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International
City of spirit, history and entertainment
Peter Bishop’ s Liverpool diary
No sooner had Labour Party Conference delegates, press and influencers left Liverpool in late September, than city hotel rooms re-filled with international trade experts from the UK chamber of commerce movement. They were in town for the annual British Chambers of Commerce( BCC) trade facilitation forum. Chambers have many strengths – and this is especially true in the UK – but their knowledge of key documents used for the movement of goods around the world is perhaps their most impressive. BCC takes the lead in certificates of origin while UKNATACO oversees ATA Carnets, the‘ passport for goods’ for temporary exports for trade fairs, samples and professional equipment.
The forum usually takes place in Birmingham but this year moved to what has been called in the past the‘ New York of Europe’, more recently revered as the birthplace of the Beatles – and recognised also as a success story for metropolitan mayors, with particular reference to the current incumbent Steve Rotheram. The Liverpool mayor is a close ally of Prime Minister Andy Burnham and a supporter of the initiative to allow metropolitan authorities to levy a tourist tax.
There is much to entertain tourists in
Liverpool. The Beatles are one of the main attractions with two museums devoted to them, the Cavern Club( where they first tasted fame), and a surprisingly accurate depiction of the Fab Four in statue form on the waterfront.
The waterfront is an attraction in itself. The Three Graces- the distinctive Cunard, Port of Liverpool and Royal Liver Buildings of the early 1900s – are a wonderful sight, best seen perhaps from the deck of a Mersey ferry making its way from Birkenhead. The Waterfront Transformation Project is underway and promises to continue“ to honour the complex histories of the waterfront, putting people at the heart of the stories we tell …” This includes the redevelopment of the International Slavery Museum and improved facilities at the Museum of Liverpool.
In the city centre, I noted that Ropewalks in Liverpool had recently been listed in the top ten of Britain’ s best high streets following research from JDM Retail.( So had Soho in London’ s West End, which made me wonder what definition of high street was being used.) Named after the lanes where workers twisted hemp into ropes for sailing ships, it is certainly a vibrant area and very popular as a live music venue. I counted six bands playing at pubs and bars in two adjacent streets – and this at 6.00 in the evening!
At one end of Ropewalks is Chinatown, featuring the oldest Chinese community in Europe with an impressive ceremonial arch. At the other end is St Luke’ s Bombed Out Church, a roofless Gothic ruin whose garden contains the‘ Truce Statue’. This depicts a scene from World War 1 at Christmas in 1914 when there was a pause in fighting along the Western Front. Both sets of soldiers left their trenches, shook hands, sang carols, shared food and played football in no man’ s land. It makes for an effecting image and one which seems to evoke the spirit of the fine city that is Liverpool.