It’s a grand old place. My love affair with Liverpool

This blog is about my enduring love for the city of Liverpool. I have visited many of Great Britain’s best cities but none feel as welcoming as Liverpool. Natives are known as Liverpudlians or more commonly as Scousers  (after the cities signature dish). In England we have Cockneys, Brummies, Mancs, Northerners, Southerners……..I could go on………but none are as distinctive as Scousers. They are warm people who possess a fantastic sense of humour. They also have an inbuilt sense of fairness. This gets the city unfairly labelled as a hotbed of left wing thinking. The Labour party created the NHS and places social justice at the forefront of its policies. These are values that resonate with Liverpudlians hence the city’s left wing reputation. When you walk around the city you will notice that people regularly drop coins in the cups of the homeless, showing these unfortunate Brothers and Sisters their due respect. Only in Glasgow do you see similar respect shown to those less fortunate.

I have been coming to Liverpool for many years. My Dad sailed from here when he was in the Merchant Navy. There will be no nostalgia for the early years more a celebration of the cities pubs and people! But first I owe to myself to begin with a love story that has lasted half a century. I am an Everton fan, I love the Blues. It goes without saying that I hate the scum from across Stanley Park so they will not be mentioned again.

Sadly, I no longer get to the match so I dearly miss visiting the Old Lady, The school of science, Goodison Park. When I watched my beloved Blue boys my heart would nearly burst when Z Cars played as the players ran onto the pitch. There have been so many good times. Watching Duncan Ferguson and hearing the crowd sing his name to the tune of Go West. I was there on the last day of the season for the game against Coventry when relegation was a strong possibility. The atmosphere was incredible, the fear palpable. We drew 1-1 (cheers Gareth Farelly) and Chelsea beat Bolton so we stayed up. I don’t know who was the most relieved, us or the Coventry fans who had to get home safely!  I remember my friend Geoff and I taking our young daughters to see us play Man Utd who were  top of the league. We went into half time lucky to be only one – nil down. In the second half we absolutely battered them and were unlucky to only draw. Our girls saw what it means to be a Blue, they are Blues to this day. I also remember watching a midweek match against Man Utd where I finally understood what the fuss about David Beckham was…………he tore us apart!

I love the pubs around Goodison. I mourn the passing of the Blue House and of the pub that I can’t remember the name of that was close to Kirkdale station. A special place in my heart is reserved for The Winslow. This pub is opposite the main stand. On match days it is full of Blues looking forward to the match. It is near impossible to get served, the beer is average (no real ale) but the atmosphere is unforgettable. I worry that if Everton relocate to Bramley Moore Dock then the Winslow will perish along with Goodison Park. It is not the nicest or safest neighbourhood you will visit but history paves its streets and some of the best people on God’s great earth live there.

One last story about the neighbourhood. I have a friend who is a Drugs Counsellor. One early Summer day he and his Dad were walking up towards Goodison park. A young lad on a bike buzzed them a couple of times. He shouted to my friend  ‘what are you doing around here?’. ‘We’re going to buy our season tickets’ he replied. The young lad shook his head and said ‘ and you’re counselling me?’

In the Nineties a bunch of us regularly took the two hour train journey to Liverpool to watch the Blues. We would head for the Canarvon Castle  pub  on Tarleton street just off Lord street. This great little pub serves The best sandwich ever!! Toasted Bacon, Egg and Cheese. I can taste it as I type.  I’ll never forget eagerly ordering  six of these delicacies only to be told by the young barman that they didn’t serve such sandwiches , only what was on the menu. I perused said menu and ordered six Cheese, Egg and Bacon!!! Obviously this Mensa dodger must be a Koppite!. The landlord always hailed us by shouting ‘The Woolybacks are in’ It was always taken in the best spirit and I truly miss those halcyon days.

We always headed for Coopers bar opposite Central Station. This tiny pub needs to be experienced to be believed. You can find yourself entertained by a Leprechaun Karaoke singer, offered black market goods or just included in the conversation of the regular punters. We use to meet Frank and Johnny in Coopers. Frank was my Dad’s best friend and He and Johnny were passionate Blues. We drank and laughed right up to game time. Sometimes we would meet them after the game in the Winslow and carry on. Both of them have sadly passed away. I miss Frank so much, he helped me when my Mam passed away and was always there when I needed advice. I will never meet a more generous man and I am proud to have counted him as a friend. I always remind Frank’s daughter that when her and her son wear red Santa suits at the Santa dash that Frank will be looking down shaking his head. He’ll still love them though!

