Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat.I stood in the garden this week and for the first time could clearly see how the building would look when it was finished. The crane went over the weekend and so the complete shape is visible. Having said to everyone for the last year and a half that the Bluecoat’s new wing was going to be the finest 21st century building in Liverpool (to go with the front of the building which is the finest 18th century one), it was thrilling to see the drawings come to life and to know it will be that promised gem in the centre of the city.

All the staff gathered on Tuesday for a meeting and afterwards the new chef for the Bluecoat Nigel, who is working up our menu, showcased the food that will be served in our new restaurant-bar and grab-and-go. I can tell you it will be fitting for the finest building in Liverpool. It won’t be the grandest in the City and of course not the most expensive but from starter to pudding the most successful. We had tasters of more dishes than I can name, shrimps with crème fraiche, straight forward steak and chips, sweet potato and pumpkin pie, lemon drizzle cake, a crumble, a smoothie and on and on. All of them a delight. It will be the best of cooking; simple, allowing the ingredients centre stage (local and fresh), never fussy, honest but not plain.

Now we can almost taste and see the Bluecoat as it will be I’m pleased that the Liverpool City Council and the Culture Company are drawing a line under the Matthew Street episode and preparing themselves for ’08. Phil Redmond seems a good choice as the front man and the Bluecoat will support him fully but, and I know he knows this, he will have to be like the Liver Birds and face both ways. He has done a fantastic job so far of selling scouse to the scousers and the Post and Echo have bought this but this is not even half the project. To be the modern European city of its dreams he must sell Liverpool to Lisbon, Liepzig, Lyon, Los Angeles and yes, whether we like it or not, London.

The Bluecoat is almost ready but it still needs a helping hand from the City, one more big push and we will be at the party with our hat on.

Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat.