Former Quiggins owner Peter Tierney sued by his advisor

The former boss of Quiggins, in Liverpool, is accused of refusing to pay thousands of pounds in fees for expert help in the doomed battle to save his retail and cultural centre.

Urban planner Professor Iain Taylor is claiming ex-School Lane chief Peter Tierney [a BNP activist, pictured left] owes him over £30,000. This week, the matter ended up in Liverpool County Court and is expected to go to trial in the coming months.

Professor Taylor said he was hired by Mr Tierney when Quiggins, on School Lane, faced multi-million pound developer Grosvenor, in a high-profile public inquiry in 2003. The academic, now living in Canada, said that he struck a verbal contract with Tierney to pay him in the region of £11,000 for his services as a “campaign manager and expert witness”. But Mr Taylor, 66, alleges that, other than an initial payment of £1,000 and some expenses, he received no money.

The former Liverpool Institute pupil said the outstanding £11,000 fee had trebled due to interest and expenses incurred over the last six years. Ultimately, Quiggins lost the public inquiry which paved the way for the centre to be demolished, allowing Grosvenor to build the £1bn Liverpool One complex.

Prof Taylor said: “Peter was paying a lot of people for the campaign to save Quiggins – my bill was small potatoes to him. My fee was based on a 40 hour week, over a five week period, and my professional charge was discounted by 50%. Although there was nothing written down, we had a handshake deal, and it was clear what the arrangement was. But, after the settlement, it was like I’d been forgotten.”

The hearing at Liverpool County Court was adjourned until a later date. The ECHO contacted Mr Tierney, but he declined to talk about the civil dispute with Prof Taylor.

Grosvenor won a Compulsory Purchase Order to enable them to acquire the Quiggins building to create a new shopping arcade.

Peter Tierney, from Hale Village, opened Quiggins in the 1970s and built it into an alternative cultural market and shopping centre that attracts visitors from all over the world. Despite widespread support for Mr Tierney, he lost his fight to keep the hugely popular and iconic centre at its School Lane home.

The closure saw him and his brother Jimmy receive compensation, believed to be over £1m, to be shared between them.

Liverpool Daily Post

Note: Tierney is due back in court accused of assaulting an anti-fascist protestor, on October 29th.