Grosvenor-pool & A Garment-Led Renaissance

Life's full of contradictions, isn't it? You say one thing & do another. Quite often, it's unavoidable. The strains & stresses of everyday life mean that you have to compromise, or go back on what you may have promised. All messy stuff, but, hey, that's life.
It's with such a charitable & understanding view that we should look at the contradictory & dysfunctional state of affairs on Oldham Hall Street.
Alastair Houghton re-prints a press release, sorry, I mean writes a piece in today's Oldham Echo which celebrates Grosvenor-pool's "success" (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/11/01/liverpoolone-to-attract-more-than-25m-visitors-100252-27576589/ ).
Just what makes Grosvenor-pool & its cheerleaders on Oldham Hall Street so confident about its ability to attract so many visitors isn't explained. However, that doesn't stop Chris Bliss, Estates Director at the retail nirvana, from providing a classic example of corporate bollockese:
"We're creating a leisure experience that appeals to a wide range of visitors from across the country who realise they can enjoy a day or weekend out at Liverpool One and take in the wider city centre offer too."
Bliss by name, bliss, in all its ignorance, by nature.
Indeed, the Bliss-full take on the wider city centre should be appraised. So where better to get a supporting view on matters than The Oldham Echo's sickly sister, the Daily Ghost (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/10/27/bid-carries-out-survey-on-effects-of-liverpool-one-92534-27549090/ ).
The author of the article? One Alastair Houghton.
Houghton's piece relates:
"Ged Gibbons, chief executive of Liverpool City Central's Business Improvement District, has commissioned property consultancy Drivers Jones Deloitte to discover whether the £1bn Grosvenor development has had a negative effect on other parts of the city......
"[Gibbons] believes Liverpool One has benefitted the city, but says the survey may show that other areas of the centre need to reinvent themselves to attract more shoppers."
It's an interesting concept, isn't it? You've established a retail outlet in, say, Bold Street, but now witness the deleterious effect Grosvenor-pool has on your business. So what do you do? Simple, "reinvent" your business. It's of a piece with the Bliss-full ignorance emanating from Grosvenor-pool.
Gibbons cautions that "this is a city designed for 750,000 people occupied by 500,000.
"With 40% of the working population employed by the public sector, the Government's cuts will have unavoidable consequences."
Ah yes, the cuts. The elephant in the room which puts all the bollockese in its proper perspective, & which will probably result in a further decline of the city's population. In fact, the Daily Ghost was forced to concede its presence last week (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/10/26/liverpool-chamber-chief-warns-replacing-lost-jobs-will-be-a-slow-process-92534-27542055/ ) via a few hard-hitting remarks from Jack Stopforth, chief executive of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce:
"The private sector in Liverpool is probably too small to absorb the likely short-term job losses.
"It might be able to do it over the next four or five years, but it will be a big challenge. And whether or not the jobs are of the same quality and paying the same as the current public sector jobs is debatable."
So where to turn? Well, Ged Gibbons has an observation which Chris Bliss-full Ignorance would be proud to claim as his own:
"On the other hand, Liverpool girls are famed for their fashion and will compromise on much, but not their clothes."
There we have it. Grosvenor-pool may be sucking the life out of other areas of the city centre & the ConDem cuts will leave an army of jobless people the city's private sector can't absorb, but the economic future of Liverpool is guaranteed by "Liverpool girls" who "are famed for their fashion".
Perhaps Oldham Hall Street should take up the call & start another of its campaigns, you know, something with a pithy headline to accompany it. How about, "Dress For Success: Liverpool Ladies Save Our City". Alastair, Mark, think it's got wheels?