(FORTUNE Magazine) – Beatle fans, take note. Paul, George, and Ringo are staging a comeback -- and so is their old hometown, Liverpool. Spurred by some ugly riots, fed largely by growing unemployment, the British government and local businesses got together in the early 1980s and have since invested nearly $900 million in Liverpool's infrastructure, housing, and amenities. The result: Some Liverpool industries are bouncing back. For example, the city's Mersey port is now one of the most profitable and productive in Europe, and the once derelict docks house a maritime museum, a busy shopping mall, and a Magical Experience tour that includes a visit to a rebuilt Cavern Club, where the early Beatles played. The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, which counts Paul McCartney among its financial backers, is scheduled to open in 1995. The Merseyside renaissance is also pulling in foreign investors. The largest so far: Cable North West, a joint venture between Southwestern Bell and Cox Communications, is pumping $700 million into a new fiber-optic cable and telephone network for the area. While unemployment still haunts Liverpool, Merseyside ventures have added jobs, 4,300 of them in 1993.