Since 1982 Peter and his younger brother were trading in a small antique/second hand furniture business (shop) in Kensington, Liverpool 7 (a run down area of Liverpool)

…………….This little shop on the outskirts of the city, barely afforded them a living.

Peter (as always questioning; “Why not have a business in the City Centre?”) decided to research the possibility! What he recognised was not only that it was not affordable to him, but also for many young budding entrepreneurs. He had recognised a massive market not being catered for and decided to rectify the imbalance!
He found himself a new business partner, with the same confidence and ambition, to embark on this new venture! This would be a massive gamble!

The only way he would bring this to a reality for himself and others, was to acquire a large premises and sub-divide the cost and space amongst them all.
They found a dilapidated building at 75 Renshaw Street.

They took out a lease on this property known as “QUIGGINS” ironmongers, a former door furniture supplier to the industry, (The Empire State Building, New York, still to this day bears the “QUIGGINS” name on its brass door fittings),

£2000.00 was raised to start to refurbish, Peter and his new partner took 3 months of, night and day, hard labour, to get ready to open in March 1986.
With no funds available to make a new sign, plus the fact that Peter actually quite liked the sound of this quirky name,”QUIGGINS” remained above the door!

With its wacky name, and its idiosyncrasies, this disorderly den of curiosities and treasures, very soon came to outgrow its surroundings as its popularity soared!

QUIGGINS soon became a victim of its own success.

In 1987 the City Council petitioned for alterations on the building to make it more “public friendly” These alterations would have compromised the image and restricted the function of the premises……………………………….. Time to move on maybe!


Who would know what lay ahead!

1988: Two years after opening in Renshaw St, Council Planners threatened closure if we don’t make alterations. “Reasonable enough!”…….We needed a new building anyway to cater for demand….. A decision is made to relocate!

School Lane was identified as the new location, a short leasehold was bought from a private landlord, an offshore company. Plenty of extra space but in dire need of renovation. Although mammoth in its undertaking this was a labour of necessity. This unassuming building in the back streets quickly became a magnet for artists, musicians and fashionistas alike! A nucleus for the industry.

1990: City Council once again petitions us with a dilapidation order, for QUIGGINS to do repairs on the building, even though renovation was ongoing. They pursue our landlord to surrender the master lease “What’s going on?”….instead our landlord sells long leasehold to QUIGGINS! (City Council Officer not happy!)

1991: ‘City Challenge’ (a quango set up to renovate the city centre) incorporate QUIGGINS into their boundaries and offer us funding, optimistically we begin to put our plans into motion.

1993: ‘City Challenge’ boundaries have now been moved, leaving us on the outskirts. The City council once again threaten closure! “Am I being paranoid here?”

1994: ‘Rope Walks’ (another quango) set up to renovate the City Centre, tells QUIGGINS we are within the boundaries (yet again) for funding! “We continue with plans to develop the building!”

1996: Once again the boundaries are moved leaving QUIGGINS on the outside. Every cultural organisation was contacted for help, but not interested. “A hidden agenda, maybe?” Only LBBA (Liverpool Black Business Association) offered help… Peter refused! (Maybe a mistake!)

1996/1997: Plans are drawn up by QUIGGINS to develop its School Lane site, this time to be self funded……planning consent is approved by Liverpool City Council. “Is this too good to be true?”

1998: “BAD NEWS”……….Our plans are set aside by the Council as QUIGGINS is informed a major development is now planned for 46 acres of Liverpool City Centre, Our area was to be privatised to Grosvenor ……We now prepare for a move!
From the outset QUIGGINS finds it virtually impossible to find a suitable home within the city boundaries, the shadow of Grosvenor inflates property prices out of our reach, we actively petition the council that we be incorporated within their development or for them to remove the obstacles that were manoeuvring us into collapse. “Silence was their weapon!”

2002: George Henry Lee (John Lewis) are told by the council that they would not be allowed to relocate to the new Grosvenor Development as planned until they could find an end user for the building. QUIGGINS makes a market value bid, and shows proof of funding! “A GREAT SOLUTION!”
A technique by Grosvenor and Council called ‘Assassination by silence’ is used to stop us purchasing G.H.L.

2003: Liverpool wins its bid to be European Capital of Culture! “Now we might be saved...or is that too optimistic?”

