Concert Square, Liverpool, pictured in 2016(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Changing face of Concert Square as city venue announces closure

by · Liverpool Echo

The area is set to undergo another change

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Liverpool has a lively night scene with thriving bars welcoming thousands of visitors every year. Concert Square is one of the city's busiest nightspots with several bars, clubs and outdoor seating.

The owners of popular Concert Square bar Modo have confirmed they will close its doors later this week, with a new concept set to replace it. The owners of the venue, Baa Bar Ltd, have said it will close on January 5 for a number of weeks before reopening under a different name and concept, vowing to "bring fresh energy and a new direction to one of the city’s most iconic social spaces".

The square was the site of a derelict chemical laboratory until its regeneration began in the early 1990s. The transformation was the brainchild of Urban Splash, an award-winning regeneration company.

In partnership with Liverpool Council, developers demolished the derelict building and created loft apartments, cafe bars, office space and reshaped the square below to make it into a space for outdoor drinking.

Earlier favourites around the square included RSVP, Office, Ruby Sky, Club Arena, Holy Joe's, Allure, Bunny Yeagers and Walkabout. Now, it is home to McCooley's, Einstein, Modo, and Soho.

As the area is set to change once again, the ECHO has taken a look back at how Concert Square has changed through the years. Take a look at the full photo gallery below.

  1. The Arena Bar Concert Square Liverpool. Picture from the ECHO archive, dated October 1999
    1 of 16(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
  2. Picture shows Concert Square in Liverpool city centre. Picture from the ECHO archive, dated March 1999
    2 of 16(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
  3. Concert Square in Liverpool city centre just before MODO opened in 1997
    3 of 16(Image: Baa Bar Ltd/supplied)
  4. An empty warehouse in Fleet Street off Concert Square, that was part of the ECHO's Stop the Rot campaign. This picture from the ECHO archive is dated 2000. The building later became the Walkabout bar
    4 of 16(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
  1. The completed Concert Square in 2006
    5 of 16
  2. Earlier favourites around the square included RSVP, Office, Ruby Sky, Club Arena, Holy Joe's, Allure (pictured), Bunny Yeagers and Walkabout
    6 of 16(Image: trinity mirror nw2)
  3. Concert Square pictured in 2008
    7 of 16(Image: Google Streetview)
  4. Holy Joe's
    8 of 16
  1. Concert Square pictured in 2015
    9 of 16(Image: Liverpool Echo)
  2. McCooley's ahead of its opening in 2015
    10 of 16(Image: Liverpool Echo)
  3. The interior of McCooley's while it was under construction
    11 of 16(Image: Liverpool Echo)
  4. Walkabout opened at the end of 2001 and closed in 2017
    12 of 16(Image: Liverpool Echo)
  1. Walkabout is an Australian themed pub and restaurant chain that still exists today
    13 of 16(Image: Liverpool Echo)
  2. Liverpool fans celebrate the Reds winning the penalty shoot-out against Cardiff at Wembley for the Carling Cup Final. Inside Walkabout, 2012
    14 of 16(Image: Photo by James Maloney/Liverpool ECHO)
  3. England fans celebrate the Ashes in the Australian Walkabout Bar, Concert Square, Liverpool. January 19, 2007
    15 of 16(Image: Martin Birchall/Liverpool ECHO)
  4. Pub Invest Group added the former Walkabout to its portfolio and opened Einstein in May 2018
    16 of 16(Image: Photo by James Maloney/Liverpool ECHO)