BNY to leave Liverpool for Manchester

Last out of Liverpool please turn off the lights.

Staff must be gutted, Liverpool is much nicer

Imagine having to relocate there after seeing that view in such an iconic building

Oh go and have another public consultation will yeh …. You had your chance!!!!!

Well this is bad news…
Can see why BNY Mellon wouldn’t particularly want an 80/20ish staff spilt between the 2 cities, but was there ever any consideration of them developing the Liverpool operation previously? Is this something else which Steve will find surprising like Astra Zeneca pulling its investment in Speke if reached for a quote, or will he be spending Labour Conference being elbowed out the way by Andy, as usual?
Really does get missed how big Liverpool’s banking and financial sector once was including Martins, a major High Street bank absorbed by Barclays in the 60s and multiple insurance company head offices, biggest probably being Royal whose Sandcastle must have been the last big prestige HQ to be built, back in the 70s. Girobank at Bootle employed 10,000 into the 80s, when Thatcher sold it off.
Technology would have done for a fair number of the jobs by now, but otherwise an entire industry was allowed gradually to disappear down south, or any remnants to Manchester.
Still nothing at all sensible about bringing in new private-sector jobs from Rotheram, LCRCA or any of the local councils.
Just more big box warehouses, public money for new offices nobody wants (Wirral), no new offices even where people might want them (Liverpool), or more millions on a dead shopping centre (Sefton).

Anonymous.

You can have your Liverpool is nicer.

We, Manchester, will have the 250 jobs.

Inevitable sadly. Manchester s gravity is acting to draw every thing in across the north. Lord only knows how things will accelerate if Andy Burnham gets the Labour leadership.

These are precisely the kind of jobs Liverpool cannot afford to keep losing. The city can’t survive on Stag and hen parties alone. Tourism is only one part of a vibrant economy and if jobs keep disappearing down the M62 this isn’t by any stretch a vibrant economy.

Define ‘nicer’

A few ‘nice’ buildings along the waterfront do not make for a ‘nice’ city. There’s a reason they’re moving to Manchester and it’s not the view of the Mersey !

Oh wow, some bitterness in the comments, to be expected I suppose. The problem for Liverpool (as lovely a city as it is), is that its a regional City, Manchester is now a global one (check the rankings) with a much larger talent pool. Manchester’s success has been built on years of smart decisions, working across political parties and a can do attitude. This is now starting to pay dividends as can be seen in its productivity per head pulling well away from the rest of the pack and more towards London’s. Its all snowballing for Manchester and starting to be self fulfilling. What i would say is other cities should look at this and think well it can be done but will take time. (Leeds a good example of this).

We need to start the merge

The North West needs leveling up. Rotheram needs to get out of Burnhams pocket or even better resign.

Liverpool City Council and the Combined Authority need a long term strategic plan to reposition the city so that it can compete for and attract high quality jobs.
I don’t come from the city but what I can say is that Manchester has had one for nearly 30 years which Leese and Bernstein put together and which continues on today. One hallmark of that long term strategic plan is BNY leasing 200,000 sq ft of space paying £44 per sq ft in a brand new office building. Burnham may want to take credit for this letting but in reality it is still down to the ground work of Leese and Bernstein who created a strong platform for growth.

Ref: Agglomerator. Define Nicer. Huge Passenger Liners moored alongside the Three Graces on a spectacular river adjacent to the Royal Albert Dock. Or barges moored in a stagnate Manchester canal.

Maybe the reason why Manchester keeps getting all the investment, is because Liverpool is “nicer.” Ambleside is nice but people don’t want nice, when they are opening a business, they want places which are commercially viable, not open-top bus tours. Liverpool needs to decide whether it wants to be Chester or Manchester, because at the moment it is trying to be one, whilst being left behind by the other.

Liverpool needs to learn from Manchester.

Meanwhile, Steve Rotherham chases the fantasy of an unfundable river barrage whilst real jobs migrate down the M62. As a major inward employer, did Steve or any of his senior staff ever go and pay BNY Mellon a visit? Say ‘thanks’ and ‘what else can we do for you?’ Or were they ignored, like Castore were? (That was another 250 jobs to Manchester, by the way).

I think Liverpool used to be nicer than Manchester when I was growing up. I remember, doe-eyed, arriving in Liverpool and being super impressed with all the big buildings, the waterfront, wide-open feel. It felt like New York to me. But having been to both cities recently, Manchester feels more vibrant, with different hubs of activity scattered across the city in places like Ancoats and Salford, which were desolate wastelands only 15-20 years ago. While Liverpool hadn’t changed much, and in some areas (Pall Mall) appeared to have gone backwards. Walking around both city centres I’d say Manchester has the edge now – you can feel the impact of its rapid population growth and influx of companies/talent.

Local media are too easy on Liverpool Labour. Stop going on about Thatcher and question the local mayor and council.

Feel sorry for all the impacted staff with that dreaded move and commute forced upon them. Local authority really needs to get it’s finger out.

