Much more than just shopping, though there's plenty of that too if you want

The numbers of new business and experiences that have grown in the last 12 months has been tremendous. Whatever the initial spur for your trip, please take out some time to take in other activities, the more they are used the better downtown will be!

Downtown's great - don't you just love it?

Check out some of the entertainments around. Hope everyone has a great break - see you all Tuesday

A little ray of tropical sunshine
In an otherwise rainy month or so for downtown stories news that Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is to get $50m from the the Microsoft boss' Gates Foundation is a welcome piece.

The school is a truly globally renowned downtown institution, having helped save millions of lives. It will now double in size, enabling it to undertake even more valuable work. Better watch out for road schemes however!

A great downtown attraction
This years Mathew St Festival gets underway this coming Saturday. Runs for three days and now also has performances taking place at the Pierhead.

Make sure that you're one of the hundreds of thousands who make this annual pilgrimage ...would be a good idea if we offered them more than booze and cheap postcards though ..loads of potential not being tapped!

The World in One City
The Culture Company's strapline is 'the World in one city' wouldn't it be a great idea if they reinstated the world stage back into the Mathew St festival - better still take the theme as a brand new 'world of music festival'. Downtown - Heart of the world in one city!

National Museums, Liverpool, have got into the swing of things with a Beatles Quiz. Take part and brush up on your knowledge before you come downtown at the weekend? If you do get down for the festival then take in some more of the city itself? You could go and see the Lego exhibition at downtowns excellent Walker Art Gallery.

De do doe, don' de doe?
The BBC's excellent 'Voices' initiative, an ongoing exploration of the nations accents and how they are changing reminded us of a recent altercation we had over the Pierhead.

One of our heritage 'superiors' insisted that Liverpool should give up on our familiar 'misunderstanding' and use Pier Head in it's 'proper', 2 word way.

After seeing them off we got to thinking of a few 'scouse vernaculars' that our outside agents should take on board ..here's just a few we thought of;

Pierhead, beautifully rolled out as a single word ..with a rolling 'r' in place of the hard 'H'

You pronounce the 'W' in Fenwick St

When girls talk of going to 'Gracy' for the latest fashion accessories, they are in fact heading for Great Homer St market (greaty)

And, of course, we must point out - they should take on the local habit of using the descriptive 'downtown' for the beating heart of our great metropolis, rather than the anaemic (and vaguely offensive) 'town' or 'city' centre. As the scouse accent is getting even stronger, 'electrocution' lessons should be arranged forthwith ...like!

Everything's coming up roses
The Friends of St. James and Merseyside Environmental Trust (MET) are holding an end-of-summer celebratory drink in the ever improving downtown St. James gardens this Sunday, 28th August, from 6pm.

In the event of rain they will be meeting instead in nearby St. Bride's Church on Percy Street. Children welcome - there will be wine and soft drinks available.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow 1
To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the world's first passenger railway, the Liverpool & Manchester, the Daily Post are arranging a special steam train day excursion to York via Manchester.

The railway's launch in September 1830, was a Liverpool-inspired venture that changed the world - typical of the city's approach at that time.

Adult return is standard class £70,
junior £35.
First class £100, junior £80.
Depart from downtown's Lime Street: 08.38; back in Lime St at 21.06.

The trains are organised on behalf of the Liverpool Daily Post by Pathfinder Tours and Riviera Trains. For further further information and bookings tel: 01453 835414; or visit website:

Welcome to the world of tomorrow 2
An excellent piece from Saturday's Independent on Shanghai and other cities that are making great strides now to ensure that they are the Cities of Tomorrow.

Having one of these hasn't stopped Shanghai retaking its place at the top table....

...they have simply built thousands of these to house the desired growth [credit Colin Prescott]

What can Liverpool do to ensure that we join the list? ...it IS possible - we just need a 'Global City Agenda'!!

Nothing worth watching on the telly tonight
And it will stay that way too, until our city is able to build up a TV/new media industrial base that included downtown based broadcasters as other cities have around the world.

Undoubtedly your local MP will have given their support to 2008 so why not highlight to them this absurdly disabling anomaly that dates from a post-war, command inspired, regionalist utopia?

