The Hindu : International : Prison with a future

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 14, 2004

International

International

Prison with a future

By Eric AllisonGuardian Newspapers Limited 2004

LONDON, NOV. 13. A former prison in Liverpool may have a new future as a luxury hotel. The Bridewell prison in the English port city has not had residents since 2000 but now it awaits guests of a different kind.

It has been put up for sale with a possible future as a luxury hotel or flat complex.

For £600,000, any purchasers will acquire the historic building, offices and utility rooms. What distinguishes it as a property portfolio, though, are the 45 cells, described in the brochure as being with "absolute minimum decoration." Bridewell, on Cheapside in the heart of Liverpool, was the city's main lock-up for 160 years.

First-hand account

Tim, a career criminal in his 60s who prefers not to give his full name, takes a less than benign view of his old haunt. "The food was swill, the cozzers [prison officers] wouldn't get off their a[expletive] if the place had been on fire." He paused. "Except of course to give you a slap, if you stepped out of line. They were quick enough to do that."

But Tim warms to the idea of seeing his old prison becoming a hotel. "We could meet the punters at Lime Street railway station or the airport in a sweat box [prison van]. Rub 'em down, cuff 'em up and bring 'em here in style," he said.

Standing at the old charge desk, he says: "This would become the reception. We'd need to take their shoelaces, belt and ties and fingerprints, then bang 'em up." The cells are on two floors. Tim said that the farther you were from the desk, the worse the service was. "Lazy b[expletive], most of the cozzers who worked here."

The atmospherics

We were in a cell now, cold, dank and still holding the peculiar urine-based smell common to all jails.

Will the new owners leave the graffiti in place? A certain Franny was a prolific scrawler — and a regular visitor, judging by the number of cell doors and walls on which he had left his mark. Another author, who preferred to remain anonymous, opined that, "One day you will all be free."

That uplifting message was followed by an earthier "F[expletive] the law."

What is to come

Guests at the new boutique hotel that is likely to open in the prison by the time Liverpool becomes Europe's city of culture in 2008 will demand something rather more refined than the service formerly provided.

According to the original 1859 estimate the new main lock-up and keepers' house cost £533 in total. That includes the many hundreds of flagstones lining the floors. Most of the brickwork had been carted from the other side of England across the Pennine hills. It seems the finance committee of the Corporation of Liverpool got a bargain.

So will the next owner of Liverpool's Bridewell. For £600,000 they will get a couple of ghosts thrown in. Unnamed, unfortunately, though their fingerprints may be on file.

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