Liverpool Vision hosted a fact-finding group of retail and food and drink specialists from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) last week.

The group of 13 came from UKTI’s retail and food and drink teams, keen to build their understanding of Liverpool City Region and what it has to offer investors from these sectors. It is hoped that this will lead to increased trade between Liverpool retailers, food manufacturers and international investors.

The itinerary began with a meeting at Liverpool Vision’s offices, with representatives from VisitLiverpool, Liverpool LEP and IFB 2016 to get an overview of the city’s economic assets. The group then went on a trade tour of Liverpool, meeting with retailers from Liverpool ONE, City Central BID and beyond to discuss their views and ideas on investment before seeing some of the city’s prominent cultural institutions and visitor attractions first-hand.

There were also meetings with major suppliers including Olympic Foods, one of the leading independent suppliers of vegetable oils, and the team behind the SUPERPORT development.

Chris Heyes, Head of Liverpool in London, organised the trip and commented:

“Liverpool’s retail and food and drink offer has developed massively in the last decade, and our millions of visitors are testament to this. It is vital that we spread this message so that UK offices abroad look further than London when talking to inward investors in these sectors. UKTI are often the first port of call for these investors and I think their packed itinerary gave them a really good taste what Liverpool has to offer.”