Duke wins top honour for Liverpool One

Jul 17 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Duke wins top honour for Liverpool One

THE Duke of Westminster and Princes Foods were the big winners at the Daily Post’s celebration of business success in Merseyside and Cheshire. Business reporter Alistair Houghton was there

See the picture gallery for the Daily Post’s Regional Business Awards

THE Duke of Westminster won the top honour at the Daily Post’s Regional Business Awards last night.

The Duke was named DLA Piper Business Person of the Year for his company Grosvenor’s development of Liverpool One, the £1bn retail and leisure complex which opened its first phase in May and has already changed the face of the city centre.

The awards ceremony, the most prestigious event in Merseyside’s business calendar, attracted hundreds of leading business figures to St George’s Hall.

The black tie dinner saw a speech from music impresario and tycoon Pete Waterman, while the ceremony was hosted by newsreader Peter Sissons.

Other winners included Liverpool’s Princes Foods, Home Bargains owner TJ Morris and Runcorn manufacturer Ventcroft.

The Duke was unable to attend last night’s ceremony, as he was abroad. But he told the Daily Post he was proud of how Liverpool One had helped shape the regeneration of the city centre.

He said: “Looking at it from a personal perspective, over all these years that I’ve been involved in development, whether it be here or overseas, it’s the one scheme that I’m particularly proud of.

“It’s not because it’s next to my home in Cheshire, it’s because I believe it has regenerated the city and given the city new hope. It has given the city a vision of the future which I think probably five or seven years ago it didn’t have.