Public Inquiry begins: Legal costs spiral for QUIGGINS, even with our limited resources we still employed a top legal team from London to represent us. A march of 200 people, deliver a 10,000 name petition to the inquiry. MP’s, councillors, celebrities and many influential witnesses show support for QUIGGINS, to no avail! QUIGGINS LOSES!........ An appeal is made!........then withdrawn at the eleventh hour when a promise is made by The Duke of Westminster to allow us to lease the back building of GHL. “Let’s hope his fingers are not crossed!”

2004: QUIGGINS continue their objective to purchase the entire GHL building and puts their cultural development plans (which were never shown to the public) forward to the Council and Grosvenor. “Oh! What a surprise!”

2005: Supporters campaigned passionately to SAVE QUIGGINS. Peter made a trip to N0.10 Downing Street, to submit a 150,000 named petition, (a third of the Liverpool population.) Claire Curtis Thomas MP even brought the plight of QUIGGINS to the attention of the House of Commons, Questions were asked in the House! The QUIGGINS name was now known by the national press! …..But shunned by our own elected Council and The Liverpool Culture Company. ”A hot potato!”

2006: JUNE 30th
After a relentless battle, QUIGGINS “The Culture Capital of the Capital of Culture” closed its doors in School Lane. A thank-you party was held for all involved with the campaign. An emotional day for the many devout and passionate supporters who had fervently fought against plutocracy!
In the end Peter was to be betrayed for as little as 30 pieces of silver! (Whoever coined the phrase “Blood is thicker than water”, needs shooting!)

“This battle for a city position took a grand total of 18 years! ‘Pushing water uphill’!
I’d always recognised the importance of keeping QUIGGINS in Liverpool, to make it easy and accessible to small entrepreneurs and cottage industries to gain a foothold in the city. It was not about retaining 50 independent businesses’ it was about adding 100’s more! The demand was huge QUIGGINS had a responsibility to ensure continuity. This battle was never about financial gain, QUIGGINS is a passion, a passion with responsibility to help create opportunities for others! Extinguishing QUIGGINS removed a future for a lot of young local people!”

“QUIGGINS IS A PASSION” Peter Tierney

With the news of the new scheme to revamp the City Centre, it looked like the plans we had been working on since 1990 would finally be accepted. The council told us we would be included in the scheme, so no point in worrying about compulsory purchase orders! “Was someone telling porky’s here!”

Then “Lo and behold!” Along came a compulsory purchase order!....... for QUIGGINS!

A campaign to “SAVE QUIGGINS” was launched - 50 business’s and 250 jobs were at stake. A low key affair at first, Then the Liverpool launched and won its European Capital of Culture bid ……We naively believed “maybe now a pardon from the King!” We fitted all the cultural criteria that the council buzz words were quoting! ................ “Are we ****ing invisible or just paranoid!”

John Lewis (formally George Henry Lee) are to become the anchor site for the new development, with a prestigious new flagship store being built elsewhere, QUIGGINS makes a bid for the old GHL building at market value, with proof of Investors and funding shown!.......”Silence! Silence! Silence! .....Assassinate with silence!” was used by the opposition.

QUIGGINS now had to face a 10 week public enquiry. Divide and Rule had now been injected into the building, causing unsettlement and discontentment, a stressful time for all, as costs spiral for QUIGGINS! A reputable legal team had to be enlisted for this fight against bureaucracy! A lost battle! An appeal followed, and at the eleventh hour withdrawn as the Duke of Westminster promises QUIGGINS the opportunity to lease the back building of GHL (John Lewis)

QUIGGINS continue their objective to purchase the entire GHL building and puts their cultural development plans forward to the City Council and Grosvenor. These plans were never shown to the public! Council didn’t want to upset Grosvenor

The fight now steps up …….We were being portrayed as “pulling the area down” and ”a blot on the landscape”, an insult to QUIGGINS, after spending £1/2 million on interior renovations. (A Council run organisation called ‘Gold Zone’ was set up to help clean the streets in the City Centre, but somehow missed all the surrounding streets of QUIGGINS!)…. All part of the hidden agenda, maybe? We encountered objections from the City Council to any alterations we might make to the façade of our School Lane building! “Strange! This blot on the landscape didn’t stop thousands of tourists (from foreign students to coach loads of OAP’s) flocking through its doors!”

