Liverpool city centre is looking really good these days and there is a spring in the step of the place that it has lacked for fifty years.
No-one would pretend it is perfect or that we get it right all the time, but compared to fifteen or twenty years ago the atmosphere is completely different.
Liverpool has a new-found confidence that gives it the feel of a place that is developing and going forward.
There are a whole host of reasons for this. I have to confess that I think the rash of city-centre flats was a bubble, over-inflated by the 90s credit bonanza and Capital of Culture.
The half-finished blocks dotted around are a sad testament to that. Maybe we should paint one of the abandoned piles of concrete or steel red and blue as a monument - literally a "folly" and a reminder of what caused the Credit Crunch and the Recession.
However, there is still an underlying upturn in the fortunes of what we now like to call the Liverpool City Region. It is partly the fact that the tourism and leisure sector is still booming and it would seem that is the real growth area of the city.
The success of the restaurants at Liverpool ONE shows that there is still a very a big demand for eating-out. This despite the fact that restaurant businesses find it hard to qualify for funding support or grants. It's relatively-easy to qualify for EU or Govt backed loans and other funding for manufacturing and hi-tech businesses, including start-ups.
But for some reasons, best known to the bureaucrats, the rules have always seemed to exclude cafes, restaurants, bars or hotels. I guess the idea is that these are regarded as "luxury" services that should not be subsidised with taxpayers' money.
Seems a bit strange, since this is such a growth area in Merseyside.
It is also a source of some regret that the firms who seem to be in the forefront of the Liverpool tourism bonanza seem to be predominantly big businesses who have opened branches here. Jamie Oliver is about to open a Jamie's Italian in Liverpool ONE. This is good news since chains like these would not have considered Liverpool a destination as little as five years ago.
I also have no problem with the kind of inward investment that we have seen from the likes of SAS Radisson, and Hilton Hotels and I welcome the expansion and success of the locally-based chain of Centre Island Hotels - they run the Liverpool Crown Plaza and a number of Holiday Inns.
But what I do perceive is that some local small businesses are paying the price for the success of Liverpool ONE. I am thinking of excellent city centre restaurants and bars which have found that the "centre of gravity" in the city has moved towards Paradise Street, drawing trade away from them.
In the end it can only be good that Liverpool ONE flies a huge flag that makes the city a destination.
But in the shorter to medium term I feel that there should be some serious assistance channelled into local SMEs in the catering and leisure sectors.
I can think of at least one restaurant not a million miles away from Liverpool ONE that puts any of its offerings in the shade. It serves superb food and is great value-for-money, yet the decor leaves a little to be desired and for this reason it does not attract the tourist and day-tripper trade. To compete with the L-ONE crowd it needs a £100k make-over... but that kind of cash would come only from a bank loan and the kind of guarantees they want along with the interest rates can be very daunting.
So, I think it is up to the new Government, in partnership with the City Council to pay special attention to this sector and give them a leg-up. Without such help I fear that that Liverpool ONE could easily lay the foundations for a big business monoculture that could come to dominate the city centre.
That would be a pity since it is surely vital that Liverpool maintains its unique local character. Try and get a nice bowl of Scouse in Liverpool ONE. You will struggle.
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