God is in the details
One of our intrepid downtowners noticed that a new Lion Head has been fixed to the Melly Drinking Fountain at the base of the Wellington Monument.

Just like one you would get from a local garden centre [credit Jonathan P.Neill of Liverpool Monuments]

The fixture is made of painted iron rather than bronze so it is beginning to rust already. There is a danger that it will stain the beautiful red Aberdeen granite in time.

Assurances have been given that this is only a temporary fix and a faithful replica of the original is being fabricated as this is written.

For more info on downtown's public art go to Friends of Liverpool Monuments

Speaks for itself really
Well, entrepreneurs are getting into the culture swing, planning and running events and creating some of the thousands of new downtown activities we need that should enhance our infrastructure and make 2008 even better.

Two examples
Super cool Heart & Soul have just sent out their first newsletter to highlight the incredible range of activities Chumki and the gang now host at the excellent Mount Pleasant emporium ...brilliant stuff ..independent ...just doin it!

Meanwhile, model agency, Bedazzled' have come up with the idea of organising a Miss Liverpool Capital of Culture competition but guess what? The CoC heads came over all monopolistic when they got wind of this entrepreneurial initiative that would add to our year

We know what we would advise Jane and Emma, the organisers, to tell them if the company gets back in touch ...one of the more polite being to remind them that the year doesn't actually belong to them!

Are you local?
We are hearing whispers that many external 'investment banks' have recently begun to refuse to even consider business proposals that might, just conceivably, somewhere down the line, face the slightest chance of falling foul of one or other of downtown Liverpool's growing raft of restrictive, mainly needless, heritage based codes.

This development is compounded by LCC and their regeneration partners 'socialist lite' public sector bias and intention to 'maintain control'.

This attitude is affecting areas beyond building development too. Just think through the consequences of this and how it could affect our current buoancy .. Just where are we headed?

One has to build one's pension fund y'know
The public and quasi public-sector are determined to keep the current status quo, as this maintains their precedence, to say nothing of keeping the poverty grants 'on stream'

The rest of the city has to pay a pretty hefty price for this, not least those who are poorest, who have to stay poor in order to keep the honey flowing; the food chain, turned on its head. We have a 'regeneration' industry and a grants system to be maintained, the core remit of which is now predicated on failure of their 'mission' or core task...you get the picture?

Take a cue from stuff like this
If you check our international column on the right you will see that we constantly pick up news of city based institutions providing the cash for continued growth in their downtown's. Speculative punts through enterprise reviving cities around the world whilst Liverpool is beginning to run dry as a result of negative decisions based on growing assumptions that the city is just too hard to do proper business in.

Not Waving -We're Drowning
More desperate news from the 'World in One City' [sic].

The final straw?

The much-trumped cruise-liner terminal now looks under threat because the City Council has yet to reach agreement with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Co.

This has produced a flurry of angry mail in the local papers today.

For those involved, a suggestion. As a city we can screw-up on the Fourth Grace, Tall Buildings, Merseytram, Edge Lane, the Boot Estate, Capital of Culture etc. etc. etc. but Liverpudlians will not sit idly by when their maritime heritage is under threat. We've done it before ...it's not very hard when you sincerely have a vision, a direction and the intent to get there.

Can someone please steer the ship?

Out of Town?
Given that recent planning legislation generally frowns upon the development of out-of-town retail, downtowners should be aware of the bizarre but very real threat that the Royal Liverpool University Hospital may be forced to look for an alternative site outside of the city centre.

Royal Liverpool University Hospital

The Hall Lane bypass apparently using some of the land earmarked for the hospital on an adjacent site. Given the above fiasco with the cruise liners etc, can we please bump some heads together (gently, mind - you wouldn't want to face a 40 min taxi ride out to Cronton?)

Alternatives? How's about seeking to go higher, using land available on their downtown site more efficiently - the last thing we want is a sprawling version of the appalling Women's Hospital! A report commissioned by the Royal around 10 years ago showed how patients in wards on the higher floors (with inspiring views) actually got better faster and were more at ease during their stay!