Visitors queued to add their name to the “SAVE QUIGGINS” petition, celebrities added them selves to the cause, from Norman Wisdom to The Coral, even Will Young paused his sell-out concert to proclaim “SAVE QUIGGINS!”. Supporters of the campaign gathered daily in QUIGGINS to help the cause, it had become a moral cause for them, an injustice was happening. A third of Liverpool’s population were not being heard. They wanted to help!
QUIGGINS was an investor, not the usual speculator Liverpool was used to!

Peter travelled to 10 Downing St with his 150,000 name petition. Our local MP Louise Ellman did not volunteer support, the CULTURAL cause was taken up by Claire Curtis-Thomas MP,(for one of her constituents in Crosby) who brought attention to “a cultural asset to Liverpool!”…. QUIGGINS
Questions were asked in the House of Commons! ………Again nothing mentioned in the controlled tabloids or media!………… “oops!... Wonder why?”

2006, July

A devastating sight to watch QUIGGINS staff lose their jobs, after the long battle. They had fought so hard to have a future, and save this cultural asset for Liverpool.

QUIGGINS tenants dispersed……………… LOST ART (skateboarding), BADASS (club/urban fashion), RESSURECTION (urban/retro fashion), DERMAGRAFFITI (tattoo artist), STIGMATA (body piercing), BOBBY J. (barber)
…… to the Bold Street area……....Many others were extinguished!

QUIGGINS had now been made vulnerable to speculators in the city, who had property to fill.
Any business in Liverpool City Centre today: masquerading itself as QUIGGINS, unable to create, on their own merit, reassures me of the strength of the’ QUIGGINS BRAND’, but without passion the brand is nothing, but a building!

QUIGGINS now trades from 325 Aigburth Rd. L17 0BL

This battle was never about money for QUIGGINS, it was about opportunity for “the indigenous”, “the small business”, and “the corner shop” to be able to trade within their own city centre!

After a year of uncertainty, legal technicalities and financial control by the opposition, QUIGGINS now aims to pursue its objective and return to the city centre and hopefully take up the opportunity offered to QUIGGINS by the Duke of Westminster!

2007, July

1 Year later Grosvenor is about to pay out compensation-:

QUIGGINS-: £1.2million, before tax and our own legal costs.
“£1.2 million equivalent to a pavement injury claim!”
Contraband Discount Stores (above Quicksave) -:£700.000
Top Shop (Arcadia Group)-:£55million

A big thank you to all those involved in the destruction of this Liverpool Institution and to the Liverpool Capital of Culture…,” may the “Farce” be with you!”


Having come full circle and returning back to where it all began, on the outskirts of town, picking up remnants of business, from the overspill of the city………….


Until his return to the City Centre, Peter has opened an antique shop called AttiQue (Aigburth Rd, South Liverpool,) here he has managed to maintain the bohemian aura of QUIGGINS, within this leafy suburban area!
……………………………..Through all this his positive spirit still persists!

It was like a feeding frenzy! QUIGGINS had harnessed a market not being catered for, outside of London, since the 60’s. On par to the famous BIBA concept which unfortunately came to the same tragic fate. Customers from all around the country (and further a field) would converge on QUIGGINS at weekends. Coaches would arrive, hoards of foreign students, even media crews, we were being televised by cultural channels in the UK as well as Europe!

Kids and parents alike thought they were educating each other on their discovery of this utopia, (only to find they had each found it already for themselves!) QUIGGINS had no discrimination for age, this diverse place had been purposely created to cater for all, an environment were all ages could happily wander around a myriad of little shops and stalls and find treasures of interest!

Fashion designers and students alike would trawl the vintage units for treasures and inspiration, magazine editors and scouts would come to observe the fashionistas with their exclusive street style!

One of the draws of places to study, for students around the country, was not only the vibrant night life in Liverpool, i.e.; ‘CREAM’, but the alternative Lifestyle QUIGGINS provided, as told to us by the president of the students union!

Musicians, artists, writers, actors, all would assemble to the Café; QUIGGINS had become a nucleus for the cultural and creative sector!
”The first place I head for when I get off the train at Lime Street Station is QUIGGINS” (quote) Sir Peter Blake

Stark warehouse space would metamorphose into exhibition space for established and unknown artists….stockrooms and storage space would be transformed into recording and rehearsal studios… the loading bay… a performance area!

