(LIVERPOOL) - The English city of Liverpool -- famed for the Beatles but also tarred with a history of poverty and unrest -- will showcase 20 years of rehabilitation as 2008 European Capital of Culture.

Officials hope the programme of events will banish impressions of high unemployment, run-down housing estates, social unrest and hooliganism previously associated with the north-western English port city and Liverpudlians, nicknamed Scousers.

"It was true in the 1970s and 1980s," said Pam Wilsher, who is in charge of tourism at The Mersey Partnership, a public-private body which aims to boost development in Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside area.

"It was an area with a lot of potential but because of the high economic depression, nothing was done to take advantage of it."

During the 1960s, the city developed its reputation as a seedbed for big name new acts -- the Beatles were the most famous of the "Mersey Beat" bands but Gerry And The Pacemakers and Cilla Black also had huge success.

But social deprivation took its toll in later decades -- in 1981, riots erupted in the deprived district of Toxteth and the city also gained a reputation for football hooliganism.

Four years later, 39 people died at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels amid violence ahead of the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, which led to a five-year ban on English football clubs in European competitions.

The Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield in 1989, in which 96 Liverpool fans died due to a crowd crush, deeply affected the city.

Throughout the period, traditional manufacturing industries were dying out.

In response to the city's problems, the then Conservative government of prime minister Margaret Thatcher launched a major regeneration plan for the area, starting with the area around the River Mersey, dotted with architectural gems from its heyday as a thriving port.

Nowadays, the city emphasises both its past and future in its major tourist attractions.

The 19th century red brick warehouses of Albert Dock are at the cultural heart of the city -- the Beatles museum, major modern art gallery Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum are all located there.

"At first, we needed to give some incentives to companies for them to choose to settle or invest in Liverpool," said Mark Basnett, The Mersey Partnership's director of investment.

"It's not the case any more because the city is more attractive than its competitors.

"Our biggest challenge now is to keep this regeneration and to spread it out to the rest of the city to make it penetrate the entire community and to keep reducing the unemployment."

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