It was open for decades as a restaurant in various guises A rare photo offers a glimpse inside a lost Liverpool Chinese restaurant that served customers in the city centre for decades. For years, generations will remember heading to the Shangri-La on Victoria Street for a meal after work or to celebrate an occasion. The site had been a restaurant for about 40 years, specialising in Greek and Italian for short periods, but found itself vacant for three years before the Chinese restaurant opened in 1989.
Following a big investment and an 18-month refurbishment, the venue opened in June that year. Inside, the Shangri-La had an eastern-style red and black décor, with brass fittings and a wealth of dragon motifs. When it opened, general manager Danny Boon told the ECHO: "We have done something different, something which Liverpool and the north west have never seen before.
"Anyone who use to come to this place a few years ago will not recognise it now." In its early days, the restaurant was described as offering "quality and variety in a luxurious and relaxing environment." It also offered a three-course business lunch, between 12pm and 2.
30pm for £3.60. In June 1989, the ECHO reported: "The theme of Shangri-La - ‘a place where life approaches perfections’ - is of a Chinese house, with customers entering via marble steps in a newly-constructed entrance on Victoria Street itself.
" It continues: "A 20-foot waterfall tumbles down at the side of the “celestial bridge” which .