Our commercial property department represents the award-winning company Marldon, which is looking to the future with new development projects at Prescot Street and Chamber Street in London E1.

Marldon continues to learn about the area’s fascinating history. In the late 1700s a watchmaker called George Prior worked at 31 Prescot Street. Prior is believed to have designed a watch that belonged to Ludwig van Beethoven, now part of an important collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth fell on December 16, 2020, and Marldon was no doubt happy to celebrate this proud if distant connection to the great composer!

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After a huge amount of endeavour on the part of the team at Liverpool Cathedral, we are delighted to report that our friends and partners have received just over £600,000 in crucial funding from the government’s Department of Digital Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Cultural Recovery Fund.

At what is obviously a difficult time for cultural and religious institutions across the country, the grant enables the cathedral to save jobs and break even for the financial year, helping this magnificent Liverpool institution to continue to play its important role in the cultural, tourism, economic and spiritual life of the city.

While the grant is extremely welcome, the cathedral’s income has been badly hit by falling visitor numbers due to the pandemic, and needs our ongoing support to continue its vital work, including the efforts of Micah Liverpool to feed the poor in the run up to Christmas.

Continuing our exploration of the Walker Art Gallery’s treasures, Room 6 hosts one of the world’s best collections of Pre-Raphaelite art, including paintings by Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt, the radicals who changed art in the 19th century.

William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were the three leading members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848. As the name implies, the group opposed the influence of Raphael (as well as Sir Joshua Reynolds) on the contemporary academic teaching of art, instead pursuing the idea of ‘truth to nature’, exemplified by bright colours, attention to detail and traditional themes.

Despite widespread initial condemnation, the group rapidly became influential and gained significant support in Liverpool during the mid-1850s. The Liverpool Academy repeatedly awarded its annual prize to Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and the artists’ works were bought by many of the city’s leading merchants and industrialists.

Known as ‘the National Gallery of the North’, the Walker Art Gallery is among the finest art galleries in Europe, and is also home to the UK’s leading painting competition – the John Moores painting prize. Our firm is proud to be associated with this jewel in the city’s cultural crown, and feel extremely lucky to have world-leading collections like The Pre-Raphaelites just a stone’s throw away!

Our friends at Age Concern Liverpool & Sefton are acutely in need of volunteers to help run the charity’s Befriending Services – a vital lifeline for people aged 50+ living in the area who are feeling vulnerable, lonely and isolated.

The anxiety and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in demand for Age Concern’s Befriending Services, including the organisation’s telephone friendship service. The 200 current volunteers play a vital role in the lives of older people in Liverpool & Sefton, including visits to those who are housebound.

More volunteers are now needed to represent the community and improve people’s lives by sharing their experience, skills and knowledge. Contact Age Concern Liverpool & Sefton to volunteer or share the opportunity with anyone who may be interested.

Share your stories of special museum visits and contribute to the ‘Night at the Museum’ project.

Our friends at National Museums Liverpool are in the process of creating a new immersive adventure experience called ‘Night at the Museum’. Based at the World Museum, the experience will combine theatre, storytelling and gameplay with the latest immersive technology to go deeper into the various extraordinary collections that the curators and staff take care of.

As part of this new project, National Museums Liverpool would like to hear your stories about memorable visits to its museums, and the strange and wondrous objects you found there. What secrets and myths are attached to these objects? What is the combination of fact and fiction that brings these objects to life? Some of the most interesting stories will be woven into the ‘Night at the Museum’ project and become part of the learning experience – so get sharing your thoughts and ideas today.

We are proud supporters of Age Concern in Liverpool & Sefton, the premier charity working with and for older people and carers in the community to help improve the quality of their lives.

Established in 1928, Age Concern is part of the Age UK network – Britain’s largest charity for older people – bringing together over 130 local organizations providing practical support to people in their communities.

The charity raises around £47 million a year through fundraising, and operates over 520 charity shops. Its direct services include companionship, nursing care and support, exercise, and various fun activities to help keep older people healthy, active and involved.

Throughout the pandemic, Age Concern’s Befriending Service has been important in helping older people in Liverpool & Sefton feeling vulnerable, lonely and isolated. Demand for the charity’s telephone friendship service has increased by as much as 290%.

Age Concern can be supported through volunteering opportunities, donations and legacies, all of which make a tremendous difference to the lives of older people in Liverpool & Sefton.

The World Museum’s famous Planetarium celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, making it the longest surviving planetarium in a British museum, having attracted over two million visitors to explore the wonders of the universe since its opening in May 1970.

The Planetarium has enjoyed many special moments over the years. Its inaugural display of moon rock brought back to earth by the crew of Apollo 11 drew queues stretching hundreds of metres and 32,000 visitors over the course of three days.

In September 1993, the space and time gallery was officially opened by the groundbreaking physicist Dr. Stephen Hawking. The gallery provides a fascinating introduction to the Planetarium with displays including rockets, telescopes, meteorites and (of course) moon rocks.

In February 2016, the World Museum set up a live connection with the International Space Station and the British astronaut Tim Peake, who then took questions from pupils attending the event from schools all around the country and others watching online.

The Planetarium is a truly unique Liverpool institution that has entertained and educated millions over the last half century. Bartletts Solicitors sends our heartfelt congratulations to everyone at the World Museum, and our hope and expectation that the Planetarium will continue to electrify and inform visitors for the next 50 years and beyond.

The Walker Art Gallery hosts a magnificent collection of Western European fashion and costumes, showcasing a range of styles dating from 1700 to the present. The collection covers both female and male fashions, representing the very latest trends at various points in time over the last 300 years.

The collection includes day and evening wear, hats, gloves, underwear, shoes, handbags and jewellery. One area of focus is Liverpool’s dressmaking trade, which was at its peak between 1870 and the 1930s, and revolved around Bold Street – the ‘Bond Street of the North’. With the city booming at the time, Liverpool was renowned for its quality shops and luxury fashion designs.

Modern designer fashion is reflected in pieces by the most famous designers of the last 50 years, and the gallery also displays a collection of leisurewear and streetwear, with examples of designer tracksuits and trainers dating from the 1970s onwards. A collection of 19th century ivory fans provides fascinating insights into their origin and often surprising uses.

Help make sure that people in the local community don’t go hungry during the coronavirus pandemic by supporting the valuable work of our friends at Liverpool Cathedral and their Micah Liverpool food bank project.

The food bank gives out between 230 and 250 emergency food parcels each week to anybody in need, containing essentials like milk, cereal, tinned goods, tea, coffee, vegetables, fruit, pasta, rice, bread, biscuits, cake and toiletries.

The busy food bank has come under increased pressure during the current pandemic and urgently needs supplies of breakfast cereals, tinned tomatoes and, in particular, UHT milk for pregnant women and toddlers.

As the situation evolves, demand on the food bank is sure to increase, so now is the perfect time to donate food and toiletries, offer financial support or volunteer to assist.