Plan to wipe Penny Lane off suburban map

PENNY LANE — the street made famous by the Beatles’ song — faced being wiped from the map because of its associations with the slave trade.

Councillors in Liverpool are considering plans to rename all streets named after people linked to slavery.

However, the city’s leaders were unaware that this would mean losing one of its most famous and most photographed streets.

Penny Lane is thought to have been named after 18th century slave ship owner James Penny, who made his fortune in the industry.

The slave trader was presented with a silver table in 1792 for speaking out against the abolition of slavery to a parliamentary committee.

The plan to re-name the city’s “slavery” streets has been put forward by local councillor Barbara Mace.

One of the suggestions includes renaming one of the streets in honour of black teenager Anthony Walker, who was murdered in a racist attack in Liverpool last year.

Originally, Cllr Mace called for “all streets, squares and public places named after those who were involved in promoting or profiteering from the slave trade” to be renamed.

But the councillor has now distanced herself from the original proposals.

She said: “I wasn’t aware that Penny Lane was named after someone involved in the slave trade. I am not suggesting that all streets in the city associated with slavery should be renamed.”