Right so the view is better. You said Liverpool as in the city.

Liverpool needs to remove itself from the Northwest mindset as its doing nothing for us, we previously had our own identity and were more aligned with North Wales than we were with other parts of the then Lancashire ( remember MANWEB)
Of course Steve Rotheram won’t change supporting his best pal Burnham, but even Steve must get frustrated seeing jobs leave our region only to head down the M62, the AstraZenica loss was a global thing but these banking job losses are hard to take.

What a heartless decision by BNY, consulting the employees after the move. CASTORE did exactly the same thing a few years ago. Imagine swapping a walk down to the docks as your commute to an unreliable 1 hour train to Manchester. The city is better without these heartless companies. Good riddance…

Nice building the Liver but the rest of the city needs a lot of investment. A city that rests on its laurels won’t be hardy enough to prosper and even the 3 Stooges ..I mean Graces won’t be enough to stop the rot.

Manchester’s re-invention – not 30 years (sorry 1.15pm) but nearly 40 years in the making.

Nothing to do with Andy Burnham so the idea that the two City Region Mayors have had any impact on the growth trajectories of both cities is a fundamental misunderstanding of the long term work needed to create a “successful” city.

I would look at the failure of the previous LCC administrations who 1) sold the LCC city centre freeholds and 2) wasted decades of Objective 1 money from the EU. Manchester did more in the last 40 years because they did not sell their freeholds and used them to shape a new city centre all without the billions of Objective 1 Merseyside had. Add in a Planning Service that was aligned with the growth objective and understood (stands) how to support development and you have the reasons why BNY end up in NOMA, Manchester

So BNY over buys space in Manchester and the Liverpool office has to make up the short fall of business there, same old story and some of the immature comments on here while people’s lives are in the balance is regrettable.

I warned of this years ago. Burnham has Rotherham over a barrel – again. Liverpool city region need a proper Mayor fighting their corner not this bag of mince.

My niece studies in Liverpool – loves the city, the people, LFC and the nightlife (!) but when she graduates she has firmly set her sights on working in Manchester. Her view is that she can access a more mature employment market and make a career there.

That is the issue Liverpool and the City Region need to solve – find a way to keep talent in the city (and city region). A big challenge. Don’t blame BNY for relocating – they will go where the talent is and where they can attract the best talent.

Liverpool is a nicer city to live in, to walk around, to shop in, to lok at and to stay in. It’s easier tto walk around, has more museums and galleries to visit, has just as good a restaurant and food scene, same with arts, it has much cheaper houses at the moment, it has amazing green space and excellent transport, the same amount of premiership football teams as Manchester including the most successful in the country and is on an amazing coastline with beaches and better World class golf courses, a world class horseracingvcoutse and an international airport consistently ranked in the top 2 or 3 easiest and most pleasant to use. It has more listed buildings by a country mile and is on the doorstep of North Wales and all that goes with that. It has as many universities and seats of learning and suburbs with their own character that are as nice as anything in greater Manchester. So yes, it is a nicer city to live and work in. It unfortunately lacks in grade A office space for companies to consolidate their operations in, an international airport with direct flights to the US, Asia etc, favouritism with the government officers who push investment, current momentum and Andy Burnham as mayor. The last one will change soon though and anybody thinking he will continue with a Manchester centric mindset will be very surprised. Manchester was a means to an end, chance to prove his worth and a stepping stone to what was always his target. As for Liverpool, this must be a watershed moment and they need to push against this move at all costs and it must be both the mayor and all the local authorities working together. They need to push government to help out and if they can’t, to help by investing to stop it happening again. It’s exactly what the councils in Greater Manchester and Burnham would do and demand.

Imagine being welcomed to Manchester, with a casual walk through Piccadilly Gardens….

The lights went out in this city a long time ago, Roy. No one can deny that development and growth in Manchester is phenomenal. The economic gap between here and other cities is getting wider. Is complacency and poor leadership to blame ?

Good luck to BNY intact good luck to any business that wants to relocate/locate to Manchester “the norths London” and anyone that works in and around London as I do can see what is heading Greater Manchesters way and it “ain’t pretty”.

Im scouse born and bred, ive witnessed Manchester grow, its currently 20 years ahead of liverpool and it’ll soon be 30 years ahead, the UK Government have declined us quite successfully, well done parliament, your distain for a once greater port city continues

Time for a change of leadership at officer and Mayoral levels. Too obsessed with chasing pots of cash to fund pet schemes with no strategic impact. Rotherham happy to be cast in Burnham’s shadow and Liverpool falls further into retreat as a consequence.

Bad news for staff. Relocating to Manchester , this will add hours onto their commute and will also increase travel costs. I hope the staff will be compensated .

They will be moving the Liver building to the other city soon. Brick by brick. Sigh

A huge loss for the city. Very sad news. Regardless of all the my city is better than your city spats. Despite them being so close it’s not always a quick journey between the two cities in a car or on a train. So in reality a lot of jobs lost for Liverpool. Meanwhile LCRCA are putting a £13m cycle route uo London Road. With some Z list celebrity promoting it. Beggars belief! I’m sorry to say it but Liverpool needs to up its game!

