear: "The phoenix will rise from the flames."

The Quiggins site will become an arcade of designer stores as part of Grosvenor's £920m city centre revamp and it would have been easy for Peter Tierney to feel bitter at the people who are taking away his pride and joy.

By rights, Rod Holmes, Grosvenor's project director and Mr Tierney should be sworn enemies and if two men of lesser qualities had been involved they no doubt would have been. But not a bit of it.

The Quiggins team had invited Mr Holmes to their party and, despite arriving in Liverpool after midnight following a tortuous journey from London, he was determined to take them up on it.

A warm embrace between the two men spoke volumes, like two boxers who had just gone 12 rounds with an opponent and had renewed respect for them.

A clearly emotional Mr Tierney told the Daily Post he was determined to look to the future.

"I'll press ahead with our development plan for George Henry Lee's. It's got to be something really good or it's not worth doing and I'm not going to let anyone stop me," he said.

As the DJ captured the moment with renditions of "Tracks of My Tears" and "What becomes of the broken hearted", no-one would bet against Peter Tierney creating something truly special in Liverpool once again.

andykelly@dailypost.co.uk

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