Trading gossip

Jun 4 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL One opened with a spectacular fanfare last week, and so far the hype seems to be working. Despite the economic downturn, legions of shoppers with a “crazed look” have descended on Grosvenor’s development to shop as if their lives depended on it.

Last Thursday’s launch day started with a media breakfast at the swish 62 Castle Street. However, there was some dismay among hungry hacks hoping for bacon butties and pastries. Only canapés were on offer and at least one scribe was forced to hotfoot it to a nearby Subway for a proper feed.

A LITTLE confusion from Grosvenor chairman Lord Home who, in a speech to local dignitaries, said Liverpool would once again be one of the UK’s “top five retail distributions”. Nurse! But quote of the day came from Joanne Jennings, Liverpool One chief executive, who showed a flash of steel with a shot across the bows of Manchester rival, the Trafford Centre. “Liverpool One is as different from the Trafford Centre as a Renoir original is to a poster of the Spice Girls,” she said. Game on.

TO THE BT Convent-ion Centre and the 2008 Mersey Tourism Awards. A very slick black-tie event, apart from the immense Microsoft error message that appeared on the big screen during a presentation of some of the nominees. And some thigh-slapping red-blooded raciness from Mersey Tourism chairman, David Wade-Smith, above, added a little spice to the evening. Compère for the night, the glamorous BBC TV presenter Ranvir Singh, had joked about relocating to Liverpool so she could shop at Liverpool One. Wade-Smith couldn’t resist kicking off his speech with an unashamedly rakish comment that the chaps in the room would be very pleased to have Ranvir living here. Down boy.

THE former banking premises in West Africa House, in Liverpool’s Water Street, is being turned into a design studio. However, future workers should beware of wandering into one of the old bank vaults. A sign on one of the doors reads: “Please don’t close this door – we won’t be able to get you out.”