top

The European City of the Year Award

Bordeaux

This city is a work of art, this city is a sonnet, \\ This city is a masterpiece, this city is a play \\ This city is a great idea with ‘Bordeaux’ chiselled on it \\ This city is a narrative with many things to say: \\ A tale of wine, of architecture, boulevards and cheese \\ Of sitting by the water or riding on the tram \\ Of strolling in the evening in the French-accented breeze \\ Of saying ‘Bordeaux emphasises all the things I am \\ Or all the things I can become’ because Bordeaux oozes promise \\ A promise of a past and future working to create \\ A present that is confident, exemplifies the premise \\ That planning twinned with action is what makes a city great. \\ It’s a menu, it’s a streetmap, it’s education, it’s a show \\ With more layers than an onion, I give to you...Bordeaux!

Freiburg (winner)

Have a look at Freiburg in many different ways; \\ High up in a cable car shifting slightly in the air \\ Walking through the old town with a hungry tourist’s gaze \\ Wandering through a gallery, with time to stand and stare \\ Or sitting in a cafe with a glass of local wine. \\ From every different angle Freiburg is a city \\ That takes the time to sparkle, takes the time to shine \\ In a way that’s somehow more profound than pretty. \\ There’s nothing wrong with pretty but that’s not the whole story \\ Of a place as multilayered, multifaceted as this \\ With history, culture, architecture and a dash of scenic glory \\ As expansive as a group hug or intimate as a kiss: \\ So much is hidden from your gaze; it’s a mystery, it’s an iceberg \\ With hidden depths and striking beauty from all angles: Freiburg!

Valencia

A beach at sunset. A tall drink in a morning cafe. A song \\ That echoes in your mind long after that song has ended. \\ I’m just trying to define Valencia: solitude and throng, \\ Silence and music, elements transformed and blended \\ In the Spanish air, a Mediterranean way of thinking \\ Formed by the years and moulded like wind moulds a wall, \\ Changes a building subtly. Back in the cafe, I’m drinking \\ In the view and the sounds and synthesising it all \\ Into Valencia: leisure, culture, surefooted confidence \\ In the past and the future, in yesterday and today, \\ And walking down to the beach I find it all makes sense \\ Valencia sense, Valencia understanding, and I have to say \\ As I pay and leave my table and wander down the street \\ Valencia is the kind of place that makes your life complete!

The Great Town Award

Cambridge

Place of thinking and talking and writing \\ City of reading and punting and gazing \\ The day’s stimulating, the night is exciting, \\ The morning is thoughtful, the evening’s amazing! \\ Take me on the water down the River Cam, \\ Take me on a guided tour around the city streets; \\ Cambridge is for everyone, you don’t need an exam \\ To make a visit to Cambridge complete! \\ Some cities, blessed like this one with history everywhere, \\ Get lazy and just celebrate the past \\ But Cambridge mixes everything with chutzpah and with flair \\ And Cambridge’s vista is vast! \\ It’s growing, transforming, zeitgeisty and pretty \\ That jewel of the flatlands they call Cambridge city!

Chester

If you want plenty of future, lashings of past \\ And a present that’s glowing with promises \\ Here’s to a location that’s growing so fast \\ With modern and old Roman premises! \\ It’s a town built with class on the banks of the Dee \\ Like all riverside places , it rocks! \\ The stone where you’re standing dates back to B.C.! \\ Look left and you’ll see working locks \\ On the Cheshire canal; on a bright summers day \\ You can understand Chester’s longevity: \\ A mixture of beauty, and learning and style \\ Of nous, gravitas and felicity... \\ And if you don’t believe me then you’re best ter \\ Get on the next express to Chester!

Scarborough (winner)

Tide of visitors in, tide of water out \\ Tide of water in, tide of visitors up \\ To the shops and the cafes for a cake and a sup \\ While the kids on the sand play beach cricket and shout \\ And the trains go out and the trains come in \\ And the sun turns the sky a Marine kind of blue. \\ If this town is a boat, then we’re all the crew, \\ And the Scarborough fun can begin! \\ Sea Life, Rotunda, a boat ride, a theatre \\ The best fish and chips that you’ll ever chew \\ A town close to perfection and pretty near ter \\ Nirvana for people just like me and you. \\ It’s a promise, a fact, but it’s no empty boast \\ That Scarborough’s the jewel of the East Yorkshire coast!

The Great Neighbourhood Award

Coin Street, London (winner)

Newly-minted place, place of great worth \\ Not far from the banks of the mighty river \\ New ideas conjured up from ancient earth \\ To inspire, renew, rebuild and deliver. \\ A place to look and eat and drink \\ A place pulled right back from the edge \\ A place to walk or sit and think \\ More than a street, it’s a pledge \\ That living in a city can help you grow \\ And not in the shadow of an office block; \\ Coins on Coin Street were what got sowed, \\ And something marvellous grew on London rock. \\ Coin Street can dazzle, Coin Street can amaze \\ It’s a street full of riches, to Coin a phrase. \\

Ropewalks, Liverpool

Sometimes living in a city is like walking on a rope \\ You can slip, you can tumble, you can end up falling down \\ Sometimes living in a city is just hanging on to hope \\ Walking every day between the grey sky and the ground \\ But the Ropewalks is a vision of just how things can be \\ How regeneration alters more than just the view \\ And creates much more than buildings, more than you can see \\ And let me tell you that this much I know is true: \\ Ropewalks is renewal, that’s a sculpture, that’s a FACT \\ It’s a place to sit and chill, it’s a place to stand and think \\ It’s a place for symbiosis, a place where opposites attract \\ But forget my theorising, let’s just go and have a drink! \\ In a city where everybody sings and everybody talks \\ See them talk and hear them singing down the new Ropewalks...

