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Beatles Liverpool landmark left without a home as salvage sale looms
Liverpool’s Salvor mast, linked to the Beatles’ first official photo, could be sold for scrap after the council found no new home.
A key fragment of Beatles history in Liverpool is now at risk of being cut up for scrap after the city council said nobody had come forward to take it on.
The object in question is the mast from the ship Salvor, a fixture on the Mersey docks for decades and, for a time, the backdrop to the first official photograph of the Fab Four after Ringo Starr joined in 1962. After that image was taken, the mast sat for years in a prominent spot near the Liver Buildings, becoming one of those pieces of city iconography that lived half in Beatles mythology and half in everyday civic scenery.
That changed in 2020, when it was moved because of roadworks. Since then, Liverpool City Council has been looking for somewhere else to place it. Now, with no suitable new home found, the mast faces being broken up and sold as scrap metal.
The council had previously said it was open to offers, but the search has apparently gone nowhere. Local campaigners are still trying to intervene, including former Liverpool Echo reporter Peter Elson, who has been vocal about the prospect of the mast ending up as spare metal.
“It’s a no-brainer that a massive piece of Beatles memorabilia like that should be saved, yet they were going to sell it for scrap,” Elson said. “You would think that they would have learned after that whole own goal with the Cavern and Ringo’s house in Madryn Street, which they were going to demolish until a campaign was launched to save it.”
Elsewhere, 2026 is shaping up to be a notable year for the two surviving Beatles. Paul McCartney is set to release his new album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane on May 29, with pre-order here, while Starr released his 22nd solo album, Long Long Road, last month.
The McCartney record includes Home To Us, a duet with Starr that looks back on their Liverpool roots and marks the pair’s first-ever vocal collaboration. Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde also appear on the album, and the track can be heard above.
Long Long Road was made with contributions from St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow and Billy Strings, and produced by T-Bone Burnett. Starr recently told NME that the guests each brought something distinct to the project, while praising Burnett’s long track record with his records.
“Everyone on there brings something different because they’re all great players and singers. They’re great musicians who have been at it a while, and they all came through T Bone. In my eyes, he’s never made a mistake on my records,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sam Mendes’ four Beatles biopics are moving ahead, each told from a different band member’s perspective. Due in April 2028, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Starr.
Steven Soderbergh is also developing a Lennon documentary, John Lennon: The Last Interview, which he has said will make use of generative AI.
