A Hard Days Night in Liverpool

A stay at the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool guarantees three things - The Beatles immortalised on every wall, the sounds of John, Paul, George and Ringo always playing on the lobby's Yellow Submarine juke box and great guest service.

A hotel concierge working anywhere in the world with more than a five-year exemplary service record, can be recommended and then put through the rigors of a tough interview to join a little-known society called Les Clefs D'Or. This organisation, referred to as The Golden Keys, derives from the hotels of Paris in the 1920s.

Spotting a concierge today who has gained membership is easy - they wear golden keys, one on each lapel of their uniform jackets. The UK only has 280 members, many of whom work for London's Park Lane brands such as Hilton, Dorchester or Mariott. The independent boutique Hard Days Night Hotel, which opened in Liverpool's Cavern quarter in February 2008, has three Golden Keys concierges.

Our concierge gave me and my nosey party the full hotel tour, stole bathroom products off the housekeeping trolley for Charlee and fellow Aussie Trish to take back to Melbourne and even retrieved Ian's lost Liverpool FC season ticket - tracing it back to my bar entourage after it had fallen out of his pocket.

The hotel itself is housed within a Grade II listed building with a frontage of imposing marble columns, on top of which perch statues of the 'Fab Four'.

Inside, a spiral staircase provides gallery space for black and white Beatles photography whilst a glass elevator provides the viewing platform as it transports guests to five floors of chic designed rooms. Behind each door a painting of either John, Paul, George or Ringo dominates the room from above the bed (Mine was George Harrison).

Liverpool has changed dramatically since I lived there. Its status as the 2008 European Capital of Culture coincided with more than a £1billon of investment. Back-street warehouses and churches have been converted into bars and restaurants. The city centre now connects to the Albert Dock's galleries and boutiques via a new shopping mall, (it apparently held the title of the UK's largest until Westfield opened in West London earlier this month). A conference centre and arena have been added to the waterfront whilst a museum of Liverpool is under construction. And everywhere you look, buildings have been sand-blasted back to their original splendour.

Last Thursday's MTV Europe Music Awards capped 12 months of cultural, artistic and performance based events that have attracted acclaim from locals and outside observers alike. On Saturday, the finale of the city's year-long Homotopia festival saw the 'Liverpool is Burning' vogue ball held in the ballroom of the Aldephi hotel. Performing arts students shared the catwalk with drag queens as a bemused army of Eastern European boxers, staying at the hotel after their fight tournament and who'd wandered into the bar for a drink, could only look on aghast. Only in Liverpool! The city may change but it's good to be reminded that the Scouse craziness never will.