Liverpool’s successful bid to become the City of Culture for 2008, beating Newcastle in the process, has come as a welcome fillip to the region. Although the city’s regeneration has been underway since the mid-1990s, the decision comes as an endorsement of the hard work that the business community has put in during the past few years. As Digby Jones, director of the CBI, put it, “Liverpool is a city whose time has come” – this is a feeling that most of us working in the city are thriving on at the moment.
For the past decade, Liverpool has been the brunt of jokes, stereotyping and cliches that have given the British public the wrong perception of the city. Locals have always known that much of the criticism came from people who had never visited the city and remained happy that visitors normally left the city impressed by the architecture, the extent of the regeneration underway, the genuine desire of the people to make things work and the quality of life. One of the main benefits of the City of Culture status is the validation of the city’s renaissance and the encouragement it gives detractors to revisit the city and carry out a review of what is taking place.
