Former Liverpool DJ has launched a new woodland funeral venue

A former Liverpool DJ has created a unique city funeral service and venue that offers grieving families the chance to say farewell from ‘first words to final toast’ in the same woodland setting.

Andy Weir opened Garden View Chapel & Cremations at the end of August with the first funeral service taking place in September.

A private driveway leads to the location off Edge Lane where people can have a bespoke experience including live music – there’s even a baby grand piano – while looking out at a beautiful garden area.

And as well as celebrating a loved one’s life at Garden View, with a chosen celebrant or ordained minister leading the ceremony, a free function suite means people can stay to enjoy food or raise a glass to the friend or family member who’s passed – or even a complimentary cup of tea or coffee!

Andy, 49, who also owns a wedding venue, says:

“It’s a very personalised service, offering a unique funeral that marks and reflects a person’s life.

“It is in many ways a terrible day; a life point that’s probably bigger than many have previously had, yet a very precious time.

“And it is up to me to make sure that people have the best possible experience and atmosphere; that it’s memorable and celebrates well the life of someone who’s no longer with us.”

He admits:

“It is a huge responsibility and I’m in a position of enormous trust, and it is so rewarding when people say how respectful and how dignified a service was, and how perfect it was for the person they’ve lost.”

The idea to create Garden View began during Covid, when Andy was forced to temporarily close the wedding venue he has, The Century Pavilion, at Liverpool Cricket Club.

“When the wedding venue closed, I started a live streaming service and carried out more than 3,000 live streams for funerals,” he explains. “I realised that, having carried them out for the previous 10 years, people expected five-star experiences for weddings, and even Christenings, but you didn’t get that for a funeral. You just accepted what was there.

“You go to the crematorium or the church and then maybe on to somewhere else, and I just thought, someone’s life deserves more than that.”

At Garden View, people can have flexible amounts of time at no cost, there are no back-to-back funerals – ‘so you won’t see other mourners or hearses, and it’s not rushed’ – and there are video screens to display photographic tributes.

People are seated on arrival, so they don’t have to wait outside in the cold.

“The funeral directors still play a very important role, taking someone into their care and making sure they are prepared and able to be viewed if that’s wanted, and bringing the deceased here.

“But we can offer the venue and create, within reason and as long as it’s tasteful, whatever service people want.

“Funerals in 2025 are changing, they’re very different from what they were like in 1995. People are dressing in colours, and they have themes,” says Andy, who’s also worked in radio.

“You have Liverpool and Everton hearses now for lifelong fans, and motorcycle and land rover hearses.

“You have live streaming for people who live in a different part of the world.

“There are options, and that’s what we are providing. It’s no longer one size fits all.

“We have held 14 funerals so far, and for one we had a DJ and live saxophone player for someone who liked to go to festivals like Cream because that reflected his life, and one was attended by someone’s dog because that’s what they would have wanted.

“It’s nice to see people comforted by something you’ve done and know that you’ve helped in some way.

“My work in radio and as a DJ took me into weddings, and weddings took me into funerals. And it is a privilege when someone walks away and says we did him or her proud.”