Liverpool and Norwich

I would promise this is my last but I can't. I may have to start putting the rest on Triond so as not to have such a one themed portfolio.

These may seem strange cities to pair and that is all the more reason for doing so. It is also of personal importance to chose between them at present.

You could almost write a table of contrasts. On opposite corners of England, the local vibe is very different. As I said of Newcastle - Norwich faces the continent, Liverpool Ireland and the New World. Unlike Newcastle and Liverpool, Norwich isn't a northern city and although level with midlands city Birmingham, I've always considered myself more akin to the South of England.

Liverpool is a city of half a million or more, a metropolitan county, and a fairly young city, becoming one in only 1880. Its oldest central building is only c1700, when Liverpool became a parish. By this time, Norwich had over 30 parish churches, (half what it did have) and had been a city for over 500 years. It was vying for second in England after London with York and Bristol. Norwich slowed its growth when Liverpool's catapulted into a grand classical city and major port. Norwich has a little riverside industry but left the main dockside industry to Lynn and Yarmouth. Its buildings are mostly smaller, older and has a country, agricultural air.

It is my native area and the one that I have spent most time in, although I am proud that I have lived in every corner of Britain and travelled my country well.

How to compare such different cities? If I was in Liverpool, I would miss what Norwich is and has. What would that be?

-A Castle. Norwich's Norman decorated cube is its major museum.

-The many narrow streets of old colourful houses; being able to visit Strangers' Hall and Dragon Hall; to lunch in medieval undercrofts (the most in the country). I don't know that Liverpool has any of these.

-The independent shops and cafes in the said brightly painted old streets. I've criticised Liverpool for not having a distinct architectural style, but Norwich has one, in its timbered buildings. Nowhere else has that palette, those style of gables and dormer windows. Norwich shows several Dutch gables, stemming from the refugees.

Norwich may be medieval, but its streets are also a successful melding of many eras. The waterfront on to which famous Elm Hill backs has a timbered house, a 19th Flemish art college, a medieval friary, a 1930s pink building, a 2000s car park (which I despise) where there should be a palace; a former 19th c maltings and shoe factory. Norwich has a few grand buildings; and its Edwardian architect with a distinct contribution is George Skipper who built an art nouveau arcade and Norwich Union headquarters, with its amazing marble interior.

When I first lived in Norwich, I thought all this was quite suffice. I loved that it has a flint church on most street corners (my street had four); that there were remnants of the city walls; that it has a wide colourful market square. I was proud of the Forum as a modern building that quickly became a symbol of the city, and of the many thoughtful new built houses and offices. I was impressed by the few larger buildings and the industrial heritage on top of the superlative pre 1700 one.

I was also impressed by the amount of arts centres. There are a dozen places for live arts in the city. I liked the museums Norwich has, preferring to visit old buildings and hear the story of a city than in classical halls of artefacts behind glass. I am still drawn to the Norwich school of artists, whose work can be seen in the castle. I was impressed that the 31 churches are only 1/3 used by Anglican congregations, but that only one church stands empty. Several churches became arts related - two as studios, one a museum, one as an exhibition centre and three as places for performing arts. Norwich has a Theatre Royal for general touring companies, the Maddermarket for amateur and touring companies, and the playhouse which has drama alongside music and comedy. Norwich Arts centre has courses for web building, film editing, photography. It occasionally shows films and has exhibitions and some theatre. But much of its programme is music and comedy. In the suburbs, the Sewell Barn company is voluntary actors doing a season of plays.

Having all these along with the UEA [university], the Waterfront for gigs and clubbing, the intimate and unique King of Hearts where you can hear ancient instruments literally playing chamber music, I felt Norwich was well served by cultural venues. I could hear classical music in a cathedral (two in fact) or at St Andrews Hall. I could club. I could attend gigs, also at Wensum Lodge where folk musicians play, or at another medieval home at Bedford's brasserie. I could take a bus ride to the Brickmakers and hear other bands.

Moving round the country, I came to see that the pubs I had considered ordinary in Norwich (and Cambridge) were actually special. I like the chilled pubs that Norwich offers aplenty, such as those in the Golden Triangle area. Take 5 café has become even more of a favourite as I see that it is a rarity elsewhere, whereas chilled, arty, quirky day and night cafes are common in Norwich. There may be less places to eat and drink here than in bigger cities, but there are many that I like to return to and would confidently recommend. In my other homes, I struggle to find places that I want to go back to.

