Feelgood factor starts to fade

Dec 31 2008 by Barry Turnbull, Liverpool Daily Post

2008 started on a high note, Barry Turnbull recalls – but it all ended in uncertainty

THE year 2008 was launched on a wave of optimism in Liverpool, with much to look forward to.

Capital of Culture year was under way, the Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre was due to open doors, and the £1bn Liverpool One retail development was nearing completion.

This feel-good factor was reflected in comments on the region's prospects for 2008. The Daily Post headline “Tough times ahead but we should avoid a recession” proved to be a little too confident an assertion.

In January, investment firm Rathbones predicted that the FTSE-100 would end the year at 6,400, a figure which has turned out to be wide of the mark.

JANUARY

Good news was still very much on the agenda, with 376 apartments at Mann Island sold by Neptune to Dylan Harvey in a job lot worth £70m.

In addition, a consortium of property investors announced plans for the city's biggest tower, a £130m development on the site of the former King Edward pub, at the junction of Leeds Street and Great Howard Street.

During the first month, Jim Gill was appointed to the top job at restructured regeneration agency Liverpool Vision.

Not such happy days at The Mersey Partnership, however, where new chief executive Lorraine Rogers, discovered a hole in the accounts which would have led to insolvency but for a bail-out by the Northwest Development Agency.

The first of the year’s jobs blows occurred when it was revealed 350 posts were being axed at Daresbury Laboratory.

The aborted Merseytram project cost £70m in consultants’ fees and infrastructure works and purchases.

FEBRUARY

General optimism spilled over into February with tourism figures for January well ahead of 2007, and developer Urban Splash announcing a £100m gateway to Liverpool project at Great George Street.

Northwestern Ship Repairers secured a £28m Ministry of Defence contract and another Daily Post headline boomed "Rosy outlook for financial services".

It was also forecast the airport would make its first-ever profit. The Echo Arena Liverpool and BT Convention Centre launched with a fanfare and news that business was going to be brisk virtually from day one.

MARCH

More figures suggested that hotel rates were rocketing on the back of Capital of Culture events. Indian group Tata bought into Jaguar Land Rover for more than £1bn, with a spokesman proclaiming: “We will build on Halewood's heritage.” Property firm Your Space relocated from Manchester to Liverpool.

APRIL

Signs of a downturn began emerging with Sayers the bakers shedding 150 jobs, and Ethel Austin collapsing into administration. Amid the doom in financial markets, the Bank of England's Mervyn King declared that: “Banks will not be bailed out.” A Daily Post headline cautioned: “Keep calm to ride credit crunch.”

MAY

Jim Gill came out fighting with an assertion that: "City's growth will help it weather economic storm."

German renewable energy firm Stiebe Eltron opened premises in Wirral, while Northwestern Shiprepairers said it was recruiting Polish labour to cope with a skills shortage. Meanwhile, the city got another huge boost with the first shop openings at the much-heralded Liverpool One development.

Covering 42 acres, it would eventually be host to 160 retailers. Chief executive Joanne Jennings said it was “one of the most important days in the city's history”. More than 200,000 people trooped through on opening day.

JUNE

With the mid-year point close at hand, there was still hope that the downturn might not be that bad. Urban Splash raised £125m for expansion plans and Land Securities announced a £100m redevelopment of St John's Centre.

The Grand Princess cruise ship tied up at the new waterfront terminal, leading to the Daily Post to herald a "New tide of prosperity".

The Albert Dock said it was receiving an extra 100,000 visitors a week, and Enterprise unveiled plans for a skills centre in Speke employing 1,500 people. Northwestern Shiprepairers netted a further £250m contract with the MoD. On the less positive side, Land Rover talked of a sales slump and Vauxhall began lay-offs.