Visiting Liverpool 08

Lesley and I had a lovely day out in Liverpool yesterday.

It might seem funny to visit your home town as a tourist but yesterday that's just what we did. I haven't lived in Liverpool for thirty odd years but when I'm asked where I'm from I'm always proud to say Liverpool. Not in any jingoistic sense, I'm not one of those daft buggars who looks back to their childhood with rose tinted glasses but growing up in the sixties in Liverpool was an exciting time. In those days the lunatic left wingers who later contributed as much to the demise of my home town as the evil Maggie Thatcher were still only a glint in their father's eye. The politics of the 1970's meant that Liverpool was gripped in a recessionary spiral that at times seemed to be out of control.

Unemployment and the emergence of Derek Hatton and his hench men in the Town Hall spelt the death of enterprise and investment in our once proud city. And what didn't help in my humble opinion, were television programmes like Bread and Boys from the Blackstuff - controversial I know, but you only had to be a Liverpudlian in exile in London in those days to see how those programmes influenced people's view of the city. They thought, and weren't afraid to tell you that all scousers are a) on the dole b) live in terraced house with an outside lavvie c) would steal the wheels off your car if you parked outside their house etc etc... let's face it if it's on the tele it must be true. Well it wasn't true then and it isn't true now.

In any city there are areas that are poorer than others, in every city you will find a business district, commercial district and cultural district and Liverpool is no different. The difference in Liverpool is the pride of the local people in the investment and opportunities that are pouring into a city that for so long was neglected.

With the building of Europe's largest retail development Liverpool 1 nearing completion the city is changing so quickly I felt like a stranger in my own town. That I hasten to add is not a bad thing, in fact I felt very proud of what is happening to the place. The city centre was busy with not just locals but with huge numbers of tourists who were pouring over street maps trying to find their way around.

The Tall Ships Race sets off from Liverpool this weekend and the city is gearing up to receiving up to 1,000,000 visitors over the next three days. Yesterday the Albert Dock was a hive of activity with an army of people ensuring everything was in place for the event. We even met a friend of Lesley's who is working as a reporter for the Daily Post and Echo. She had just finished interviewing the crew from the Dutch Naval yacht who were berthed in the Albert Dock and was positively beaming when she told us about everything that was planned for the weekend, it's great to think that even the local press are so enthusiastic.

I hope that 2008 Capital of Culture, is the start of great things for Liverpool. For too long local politicians were allowed to hark back to the glory days of the city rather than being made to look forward. Maybe now Liverpool people will demand more from their elected officials, this is the 21st Century and Liverpool should show the rest of the country what it has to offer; with more than 2,500 listed buildings, more Georgian houses than Bath, a UNESCO heritage site, the first non-combustible dock warehouse in the world, the largest collection of Grade 1 listed buildings in Britain, the Anglican Cathedral has one of the largest organs in the world while the Catholic Cathedral has the largest panel of stained glass in the world, there are 6 theatres and the annual Liverpool Shakespeare Festival which takes place in the Anglican Cathedral, more galleries and museums in the country apart from London, there are three universities, two football clubs, a county cricket club, a professional basketball ball team, Aintree racecourse, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, oh and yes The Beatles.