This old shabby warehouse in a “back street” location had soon become a Mecca, for many locals and tourists visiting Liverpool. 50% of public traffic passing our door entered the building and became long standing customers, there are 100,000 people passing John Lewis building on Saturdays, this was the reasoning behind the location choice, too ambitious for the council to allow. A piece of cake for QUIGGINS, if obstacles are removed!

Fridays and Saturdays could sometimes prove to be hazardous as people in their thousands would try to gain access to the building; we would have to restrict entry allowing small groups at a time in, as other customers left. By 1992 we were actually outgrowing the building and needed more space to cater for demand. We knew we needed to revamp the building but red tape stopped us.

QUIGGINS was selective in its choice of tenants, each must fit criteria, and each must fit in with the ethos (which Peter quality controlled) of QUIGGINS!

QUIGGINS actually touched on three decades, 80’s/90’s/2000’s closing its doors 2006. In its heyday it was attracting 25,000 customers per week (approx 50% of the traffic passing our building). All the creative talents used it as a meeting place, to shop and make contacts.

Throughout all this the Council didn’t want to recognise QUIGGINS! Maybe it was because we were a private company; we were not being controlled by public bodies, or public money! QUIGGINS was actually doing something the Governments had been trying to do; Helping young entrepreneurs’ and cottage industries to get a foothold on the business ladder. Government Quangos were set up to give advice to small businesses. QUIGGINS not only advised small business, it allowed them to gain experience and experiment within their selected market at a reasonable Investment.

Government and Council ‘Buzz Words’ today are ‘Anti-social behaviour’. ”Vote! Vote! Vote!”………..They need to find a solution to combat this!
Can they not see, that here we had something the youth had found themselves, that they could identify with and feel part of, that kept them off the street, a place where they could express themselves, feel confident, meet with their own kind………so what did these short sighted governing bodies do?.........and their excuse………”Its for the greater good!”……..more like “It’s for the Fat Cat Commerce!”

We were able to survive the most extreme cases of recession; we sailed through them because we followed monthly, the fashion changes

What did QUIGGINS have do, to be recognised, doesn’t the Culture of QUIGGINS count for anything. (Or did we have to ***kin’ YODEL!) ……………


……………Like the demolition of the CAVERN in the 70’s, and ERICS in the ‘80’s, QUIGGINS had now been condemned to the same fate!

JOHN LEWIS (FORMER GEORGE HENRY LEE)
Basnett Street, Liverpool

Liverpool City Council has made it difficult for QUIGGINS to purchase this building. If all obstacles had been removed in 2002, our plans could have been progressing, we were not allowed to bid on a “level commercial playing field” then, now we have been put in a price war!

Our City Council is obliged to get market value and best price, for this building, and allow in, a business that will contribute to our City!

QUIGGINS FITS ALL THIS CRITERIA

- OFFERED MARKET VALUE
- INDIGENOUS CULTURAL ASSET
- 1,500 DIRECT JOBS
- 150 LOCAL BUSINESSES
- WILL ATRACT OVER 120,000 CUSTOMERS PER WEEK
- CITY TOURIST ATTRACTION
- ESTABLISHED OVER 20 YEARS
- A SOLUTION TO BRIDGING THE RETAIL GAP FROM ‘LIVERPOOL 1’ TO CLAYTON SQUARE

SUPPORT QUIGGINS BID!

LOCAL – LOCAL – LOCAL
NO TO CLONE TOWN!
YES TO CHOICE!

As told to me by Grosvenor-:
“Liverpool is NOT our responsibility”
“Our obligation is to get the best price for the Duke!”

Peter Tierney



LIVERPOOL CAPITAL OF CULTURE

THE SHADOW OF THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER TOUCHES EVERY ORGANISATION UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY, SOLICITORS, SURVEYORS, ACCOUNTANTS, BANKS, ETC.
THIS GOES FOR LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL, IF THE DUKE’S MAGIC HAND WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED QUIGGINS BID FOR GEORGE HENRY LEE, THEN NO DOORS WOULD HAVE BEEN SLAMMED SHUT FOR QUIGGINS!!!

“CULTURE IS WHAT ‘THE POWERS THAT BE’ DECIDE TO LET YOU KEEP!
LOSE YOUR CULTURE - LOSE YOUR IDENTITY!”
Peter Tierney