Britain’s most successful retailer, Liverpool’s Terry Leahy, talks to the Daily Post’s Alastair Machray

SIR TERRY knows how to sell things. As chief executive of the much-envied Tesco corporation, he turned in £51.8bn in annual sales last year, announcing record profits as he did so.

Four hundred stores in 14 countries watch the tills jingle. In this country alone, it is estimated £1 of every £8 spent ends up on a Tesco revenue line.

So when he talks about selling Liverpool, it’s worth listening. It’s the city that shaped him, educated him, launched him. It’s a city for which he still has a burning passion, a helping hand and a critical eye.

And, says Sir Terry, it’s a city at a crossroads.

“Liverpool has been a struggling provincial city and it has been the second city of Europe. We can now move in either of those directions, and Liverpool is at the point where it must choose which one.’’

He’s dead right, of course. On the back of European Objective 1 funding, then the lead-up to, and delivery of, 2008 European Capital of Culture, the city has moved from the scrapheap to the crossroads. Sir Terry is crystal clear about which path we should take.

“We must aspire to be seen as one of the great cities of Europe. What we mustn’t do is measure ourselves in the pecking order of provincial English cities.

“We shouldn’t sit around trying to be as good as, or a bit better than, say, Leeds or Newcastle, or Cardiff.

‘’If ambitions are low, then ‘low’ is what we will achieve.

‘’Let’s make no mistake, though. Great progress has been made. There are lots of people coming up to me now and saying how great the city is looking.

“The city centre has been transformed and the underlying economic statistics are strong.

“Liverpool One is magnificent. So is the Echo Arena and BT Conference Centre.

“We are catching up with other cities now, not falling behind.”

The path back to greatness is, believes Sir Terry, achievable – more than a pipe dream or a goal set in the knowledge that reaching for the heights will at least deliver progress.

The man who has developed and nurtured the Tesco brand to be the envy of the retail world, is fulsome in his appreciation of his home city’s own unique selling points.

“We are known around the world and that’s a great place from which to start.

“There are much, much bigger cities in China, for instance, that would give anything to have Liverpool’s fame.

“We also have unmatched historical assets – buildings and a trade heritage. We were in at the birth of the industrial revolution and in at the birth of world trade.

“Our brand, too, is about wonderfully special people. Lancastrians, Irish, and a little bit of Welsh, the city has a unique feel to it. There is very great quality of people, as well as place.

“And a lot of that is what drives success in the 21st century. Modern businesses will locate in the most favourable environments and the cities that win are the ones that offer the best environments.

“Liverpool today has that environment. Sure, there are some missing building blocks and they must be put in place. But, on the whole, we have the climate for businesses to thrive.”

Upbeat certainly. But are businesses really looking at Liverpool as a prime investment destination or even a place to stay and grow? Or do they remain nervy about strike-strewn antecedence and mindful of the nationally-preferred stereotype of the Scouser who talks a lot better than he works?

“Once, maybe. There was that element of Scouse chippiness, that history of HR strife that meant Liverpool was low on the list of places people were looking to invest.

“But that’s changed now. Businesses are prepared to listen.

“And that means the city must take advantage. The city must put its case and be more active in doing so. And it must certainly be more confident in doing so.’’

So what are the “building blocks” we still need if Liverpool can go to market with the full package to offer investors prepared to listen, wowed by the place and captivated by the people?

“We have assets but we must ensure we use them to our best advantage,” says the man who once travelled to London to stack Tesco shelves when he couldn’t find a holiday job back home in Liverpool.

“For instance, Liverpool as a city is twice as big as its population. So people can use a car. That’s an asset – you ask people in other cities.

“And, because the city is twice as big as its population, it means land prices are low and if we make that land available to developers then that’s an asset.

“But what we have to ask is: ‘Has that land been made available? Has the infrastructure been properly utilised?’”

Whatever Liverpool’s way forward, Belle Vale-born Sir Terry is adamant that it must be as a city region that we progress, and not as a standalone city surrounded by competing authorities.

“Economic development strategy has to be about the whole city region if it is to succeed. Effectively, we are 1.5m people in Liverpool and we should flex that muscle. There was a time when there was an anti-Liverpool feeling in the outer districts, but that’s changed now.

“People should ask themselves – ‘Do I feel part of Liverpool?’ – and if they don't they should remind themselves that the outer districts originally succeeded on the back of a vibrant Liverpool.

“A city region approach is fundamental. Take Liverpool One, for instance. That was an investment of £1bn and could not have been justified to serve Liverpool’s city population of 400,000. It would fail on that basis. It is set up for people from farther afield to use.

“Liverpool One is a great example of how a city region must act and think.”

Surely, though, the throes of recession is not the time for big ideas and grand ambitions. Tesco may be turning in record profits, but surely Liverpool needs to don its tin hat and wait for the upturn before crashing ahead on the road to European greatness?

“Absolutely wrong. Liverpool should push ahead through the recession. A recession is where you make the most relative progress.

“When times are good, everybody is doing well and it’s hard to get very far ahead of the competition. A recession is when you should make your big changes.

“As I said at the outset, now is the time for Liverpool to compare itself with other great European cities and make the decision to compete.

“The need for that mindset is not just applicable to the city leadership or the regional leadership. It is the mindset needed by everyone.

“Everyone connected with Liverpool must have the belief that we can win.”

So that, according to Sir Terry Leahy, is how we’ll win. And European greatness, long-term prosperity and quality of life is the prize.

So how will we know when we’ve won?

“You’ll know. Barcelona has won. Valencia are doing very interesting things and they are winning. You could say Dublin has won, too.

“How will we know we’ve won? Don’t worry. We’ll know.”