This lecture is the first of four case studies illustrating the issues discussed in lecture one. The opening part of this lecture discusses culture-led regeneration and its preponderance within British cultural policy during the period of the New Labour administration. Using the case of European Capital of Culture, the lecture outlines theories of culture-led regeneration and argues for the importance of place and difference, against narratives of homogeneity within local cultural policy in the UK. This first part concludes with an analysis of Newcastle and Gateshead’s join bid to host European Capital of Culture in 2008 and how it differed from the experience in Liverpool.