The Liverpool One shopping area was one year old last Friday (29 May 2009) so there was a bit of a celebration. There was music and barbeque, face painting and balloons (of course) and a few fireworks in the late evening.
By all accounts the project has been a success so far with 22 million shoppers and diners during the first year, 120 new stores, plenty of car parking spaces and shops open till 20.00 (Yay!). But also the area looks great when its full of people, especially families. Chavasse park is full of plants in bloom as well as the grassy areas, far, far better than the old ‘park’ which has helped increase footfall to / from the Albert Dock area.
For 2 weeks there’s an exhibition in the public spaces of photographs of Liverpool One which were submitted in response to an open call. Hopefully there will be more cultural events in the area as L1 seeks to build links with neighbours such as the Bluecoat, Tate etc. You can keep track of events via the L1 website which will be re-launching an improved format soon.