Flat rate or flatline?
Many downtowners will undoubtedly be aware that the 'Flat tax' debate has been the hot topic this year. For those not, then it is not yet another fiendish plot by councils to bleed metropolitan apartment residents, but rather a system where there is a single 'flat rate' of income tax (av.16%) across the board as opposed to the complex system of allowances and progressive tariffs we currently operate in the UK.

Popular in many of the countries recently freed of Soviet domination (though being resisted by Whitehall for the UK) it is credited with fuelling the entrepreneurial renaissance of those countries. What do downtowners think?

Big Apple calling (once again)
This and more news from icliverpool's Business Week. A survey to gauge interest in restoring links between Liverpool and New York City is underway. Please take part as this is probably the most important city-to-city link we must rebuild ...remember, they love us over there!

Picture the scene, flying to NYC on Bay Area Airways for breakfast [pic courtesy of EMSO arts]

Intimately tied in with the history behind the piece above comes news that 'The White Star Building' on downtown Strand is to revert to it's original name of, ...The White Star Bdg! Has any scouser ever called it anything else?

If there was ever a revival of the White Star company itself then they may not be able to berth in their home port, as the much vaunted 'cruise liner facility' has hit problems. Not enough details to pass comment on this yet, except to say Bloody Hell! [see above! -Ed]

Loads more great downtown stories ...get out and buy the papers.

On Target
Grosvenor presented their regular progress report at FACT this week-and very impressive too.


Site 16 at PSDA: 2000 car spaces

Headlines included:
-The Liverpool Paradise Foundation, a new charitable trust set up to support worthy downtown causes,
- Wilkinson Eyre's stunning bus depot to open this November,
- Cesar Pelli residential building NE of Park at 17 stories unveiled
- First glimpse of multiplex cinema
- Call for a prompt 'yes' to Merseytram

Make sure you check out the visitor centre in Lord St and the PSDA website - why not take the kids downtown during the summer break to show them how their city is changing!

The next big thing
Once Beetham get to start their 'West Tower' there will be no more projects in the pipeline ...no rolling programme, no new proposals for major schemes...no GOSSIP!

Unity, looking great, but not half the scheme it could have been

Cranes, beautiful dappled sun, not enough to build a mighty city - has the PSDA project turned peoples heads?

Keeping us up there
Andrew Taylor's eagerly awaited collection, 'Cathedral Poems' is finally available. Some truly beautiful pieces about the great downtown edifice.

Taylor is amongst the best of our current crop of creative talents, a continuing Liverpool tradition, as this audio piece from Radio 4 reminds us

What are we to do?
Amongst loads of great downtown issues covered again today in the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo was news that two skateboarders have been fined for defiling our WHS.

Tut, tut. What is a city who's fame has been largely built on urban youth culture and creativity doing things like that? ...indeed what would our city busybodies do if faced with the issue reported in this excellent story from the Eternal City?

VJ Day - Remembering the end of the mightiest struggle
Sunday (15th August) saw the 60th anniversary of the final act of a conflict, utterly horrifying in magnitude and depravity which ended only when Japan finally and reluctantly surrendered, months after the collapse of Germany.

Downtowners should take a few minutes to reflect upon the many horrors inflicted [1-2] as well as the countless examples of heroism and selflessness by ordinary folk.

We should especially give thanks to those who paid the ultimate price to ensure a freer, better world for us, whilst also remembering that for many hundreds of millions occupation and oppression continued for nearly 50 more years.
R I P.

Those where the days my friend
We said that LDP&E was chock full of good stuff. Amongst the good is an excellent piece by Peter Elson on plans and civic competitions for the 'New Liverpool' that was to rise after WWII.

At the other end of the scale was a piece by Joe Riley mentioning that fact that downtown's major public and civic attractions have largely shut down this week ..Soviet style! What Joe failed to add was that the LCC/Merseypartnership tourist budget is 95% focused on getting tourists here in August...TRULY monumental

'The patient died, but the operation itself was a great success!'
The greatest danger to downtown is the habit that the council has to always think 'Council first', even when this is to the obvious detriment to the well-being of the city as a whole.

News that LCC are considering hiking downtown parking prices by up to 60% is only indicative of a much deeper malaise.

Entryism is a very bad thing
Rumour that 'Regional forces' are to soon move up a gear in the fight to fulfil the regional project have been sweeping downtown.

