the australian way june liverpool - qantas...popular british parlance (and tv sitcoms) as...

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As the New World thrived, the tide turned the other way. By the 1950s, the ships entering the smooth waters of Albert Dock were disgorging wealthy second-generation Americans and their exotic imports – notably the crackling vinyl pressings of a new musical genre, rock’n’roll. These precious Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley 78s would inspire a bowl-haired quartet of Liverpudlian teens to fuse a new sound – Merseybeat – which went on to conquer the world.

Yet, by the time the Fab Four were meeting in the front room of the modest McCartney home to riff on the opening chords of Love Me Do, Liverpool had slipped from its giddy summit as “the second city of the British Empire”. In the late-20th century, as Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester bounded ahead – courting multinationals and reinventing themselves for the modern age – Liverpool reeled from the loss of its lifeline docking work (containerisation having spirited the shipping industry to South-East Asia almost overnight). Struggling with low employment, the city became notorious for its militant unions and “scousers” – a nickname derived from a fisherman’s dish – who were unfairly stereotyped in popular British parlance (and TV sitcoms) as “scallies” or “chancers”.

“Liverpool has had it tough, but we’re a city of believers,” says Phil Redmond, the successful Liverpudlian TV producer drafted in to oversee Liverpool’s 2008 City of Culture launch. “We just need something to believe in beyond football.” The 2008 City of Culture schedule of events promises just that. Throughout the year, Liverpool is unveiling the fruits of a £3.5 billion ($7.6 billion) public and private investment – including the £900m Liverpool One city centre retail devel-opment, the cutting-edge Wilkinson Eyre-designed Echo Arena 10,000-seat

ENGLAND LIVERPOOL

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SEEALBERT DOCKThis awesome congregation of cast-iron, steel and brick warehouses was defining of its age. It was opened by Prince Albert in 1846, when the Empire’s goods were funnelled through the throbbing port. Closed to shipping in 1972, after a period of dereliction, it reopened in the 1980s as an entertainment centre. These days it’s home to the Tate Liverpool modern art museum, with works by Mondrian and Picasso and Sarah Lucas (0151 702 7400, www.tate.org.uk/liverpool); the Merseyside Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum, the latter with its unflinching exhibition enacting the shackled terrors of life on a slave ship (0151 478 4499, www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk); and, of course, The Beatles Story visitor attraction, which includes a walk-through yellow submarine and replica Cavern Club (0151 709 1963, www.beatlesstory.com). Allow time to drink in the spectacular views across the dock – scalloped by pastel clouds in the morning and glittering with the reflection of the dock’s buildings at night.

Liverpool is unveiling the fruits of a $7.6 billion investment

Echo Arena

Tate Liverpool

Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King

Albert Dock

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stadium, and a cruiseliner terminal at Princes Dock – an attempt to woo the explosion of cruising predicted as the baby boomers retire. Also, more than 300 events, exhibitions and performances will train the spotlight on Liverpool’s wit and achievement in the arts, including dozens of international premiers and the much-feted return of Paul McCartney for the Liverpool Sound concert at the 45,000-capacity Anfield stadium.

Fortunately for a city vying to establish its relevance in the 21st century, it’s not all about golden oldies. Liverpool’s art scene, in particular, is flourishing. The Tate Liverpool (the first Tate gallery to open outside London, in 1988) housed the controversial 2007 Turner Prize for contemporary art – Mark Wallinger’s protest against the Iraq war – and has proved inspirational to a new generation of visual artists, many of them weaned by the Liverpool School of Art & Design, John Lennon’s old alma mater.

When Antony Gormley’s Another Place, an installation of 100 man-sized cast-iron statues, appeared on the wind-whipped sands of Crosby Beach, Liverpudlians dressed them up, climbed on their shoulders and treated them as their own. The artist enjoyed their reaction so much he gifted this touring exhibition to the city. It isn’t the first time Liverpool has distinguished itself as a democratiser of the arts: the popular rubbed shoulders with the avant garde when John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed together here in the 1960s, and when the Atlantic was bridged by working class kids effortlessly absorbing the strains of American blues.

ENGLAND LIVERPOOL

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SEEHOPE STREETLiverpool’s creative quarter is home to the Everyman (www.everymanplayhouse.com) and Unity theatres (www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk), and the Philharmonic Hall (www.liverpoolphil.com). Hope Street – its handsome Georgian housing taken over by cultural venues and trailblazing modern British restaurants – is anchored by two cathedrals: the gothic-style Anglican cathedral, built in the early 1900s, and the modernist symphony in stained glass and marble, the 1967 Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, built over Edwin Lutyens’ dramatic 1930s crypt. Both speak of the importance of faith in this city of emigrants and separated families.

Liverpool has distinguished itself as a democratiser of the arts

Mersey River

World Museum LiverpoolOne of Antony Gormley’s

Another Place statues

Beatles fans at The Cavern


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LIVERPOOL ENGLAND

EATMAYUR130 Duke Street. (0151) 709 9955. www.mayurrestaurant.co.ukOne of the new breed of British Indian restaurants doing much to counter the stereotype of pink tablecloths and tinkling sitar. Indeed, with its gold-embossed wallpaper, gold-effect chain mail and swishing chandeliers, Mayur is more magazine shoot than takeaway joint. The chefs are up to scratch, too, serving authentic dishes from the best of Delhi’s restaurants – head chef Uday Seth earned his spurs with the Taj group – with liberal punches of cardamom and saffron.

MA BO16 Nelson Street. (0151) 709 4551.A tattered, long-established restaurant in the shade of Liverpool Chinatown’s giant painted arch (the largest outside China, apparently). Basic, but terrific – don’t miss the classic crispy “three meats” dish.

LONDON CARRIAGE WORKS40 Hope Street. (0151) 705 2222. www.hopestreethotel.co.ukMuch to portly chef/proprietor Paul Askew’s chagrin, London Carriage Works, and its adjoining Hope Street Hotel, have become a nexus for visiting film and TV

stars in recent years. “Nonsense requests for egg-white only omelette,” he scoffs. If only they paid attention to what they’re missing out on: sea bass from Liverpool Bay, rare-breed Duroc pork and natural-smoked haddock, washed down with treats from the 150-bin wine list.

SIMPLY HEATHCOTESBeetham Plaza, 25 The Strand. (0151) 236 3536. www.heathcotes.co.ukWith its curvaceous glass exterior and pared-down fittings, Heathcotes has more than a dash of the 1980s about it – an excellent setting for discussing one’s investment portfolio over a glass of chablis. The food follows suit: steak with baked mushroom and marmite butter is a regulars’ favourite.

THE MONRO92 Duke Street. (0151) 707 9933. www.themonro.comLiverpool’s famous gastropub is the only thing that will get the city’s party boys and girls out of bed by lunchtime on Sunday, and in front of a plate of steaming traditional roast – including roast belly of pork on black pudding mash with Dijon mustard and whiskey sauce. The decor, like an early 20th-century railway station waiting room, doubles the magic.

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The decor, like an early 20th-century railway station waiting room Simply Heathcotes

Mayur

London Carriage Works

The Monro


the australian way june liverpool - qantas...popular british parlance (and tv sitcoms) as...

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