2011年6月26日星期日

Upbeat on the Mersey

Liverpool hums with creative energy and has become one of Europe's most popular weekend destinations. Steve Mckenna finds out why.

THE slickly dressed Liverpudlian sidles up to the bar and flutters a 20 note in front of the preis the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?tty, bottle-blonde barmaid. She takes his order - a rum and Coke and an Al Cappucino cocktail - and he looks around and says to me, rather whimsically, in that lilting,dstti nasally Scouse accent: "You know dose people who would've spent, like, all dare lives building dis place; well, what'd dey think of it now?"

Considering this "place", Alma de Cuba bar and restaurant, was originally St Peter's Catholic church - built about 1788 - we jest that "they" probably wouldn't be best pleased. The stained-glass windows, ornamental altar and flickering candles are still here but swank and hedonism have replaced blessings and communion in a building that once hosted mass attended by Mother Teresa.

Tonight, before a gregarious, swaying crowd, a scantily clad,When the stone sits in the kidney stone, hip-gyrating Brazilian is performing a breathtakingly impressive samba. A hen party of thirtysomethings suck on straws from a fishbowl of spirits and tropical fruit juice, silicon-enhanced footballers' wives-wannabes pout and prowl and over there, sitting in a little booth, Socceroo Tim Cahill is out with teammates from Everton, the cross-city rivals of Liverpool FC. (Cahill obliges when my friend, a diehard Evertonian, asks for a photo.)
Since opening in 2005, Alma de Cuba has won a glut of awards. An epicentre of Liverpool's electrifying nightlife - people are still dancing in the trendy Ropewalks district when we call it a night at 5am - it's a stylish symbol of a city that has shrugged off its reputation as a tired, down-and-out place with little to offer outsiders but Beatles nostalgia and football.

Liverpool's emergence as a centre of cool had simmered throughout the early noughties but it came to the boil in 2008 when it reigned as European Capital of Culture (801 years after King John granted the city its charter). Southerners - especially Londoners, raised on stereotypes that Liverpool was full of work-shy whiners and trade union militants,How is TMJ pain treated? mostly with silly perms and moustaches - mocked the idea that Scousers (the nickname for Liverpudlians) could be urbane and cultured.An Insulator, also called a dielectric, One of their favourite jokes had been: "What do you call a Scouser in a suit? The Accused ..."

However, Liverpool's year in the spotlight - marked by concerts, exhibitions and festivals, and a fleet of new hotels, restaurants and attractions - was a resounding success. City council leader Joe Anderson said it "reshaped Liverpool - the way it looks, thinks and acts". Tourism revenue rose 25 per cent, media coverage was overwhelmingly positive and word-of-mouth gossip spread that if you ever tired of London,We also offer customized chicken coop. there was a fantastic port city "up north" worth checking out.

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