Next door to Coopers is one of my favourite pubs on earth. The Globe is a small bar with a sloping floor that makes you feel drunk before you have had your first pint! This place is friendliness personified. I like to go there while my wife is shopping. I sit drinking a pint, people watching  and listening. The ladies behind the bar are brilliant. You never wait to be served and they always remember what you are drinking. My wife loves the Globe as well, when she rings to see where I am and I tell her I am in there, she tells me to order her a beer and that she will be there in five minutes. If you love pubs that play great tunes and are full of trendy people then don’t go to the Globe. If you just like to relax and enjoy a good craic then make a beeline for the Globe.

Another favourite City centre haunt of mine is The White Star. This pub sits at the entrance to Mathew Street and is named after the Shipping line that counted the Titanic as the centrepiece of its fleet. There are some great photos of the Titanic on the walls as well as many other shipping related mementos.  I like to sit in the back bar and watch football if there is a game on. The back bar of the White Star was apparently used by former Cavern DJ Bob Wooler to pay all the club’s groups, including You Know Who. Where the Beatles wall is in the back room, is where they were paid.

There are also a number of brass plaques on the front wall: one to the Beatles, one commemorating the twinning with a Czech White Star. Others mark the twinning with pubs in Norway. One with the Mets Sports Bar in Skien, and one with The Fat Lady in, er, Grimstead.

As I have got older, Mathew Street has become less and less of a much visit. It is filled with theme bars with loud music blaring. Sadly, competition has led to bars employing touts enticing potential customers with the promise off free shots. Too reminiscent of European holiday resorts for my liking, but as I said earlier, I’m getting older. There are gems though, so if you wish to avoid overcrowding visit midweek or on a Sunday. You will find the Cavern club….not the original but a faithful reproduction. Lots of live music in there, much of which is free. Across the way is the Cavern pub. Try to visit on a Wednesday night or early Saturday night and catch a set by the Amazing Kappa band. Paul Kappa is a brilliant guitarist and frontman. He plays for 2-3 hours and his set features both covers and originals. He plays Led Zeppelin tunes like Jimmy Page and plays an amazing version of Norwegian wood. Entrance is free!!! Each brick on the front of the Cavern pub contains the name of artists/bands that have played on Mathew Street. The names are jaw dropping.  Outside is also a life-size statue of John Lennon. You will need to tread carefully around a constant stream of people posing for photographs draped around John at all times of day. A further photo opportunity is available back at the Cavern Club where there is a statue of former Cloakroom girl Cilla Black……………….hey, whatever floats your boat. At the corner of Mathew Street is the Hard day’s Night hotel. This is as you can imagine a Beatles themed hotel. Prohibitively expensive at weekends, good deals can be found on Sundays and mid-week. I enjoyed staying there but once was enough. A far better and far more authentic Beatles experience on Mathew Street is The Grapes. This pub is where the lads drank between sets at the Cavern. The old part of the pub has some fantastic photos of the band drinking in there. I always enjoy a pint in the Grapes, it’s authentic which is very refreshing. Mathew street also has Eric’s. This is the venue where Punk bands played in Liverpool and for a time in the late Seventies  was a Mecca for serious music fans. Yazoo (Vince Clarke from Erasure and Alison Moyet ) called their debut album Upstairs at Eric’s. The original club closed in 1980. Eric’s re-opened in 2011 and hosts bands most nights of the week. I’ve only been in once recently, not quite my scene but great news that good quality live music is on offer again.

Music in Liverpool is dominated by The Beatles and rightly so. Although they only lasted for ten years they left behind some of the best tunes of all times. I am sick of having pub arguments at home with people who say they don’t like The Beatles, think they are overrated, say they prefer The Stones. The same people sing along as loud as anyone else when Hey Jude or any other Beatles classic is played on the Juke box! Ironically, The Beatles played more shows in Hamburg than they played in their home town. There are many other fine bands who have hailed from Liverpool; Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, The La’s and The Zutons to name but a few. It must be a hell of a millstone following The Beatles!

A short walk from Mathew Street just off Dale street is the oldest pub in the city. Ye Hole in Ye Wall  Dates from 1726 and stands on the site of a 17th Century Quaker Meeting House. Unusually, due to its history, the cellar is actually on the first floor. More recently – as late as 1977 – this particular haunt became one of the last to open its doors to women. Speaking of haunts, this pub is allegedly the home of a spectre in a long coat. A great pub that serves a fine selection of real ales and is a must visit for history buffs .

