At the head of Castle Street stands Liverpool Town Hall. The base for all civic matters and home to The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, amidst the surrounding grandeur of Castle Street and Exchange Flags – it's impossible to ignore the sheer splendour of this building.
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00:00The base for all civic matters and home to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
00:06At the head of Castle Street stands Liverpool Town Hall.
00:10Amidst the surrounding grandeur of exchanged flags, it's impossible to ignore the sheer
00:14splendour of this building.
00:17Built in 1749, the Grade I listed Civic Building is not short of character and characters.
00:24From golden pineapples to a goddess of wisdom, the hall has hosted countless prestigious
00:29events including numerous Freedom of the City ceremonies, royal visits from home and
00:34abroad and an iconic homecoming for the Beatles on the front balcony.
00:40If you want to get inside, it is periodically opened up for guided tours, allowing visitors
00:45an exclusive opportunity to explore one of the finest surviving town halls of the 18th
00:50century.
00:51Liverpool City Council meets in the council chambers to conduct the business of the city,
00:55though the offices and their departments are based in the nearby Cunard Building.
01:00A popular film location, thanks to shoots arranged by Liverpool Film Office, from classics
01:06like Chariots of Fire to blockbuster Jack Ryan, its majestic backdrop makes an impressive
01:12setting.
01:13A masterful example of Georgian architecture, fortunes were made by Liverpool's shipping
01:18merchants relating to the slave trade.
01:21In the decorative frieze, Liverpool and the town hall found even greater prosperity as
01:26a port in the years following its abolition.
01:29The interior walls are decorated with murals created in 1909, showing scenes of the city's
01:35history from King John creating Liverpool as a free port to Liverpool as a centre of
01:40culture, commerce, education and progress.
01:43Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and protector of cities, has been the crown of the hall
01:49since 1799 and has protected it for centuries, surviving decades of pollution as well as
01:56the Blitz.