Ship-shape and Bristol fashion
Last week's blog reminded us of Liverpool's stellar economic progress, but it's as well to take a reality check every now and then, argues Dougal Paver.
There's a massive structural weakness in Liverpool's economy and it impacts dramatically on the street-level feel of the place. It is this: the city's middle classes are flung far and wide and take their spending power with them.
Our forefathers grasped the potential of the railway in the mid-nineteenth century, giving rise to distant suburbs such as Formby, Birkdale and the west Wirral townships.
In so doing they set in train (groan) a long-term leakage in disposable income that recent regeneration efforts are finally reversing. In short, because the city's got a much better retail and leisure offer, the good folk of Heswall and Aughton are now returning to Liverpool in the evening and at weekends to spend the wealth they generate in the city between 8 and 6. Previously, they shopped and dined in Chester, Southport and Manchester.
Bristol (and Glasgow, and Dublin and Edinburgh for that matter) never witnessed the dispersal of their spending classes in this way and you see it in the quality and diversity of their retail offers. In short, they feel a whole deal smarter and offer a good deal more variety than Liverpool, for all its staggering improvements.
I spent the weekend in Bristol and took the nippers to Bristol Zoo, set atop Clifton Downs in the heart of the city. The drive down the hill in to town, via the White Ladies' Road, was just lovely. Mile after mile of smart Georgian terraces and villas, with delightful shops, cafes and restaurants spilling out on to every street. I thought I was in a hilly version of Kensington or Chelsea. This place is proper.
For anyone who thinks "Liverpool's nearly there" it's a salutory lesson in the cold reality that it ain't. We've got miles to go yet.
And you know what? I can't wait for the journey.
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