How Liverpool can capitalise on the Capital of Culture

IT WAS a few pints and a good pub that clinched Liverpool the title of European Capital of Culture for 2008.

According to local legend, the beer-loving chairman of the judging panel was treated to a tagged-on tour of the city's pubs after the official programme of gallery and museum visits concluded. And it was in the city's historic boozers, as bona fide a cultural monument as there is, that he was persuaded.

It may be a myth, but the tale illustrates the role that pubs are playing in this historic year for the North West city.

Now, with the launch of a brochure celebrating Liverpool's pubs and designed to help licensees tap into extra visitor numbers, attention is turning to the impact on pubs. After all, they may have helped Liverpool land the Capital of Culture, but what's in it for them?

The summer season, set to be the high point of the year-long celebration, is about to kick off. The brochure, Around the City in 80 Pubs, is being distributed to consumers and should be an effective marketing tool for the pubs included.

Well set ​

Based on figures from previous cities awarded the title, European Capital of Culture is expected to generate an additional 1.7 million visits to Liverpool.

It is forecast that these visitors will spend an extra £36m - a pot which pubs are well set to take a sizeable amount of, according to Liverpool tourism development manager Mark Stewart. "We are going to have all these extra people coming into the city and they are going to want refreshments and entertainment," he says.

"A lot of them are going to want the traditional English pub, which should be part of the whole cultural experience."

A host of activities are being organised by Liverpool's tourism bodies to support pubs. Entertainers have been commissioned to tour pubs by the Liverpool Culture Company, the adjunct of the city council co-ordinating the Capital of Culture programme.

Liverpool Culture Company heritage manager Eileen Wilshaw says that performance poets, comedians, magicians, singers and performers from a young person's arts festival, will "put more animation into pubs".

The Culture Company is also offering pubs special training in welcoming the influx of visitors. The sessions are about "encouraging people to open up pubs to tourists, teaching them how to promote the city to visitors," according to welcome manager Kirsty Connell.

"What we are saying is that anything you do will have an impact on visitor numbers," Kirsty says. Sessions involve familiarising bar staff with the Capital of Culture events schedule, in order for them to prepare, as well as conflict management training. According to Kirsty, this is because "one of the things we are doing is dispelling the myth that Liverpool is a dangerous city". Treasure hunt evenings taking in pubs will be organised by the Chamber of Commerce, as well as a series of lectures in St George's Hall on Liverpool pub history.

Turnaround in fortunes ​

Liverpool's Capital of Culture year marks the culmination of a remarkable turnaround.

The city's changing economic fortunes since its post-industrial downfall have been well documented, but the more recent improvements to its pubs perhaps less so.

In the tabloids' war on binge-drinking, Liverpool was one of the cities most targeted - with some justification, it could be argued. Last year, the council was forced to get tough with the owners of derelict pubs, drawing up a hit-list of eyesores that it ordered should be sorted out or demolished. Now, largely thanks to the £109.4m it is estimated will have been invested in the Capital of Culture celebrations, things are looking more rosy.

However, there is still work to do if pubs are truly to capitalise on the Capital of Culture. Peter Jones, in charge of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce's involvement in the Capital of Culture, gives an example.

He claims to have received very poor service in a city-centre pub on a day in which both the Liverpool/ Everton derby match and a big event at the Philharmonic Hall were being held.

Peter sees this as a missed opportunity to make a good impression on first-time customers, and says: "Pubs should be doing more. We are laying down a challenge for them to get their act together."

If Liverpool pubs can rise to this challenge, helped by the activities being put on, 2008 could be their year. But this is not just about 2008. As any licensee will know, return custom is what really matters.

As Eileen says: "The Capital of Culture, Liverpool, will be here next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. Let's make sure that these visitors come back."

Liverpool licensees on the European Capital of Culture

Carol Ross, Roscoe Head ​

"We have noticed a lot more tourists coming in, people coming to have a look at the pub.

"They tend to get a better reception in off-the-beaten-track places like us.

"Any promotion is welcome. Pubs are getting a lot of bad publicity at the moment, so we need all the help we can get in persuading customers that we are the people upholding responsible drinking."

Dominic Hornsby, Fly in the Loaf ​

"There's a huge difference in our pubs to how they were eight or 12 years ago. Liverpool's real beer scene is starting to get national coverage. That has a knock-on effect of extra business.

"Pubs play a huge part in British culture and in regional cultures. Hand-pull beer in a pub is unique to pubs, and you should be able to get a Liverpool beer like Cains in every pub in Liverpool."

Paddy Byrne, the Everyman Bistro ​

"The richness of architecture in Liverpool's pubs is not likely to be surpassed. It has such diversity.

"Then there's the strength of North West brewers now - for example, George Wright, Derwent and Hawkshead.

"The warmth of the welcome that visitors to Liverpool will get is second to none.

"I'm confident that pubs will do their very best."

Ivan Jenkins, the Belvedere ​

"I came up with the Cultural Ale Trail that was a forerunner to Around the City in 80 Pubs, so I'm a big believer.

"Pubs are tourist attractions in their own right, and Liverpool's pubs are benchmarks.

"Apart from tea, real ale is the drink of the country, so we should be a big attraction to foreign tourists."

Tips for the city's pubs

• Take advantage of all the training and promotional materials on offer

• Be open-minded and welcoming. Every pub is a showcase for the city

• Be aware of what's on offer elsewhere, link up with other pubs that have activities on.