I love that Norwich has an alternative vibe. Not only has former co-op Take 5 survived 30 years, despite needing to leave its former home in the great hall beside the cinema; but the Greenhouse eco centre has been dishing out boxes of organic vegetables and advising on energy efficient alternatives long before the current prominence of these matters. You couldn't call the pace of Norwich fast, but that is the appeal. Norwich is neither in the fast or slow lane - it is in its own lane. The University's motto is proudly Norfolk dialect and ungrammatical:

'Do Different.' And that's exactly what Norwich does.

Norwich has been in the top 20 if not 10 shopping for the last 20 years. It has been as high as no 5. I think it is No 1. It has flagship sized chains and huge amounts of independents. It is attractive and easy to walk, and does not rely solely on shopping centres, although both of these are quite good. Castle Mall in underground in the bailey of the castle, so that all that is seen is a huge glass roof, giving light and views of the castle.

However, we come to my gripes with Norwich. In 1998, my precedent was different. Norwich set that precedent. It was bigger than I needed and like a child I grew into it, and it grew with me. I was pleased when several new coffeeshops sprouted. I was initially glad when the cinema screen count augmented to 30; but this meant the closure of Norwich's longest running cinema, which is now a vile superclub. Cinema is one of the first things I check when evaluating a city. Norwich's 4 cinemas and 29 screens are high: Leeds and Ipswich have only one 13 screen cinema in its centre; Newcastle has only half what Norwich does; at one point, York had only 3 screens. And Liverpool? Central Liverpool also has one 3 screen supposed arts cinema and one multiplex, again making it around half what Norwich has.

But there is a problem with Norwich's cinema and arts offering. There is a problem with Norwich in general.

The building that came to symbolise all I loved about Norwich has gone wrong.

Although my actual favourite building is the Anglican Cathedral, there were two arts centres I singled out to epitomise what's special about Norwich. One was the King of Hearts, a Tudor house where recitals are given, which I mentioned earlier. The other was a medieval hall house attached to the arts cinema. When Cinema City closed and took its café with it, I realised that the bar was what really made the arts venue special. Vastly behind schedule, the cinema reopened and has spoiled what was good about before. The lecture hall was carved up into three soulless auditoria. The artwork was removed from Suckling Hall and illfitting new furniture installed. The menu is expensive and the staff incredibly rude. As Take 5's proprietors stated, it has become a mini multiplex with a snack bar. The prices went up from £6 at the start of 2007 with a 30p booking fee to now being £8, £1.50 booking fee. The programming is diluted by blockbusters which are shown at the three other cinemas, all in walking distance; and no live satellite of theatre joins the programme. The managers aren't good listeners and justify what there is, but I know that many Norwich cinema fans are not happy with the new Cinema City.

The same chain that took over the one independent cinema at Norwich also runs Liverpool's film programme at FACT. And despite that the Odeon's round the corner and it is Merseyside's only arts cinema, FACT's three screens are often wasted on blockbusters whilst other films are omitted. I've criticised FACT elsewhere, but I already know I would feel frustration with this being my local cinema; and apart from the old style Picturehouse in Woolton, I'd have no alternative. Perhaps I could pop to Southport, St Helens and Manchester, but this would be wearing to do regularly. I love variety and to explore new places, but not to need to avoid my local cinema.

I know how important the right cinema is, not just because of my love of film, but as a writer to whom the arts cinema is a place of work, networking, teaching, making new friends. And if I was prepared for a compromised cinema, then I would look to live arts to compensate. Norwich may have several theatres and the number many keep up with Liverpool's - but there is one vital theatre missing. Liverpool has a producing new writers theatre - one where unperformed writers can send unsolicited plays and have them read, commented on and even made. Liverpool has a theatre solely given to drama, whereas Norwich has neither of these. And now these are very important to me as a theatre goer and writer.

In Liverpool, I would lose all the hundreds of pre1700 buildings I so like, and the independent shopping. I have not yet found the kind of Norwich café I so enjoy in Merseyside. But I would have docks and tall buildings and Georgian terraces that are not seen in Norfolk.

I ask myself about locals, accents and a sense of belonging to the region, and am left weighing up the cities and their different short comings and appeal, and asking which might be my next home, and where might I just enjoy visiting - for now. It is a question I continue to consider, off the page.