St Paul's / Montpelier (Bristol)

If you’re looking for a jewel the let me tell yer \\ You want to get down to St Paul’s/Montpelier! \\ It’s a shining place, it catches the light \\ From artistic mornings to Italian nights \\ And the people on the streets feel part of a scheme \\ That’s brighter than reality, more tactile than a dream; \\ Somehow the future can be built from a past \\ That didn’t fulfil this place’s potential \\ But the streets and the squares are changing fast \\ It’s a Bristol-type exponential \\ Expansion of a project into glittering reality \\ With the St Paul’s/Montpelier can-do mentality \\ It’s the opposite of a dismal failure \\ The runaway success of St. Paul’s/Montpelier!

The Great Street Award

The Arcades, Cardiff

There’s something sublime about shopping; \\ Flitting from store to store on a mission \\ Carrying bag after bag and never dropping \\ One; and the shopper is always wishing \\ For somewhere great to use his plastic \\ Somewhere lovely to splash her cash \\ Well Cardiff Arcades are just fantastic \\ Full of verve, wit, style and dash! \\ The Arcades are theatre, showbiz, works of art \\ You can eat and drink and meet your mates \\ And in a city with the Arcades at its heart \\ The present is shining and greatness awaits! \\ They’re monuments, symbols and palisades... \\ Ladies and Gentlemen: Cardiff Arcades!

Grey Street, Newcastle (winner)

Sweeps through a city like a street can, \\ Reflects the light from the sky like a street should; \\ You can see it on a map or a street plan \\ But Grey Street should be lived in to be understood \\ Or at least walked up, or danced in, or stood for a time \\ Just to take it all in, the feel of the place \\ Somewhere between picturesque and sublime \\ A true Geordie version of Grace. \\ And it’s good that this street has the Theatre Royal \\ Because the whole of Grey Street is dramatic \\ After all drama’s as deep as Newcastle’s soil \\ And the voices on this street are almost operatic: \\ It’s a place for the heart and a place for the feet \\ Come and experience the glory of Grey Street!

New Road, Brighton

This is a fact: space has to be shared \\ In this crowded world, in this crowded land; \\ And this is the story of a place that dared \\ To get vehicles and people to live hand in hand; \\ New Road is a road where you can stroll or you can sit \\ Or you can drive or you can play or you can slow \\ Right down and simply chill or cloud-watch for a bit \\ As the people with the buggies cross the road. \\ New Road’s a good name because this is a new idea: \\ Drivers and pedestrians don’t have to be at war, \\ And the idea is so simple, the thinking is so clear \\ That sharing space could be what a road is for. \\ If you want an idea that’s a forward-thinking right’un \\ Get yourself down to New Road, Brighton!

The Great Place Award

Grassmarket, Edinburgh

You can eat you drink you can sleep you can gaze \\ Up into the beautiful Edinburgh sky \\ And spot the sun coming through the morning’s haze \\ And you almost feel you can fly \\ Because the Grassmarket lifts your spirits \\ Puts a grin on a serious face \\ Gives each waking hour a fillip \\ And you live life at Grassmarket pace! \\ It used to be a market, hence the name \\ Now they just sell life and excitement; \\ No two days here are ever the same \\ But they’re just linked by enjoyment! \\ It’s a song it’s a dance it’s a flying rocket \\ Come and take a ride in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket!

Meeting House Square, Dublin

If you need a place that’s the essence of simply Being There \\ Then raise a glass and drink a toast to Meeting House Square; \\ Meet a friend and see a film or simply walk around \\ But you’ll find your shoes are floating three feet off the ground; \\ And you’re singing or you’re dancing or you’re quiet or you’re loud \\ And the gentle evening silence is a taste of things to come \\ Or it’s fooling you and soon the music grabs your senses \\ the blood is pounding in your veins because this square is a drum \\ that beats the rhythm of the city and it lowers your defences \\ till you accept the focus, the Meeting House Square hum \\ that’s a hum of life, a buzz of joy, a feeling in your soul: \\ somehow right here in this square you’re human and you’re whole \\ and you breathe in the atmosphere, you feast on Dublin air \\ a banquet for senses that we call Meeting House Square!

Sheaf Square, Sheffield (winner)

The passenger now leaving platform five \\ Arrives in a place of shining steel \\ And it makes that passenger glad to be alive \\ Because where you are dictates how you feel \\ And even on a day when it’s chucking it down \\ Sheaf Square puts a spring in the tiredest step \\ This vista makes a smile from the deepest frown \\ And fills you full of vim and verve and pep! \\ And people are standing by the sculpture \\ That curves with light and runs with water \\ And they take photographs of each other \\ Here’s a boy and a girl and a mother and daughter... \\ This place makes you participate; you feel you are a player \\ Utopia, Nirvana, or if you like: Sheaf Square!

back to top