Calls for regional bodies or their associates to oversee, liaise or investigate ANYTHING to do with the metropolis should be given short thrift... Mighty Liverpool entrepreneurial savvy, not the dilute' Lanky' Englandsnorthwest and 'Bureaucratic order', is the only key to delivering our potential.

Please remember that .. especially some of you folk out there with aspirations for the city, but seemingly with more money than sense?

We've tried that, don't bother'
This excellent piece from downtown Toronto shows how in an otherwise quite beautiful city, giving control of matters of 'design' to a group, committee or panel invariably leads to monotony and uglificataion.

'In-keeping', design by committee and 'townscape crafting' are all evident in this part of Dale St - does it work?

A simple framework (physical and conceptual) that is based on basic, holistic principles of accommodating your urban ambitions, then letting individual schemes make the construct has been shown (over and over again, not just in Toronto) leads to the best urban landscapes.

Either a Caligula type figure from LCC should dictate everything on their own ...better still? let the market, developers and architects provide the individual templates for individual buildings ...within the aspirational planning structure.

We've been Quangoed - No to Chieftain Scheme
Yesterday's decision by the Planning Committee not to recommend the Chieftain tower proposal by Falconer Chester Architects will, depressingly, come as no surprise to many in the city who are beginning to understand the impact of WHS status.

WHS is a site preservation initiative with strict planning obligations, it is NOT simply a vanity badge, as many seem to think.

Amongst the dafter reasons given was its 'impact on the nearby cultural quarter'. Another was 'imagine the impression two tall buildings would give on exiting Lime St Station' Duh?

Is this the same impact of having an additional 153 residents and 160 hotel guests VISITING this Culture and SPENDING their money?

Are they worried that the proposal would IMPROVE the 'cultural quarter, or as it is more commonly known 'the dead zone'?

Sadly the process seems also to have declined into a political spat, with the decision breaking down along party lines. Petulance and dogma; Pathetic. An extremely bad decision for the city.

Quaint market town or mighty metropolis ...What are we ....more importantly - what do we want to be?

'Say it aint so, Joe'
Cllr Joe Anderson called it spot on with regards to WHS and it's stultifyingly negative impact on the city's revival ....Cllr Marbrow didn't!

For the life of us we can't fathom why the Lib Dems have given the opposition such a big stick with which to hit them. Most Scousers are desperate for their city to be somewhere again - they do not see their peers as the good folk of Wells or Canterbury, rather it is NYC, Sydney and Perth. Current policies are just so utterly out of kilter with everyday desires of ordinary people.

Deluded? ...not when it is ambition we're talking about. We have said it before, but the population have much greater ambition for their city than their politicians, in the main ..and most certainly more than those who are well paid to give professional advice. Why can't we employ city-builders?

Ferry Dross the Mersey
News reaches us with drawings for the proposed new Pierhead ferry terminal. Does it hint at a new 'design theme' that aesthetes are factoring in for the downtown waterfront?

Called 'the bathroom ensemble look' the new building seemingly aims to complement the dual toilet/bidet design chosen for the arena and conference centre on Kings dock!

Keep an eye out in the local press for a visual treat of this £4m scheme for the 'most famous waterfront in the World'.

And in the meantime, have a look what the same architects did in the Port of Belfast...

Bridge of Hope
News that work will shortly be commencing on the upgrade along Hope Street as reported recently. Don't forget that the stunning bridge by architects Hakes Associates proposed to span St James' Cemetery from Hope St to the Anglican Cathedral. Not part of this scheme but looking for sponsorship. Any takers?

Growing Up t'North
As urbanists we are loathe to suggest this, but with downtown having been effectively hog tied by the heritage community perhaps the city should go for a 'North of Chapel St' approach?

From Chapel St, going North, there would be no restrictions on large scale/tall buildings/modern architecture, rather, they would be actively encouraged. Agencies could actually help, by way of land transfers etc for people who have land and schemes in other parts of downtown.

There would be consequences in doing this of course, not least a 'shift' in downtown's centre of gravity, but better a shift than commercial death? Something has to give, let's hope it's not downtowns future?

Liverpool United
RIP Anthony Walker


sign the book of condolence