May 29 2008 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo
EXCITED shoppers packed into Liverpool One today after a red carpet ceremony to launch the centre.
Hundreds gathered for the event near the entrance to the city’s huge new Debenhams store.
They then piled into the stores as the £1bn development was opened to the public for the first time just after 10am.
Crowds crammed the streets outside the shops, mingling with stilt-walkers, street performers and jugglers, many clutching red balloons marked with the Liverpool ONE logo.
One of the eager guests was TV star Les Dennis. He said: “It’s already exciting, but when it’s finished it will be fantastic. It’s such a great thing for Liverpool.”
Laura Black, 24, a teacher who lives in the city centre, said: It’s brilliant. I’ve lived in town for five and a half years and shopping has just got better and better.
“This is what Liverpool needed to rival Manchester.”
Joan Ward, 65, from Garston, “I stood waiting for the opening for a while. Debenhams is absolutely beautiful. Liverpool ONE is what we needed to attract more tourists.”
And Liverpool One managers unveiled the huge shopping centre with the promise: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Chief executive Joanne Jennings today told the ECHO: “What you are seeing today is only the first phase of the launch of Liverpool ONE as we reconnect the streets of the city and link the centre back to its historic docks and waterfront.
“Liverpool ONE has brought forward this initial launch by six months so members of the press and visitors to Capital of Culture 08 can see a joined up city once again and get a feel for the sheer level of regeneration taking place.
“The second phase opens on September 30, when the entire 42 acres of shopping and leisure will be fully open to the public with a programme of events being currently finalised that will take over the very heart of the city and celebrate in grand style.”
Workers toiled round the clock to get the shops ready for today’s grand first phase opening ready.
But while thousands of shoppers flocked to the city’s new retail heart, builders were working behind the scenes.
The second phase of the development is between north Paradise Street and Hanover Street. Ms Jennings said: “The Phase 2 launch will see the last of the hoardings come down around the city and the leisure strand of the whole package come into its own as the top level piazza is opened, revealing a startling array of cafes, restaurants and bars that overlook the newly reopened Chavasse Park, itself the centrepiece of the whole of Liverpool ONE.”
Described as “Liverpool’s new living room” the Chavasse Park area is overlooked by a terrace, linked by footbridges to bars and restaurants on South John Street where Liverpool ONE chiefs hope people will relax and take in the views of the city’s amazing waterfront.
Ms Jennings said: “This area will become a destination for those looking to relax with friends and family.”
The huge shopping area is dominated by flagship tenants Debenhams – its first store in the city – and John Lewis.
Debenhams said its South John Street site would be its flagship store for the north and its biggest outside London. And John Lewis was today keeping a date with Liverpool youngsters who visited Liverpool ONE last December to bury a time capsule.
The nine youngsters from Holy Cross primary school, in Fontenoy Street, Vauxhall, were invited back to perform the official opening ceremony by cutting the ribbon at the department store.
Headteacher Angela Holleran said the children were delighted to be invited back on such an important day.
She said: “It’s quite incredible how things have moved on in just a few short months.
“The last time the children were here it was still a building site and they were dressed in hard hats and high visibility jackets and now it has been transformed into this stunning shop full of lovely things which they can’t wait to see.
“They’re all bringing their families with them and are looking forward to showing them the plaque which marks where they buried the time capsule.”
Alex gives seal of approval
ALEX CURRAN today gave her seal of approval to Liverpool’s new mutli-million pound shopping centre.
The wife of Steven Gerrard – who is well versed in retail therapy – said that she was delighted the city was getting a makeover.
Alex added: “It's a fantastic city of great people and completely deserves this major investment.
I love to shop and it's so exciting that the city's retail district is getting this much needed boost.
“I can't wait to go and check it all out.”
Alex is often seen in the city laden with shopping bags from Cricket, the Wags’ favourite city store.
ECHO essentials
NEARLY one million square feet of retail space and 2,500 car parking spaces at Liverpool One open today.
The total complex, once the entire development is opened on September 30, will return 42 acres to the city and create 1.65 million square feet of shops.
Liverpool will get 160 new shops, more than 20 bars, restaurants and cafés, and a 14-screen Odeon cinema.
Chavasse Park will not open until September, allowing new turf and 221 trees to bed in before it is transformed into “Liverpool’s living room”.
The new bus station will be fully utilised with the opening of the first phase.
The nearby 58m bridge linking the Q-Park car park to John Lewis is the longest single-
span box bridge in the world.
Two hotels will be incorporated into the development – the Novotel in Hanover Street and the £50m Hilton next to Chavasse Park, which will open early next year, along with the 600-apartment One Park West tower at the front of the site.
Up to 5,000 jobs will be created once the scheme, which will contain 40% of Liverpool’s retail outlets, is complete.
