No-one looks surprised if you sound excited about a weekend in Berlin or Barcelona, yet people can take some persuading when you talk about a city break in the north of England. Why is that?

For me - a sometime northerner who has lived in London almost all of his adult life - going to Liverpool, Manchester or Leeds can seem a thrilling combination of the familiar and the exotic, just the ticket for a weekend of discovery.

And for anyone with the least sentimental attachments to these great northern cities, with their extraordinary industrial and mercantile heritage, part of the appeal of revisiting them today is seeing cities which, little more than a decade ago looked almost lost causes, springing to life again - with edgy new buildings or bold new reburbishments by hip developers like Urban Splash or Artisan.

But when it came to what might be called the regeneration game, for a long time Liverpool seemed to come a poor second to its old rival Manchester, the first of these cities to rebrand itself - through nightlife, as much as architecture - as the New Cool North. That’s changing though.

Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter is looking splendid again. It has the spanking new Arena, a massive makeover in the centre known as the Paradise Street project - and last but not least, the upcoming arty jamboree known locally as ‘08’.

The Pool of Life, Carl Jung famously called Liverpool, back when fortunes were made on the Mersey and the town was the clearing house of the British Empire. The great merchant dynasties have long gone now, but before they went off to the shires, they endowed some splendid museums and libraries which still, along with newer additions like the mighty Tate and the edgy new A-Foundation gallery, make Liverpool a world-class cultural destination.

Now that all gets cranked up a few notches further with with Liverpool’s status as European Capital of Culture. But what exactly does that mean?

It means a year-long programme from those mighty insitutions: the Walker Gallery, the Tate, the Everyman and the Playhouse theatres, the Liverpool Philharmonic (affectionately known simply as ‘the Phil’) and the Liverpool Biennial...

In short, all of the major local cultural players - backed up by some famous vistors - have been planning line-ups designed to woe, not just savvy international or metropolitan visitors, but crucially, also local audiences, who must also be charmed if ‘08’ is to be judged a success.

That charm offensive reportedly begins with efforts to keep the local cabbies onside, with courses about the Turner Prize that is currently making a guest appearance at Tate Liverpool. This is a city of affordable, plentiful black cabs, so everyone takes them - and everyone chats to the cabbies, many of whom are funny enough and pithy enough to merit their own show.

Thus they seem to have a huge influence on popular views... and so far, for every Scouser who owns up to feeling excited about next year, you’ll talk to several who don’t seem fussed - and will tell you so in no uncertain terms. So we shall see.

Certainly, the programme sees some emotional returns which might move even the hardest heart: like local-boys Simon Rattle (performing with the Berlin Philharmonic) and Paul McCartney (perfoming with the Phil), and even the late Bill Shankly, the subject of a new play.

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