Jog on then

At least we got the Beatles

Agree with @ Shemp Howard there, we have to an extent rested on our laurels.
We have a classic waterfront, we have other great buildings, we have a great history of maritime trade, banking, insurance, and manufacturing, but none of this means a thing if we don’t move with the times, and largely we haven’t.
We’ve sat back and in many areas failed to adapt, thinking oh we are a great friendly bunch and companies will come and set up here, but even local Castore moved away, why because business is hard and, yes, heartless but if we are to compete we have to be heartless and those that we think of as partners are really our competitors.

Sad news for Liverpool and for the staff who’ll have to work in Manc. As someone who commutes to Manc every day it’s no joke. Traffic is horrendous, parking a nightmare, people less friendly or helpful. I can’t imagine having to leave an iconic location like the Liver Buildings to work in manc city centre Until Liverpool learns to butter up influential politicians like the mancs excel at then there’ll be no commerce or industry left. We need to change our image in the business world and that will require a leader with clout.

People are getting fed up of local politicians going on about Thatcher and Tories. Labour has been a disaster for Liverpool. Our economy is stag and hen parties and football tourists.

Nobody will even notice

People living there might think Liverpool is the greatest City on earth, which is great and I’m all for local pride, but big business and graduates clearly think differently. Maybe Liverpool should stop moaning about Manchester and focus on itself more. Its starting to work for Glasgow, Leeds and Birmingham

I do know many people who work in Manchester are now living in Liverpool cos of cheaper housing and a better quality of life ….better transport between the cities are key . This is very much second best to quality jobs in Liverpool…but at least something….But the city region and council need to be act

Oh Anonymous 6.35pm your monologue on the virtues of walking around Liverpool sounds more like a coping mechanism and are not only wrong but completely irrelevant to the point of a story affecting people like me who will now have to travel an extra 3 hrs a day. I could care less about whimsical views down a golf course or that the Beatles museum is open on a wet Wednesday, we can all make lists of ‘things I love about my city’ . What I do care about is the fact that if I want any chance of getting another job it’s Manchester I’ll have to look at so guess where I’ll be moving. Have a search on any of the big jobs sites like Indeed or Glassdoor and that’s where the jobs are, Banking , Civil Service, Telecoms, law , marketing , IT they’ve all consolidating, it’s got nothing to do with ‘they don’t build enough Grade A office space’ therefore that’s the problem..that ship has sailed and it’s not coming back. Most of the Grade A office space Is in Manchester and London for a reason. That’s where they’re consolidating. There are less than a third of those ‘White collar’ jobs advertised this year , see the interview with the CEO of Indeed recently for the massive impact AI has had on many of these jobs. it happened in manufacturing years ago when so many jobs went to Asia and it’s happening right before our eyes in the Service sector . The only winners are those that planned ahead to consolidate what was left..like Manchester.Those who get the chance to move are actually the lucky ones.

The usual blame game and sense of entitlement. Blaming central government just isn’t plausible when the council has been in special measures and even Birkenhead has managed to build more new grade A office space than Liverpool has in recent years, never mind Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle or Stockport.

Both Liverpool and Manchester have been systematically held back by Whitehall. Manchester has done a better job at going against this with its public transport expansion, building boom and great marketing but Liverpool hasn’t.
Liverpool needs to improve its transport network by reopening the Bootle branch line and building new stations and building new developments around them. Liverpool’s transport and planning is the reason for this

Manchester only just getting started. Airport expansion, Victoria North, media City phase 2, Holt Town, Old Trafford Regeneration, Mayfield and Sister finally breaking ground. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

The best thing that Liverpool can do is merge with Manchester and improve the transport links between the two. Make it a mega-city whilst still keeping distinct identities.

Interesting point made about the effects of AI on White collar jobs . I heard that interview as well (think it was the FT podcast). The effect was already being felt by graduates leaving university with debt and very sensible degrees and who couldn’t find a position. That’s only exacerbated if you’re not where the jobs are. Initially the figures looked alarming but on reflection they’re terrifying, particularly at the speed they seem to be happening. Anyone who’s lived through the hollowing out of entire cities in the past due to loss of manufacturing over a couple of decades will be concerned. I only hope that embracing the change and the increase in productivity it could bring if done right will help us grow our way out of the stagnation we’ve seen afflict some places in the past. I’m not convinced though we have the right mindset or the political will to do so.

Yet another blow to liverpool, all constructed through government collusion to destroy and undermine liverpool…
It never ceases to amaze me the nature of this uni parties destruction of one the oldest seaports in the world….
Why not build that state of the art facility in liverpool….

Hold tight.. Manchester may have pull now.. but seriously.. it cannot maintain this facade of success with what’s really going on in the wider city.. people will start to flee.. sooner .. rather than later.
Build considerately for that future.