If you leave Ye Hole in Ye Wall and head back towards the Waterfront it is worth visiting The Old Bank on James street. No prizes for guessing why this pub is named thus. It is an amazing building which features ludicrously high ceilings and fantastic ornate chandeliers. Bar prices are very reasonable and the beer and spirits selection is excellent. Behind the old Bank on Old Ropery is the Cornmarket. This Victorian pub is always spotlessly clean. It is a great place to relax and drink a few quiet pints. The Cornmarket serves food and has a beer garden.

If you walk back along the Strand past Liverpool 1 you will come to one of my favourite pubs in the city. The Baltic Fleet ; a mid-19th century pub named after the crews of Siberian whaling ships who used to frequent it. There are secret tunnels that allegedly lead from the cellar to the dockland, and another leading to the old red light district of Cornhill which provided the ship crews with their most pressing of needs – beer and prostitutes. Although the clientele has now changed, in look, history and character, the Grade II listed Baltic Fleet is arguably Liverpool’s most interesting surviving pub.

Now the cellar is used for brewing a host of exceptional ales in copper kettles making the Baltic Fleet the only brew pub left in Liverpool, with a rotation of 136 recipes for beer. 136! Throw in a log burning fire, stripped pine tables, duck egg blue walls and high windows on three sides, The Baltic Fleet is a must-visit boozer. For Ghost hunters, the Baltic Fleet is supposedly another of Liverpool’s most haunted pubs

I’m very sceptical about ghosts and hauntings but I’m conscious that I mention them a lot. A vocational habit for lovers of old buildings I guess.  With this in mind I now take you to the Philharmonic pub on Hope street. This is the place where Paul McCartney played a secret show on the episode of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke dedicated to him. The pub is most famed for the Gents toilets! The immaculate Victorian pissoir attracts a stream of women on nights out to look at its magnificence (allegedly!). This fantastic place has many ghost stories of which the most spectacular occurred in 1971, when Walter Slim – a man who had been dead for 83 years – walked into the pub and bellowed to the barman: “In the name of human charity, I’ll have your gin sir!” – and he was dressed in the top hat and cape, and was actually served the gin, which he drank, before leaving.’ The ghost is said to have told bemused drinkers his name and that he’d been disturbed from his deathly sleep in his tomb at a local cemetery.

People naturally thought the man was a prankster, until later that week when police discovered that Satanists had broken into the tomb of a Walter Slim (1861-1888) in St James’s Cemetery and had not only opened his lead-lined coffin – in which the body was perfectly preserved – they had carried out an elaborate black magic ritual called the Octagenesis of Resurrection – by which means a corpse is supposedly brought back to life. Hmmm!!

Close to the Philharmonic is Ye Crack on Rice street. I love this place! This is where John Lennon took Cynthia on their first date and the pub is festooned with some excellent photos and paintings of him. They have a great selection of beers on offer and the locals are a friendly crowd. I also love this place because the bar staff are Evertonians

While we are in the Georgian Quarter of Liverpool I must encourage you to visit two great pubs

Peter Kavanagh’s – 2-6 Egerton St, Liverpool L8 7LY

Located on Back Egerton Street, Peter Kavanagh, the establishment’s namesake and landlord for 53 years, was, in his spare time, a city councillor, an inventor and a still-life painter. His eclectic and eccentric sensibilities have survived, embodied in what must be one of the most intriguing pubs Liverpool has to offer. Just like the interior, the characters are equally as intriguing and no-one is a stranger for longer than 5 minutes. Amongst the decor there’s a row of urns containing the ashes of generations who’d chosen Kavanagh’s as their final resting place, they never forget anyone. Its inhabitants consist of students, professionals and labourers alike who all find solace in a cornerstone of Liverpool’s history and good beer. P.K’s was voted pub of the year in 2019 and richly deserves this accolade. Your life will be richer for visiting this great pub.

THE CALEDONIA – 22 Caledonia St, Liverpool L7 7DX

Known as The Cali to its regulars, this boozer truly defines “The People’s Pub”. They call Catherine Street home and always have live music on with a huge concentration on Folk, Roots and Jazz to accompany an extensive range of ales. You will find even the most timid of visitors in the corner tapping their feet to the beat, the more confident person banging their hands against the table and the regular who has miraculously simulated a seemingly regular table spoon into an impromptu contribution to the performance

There is more to Liverpool than pubs. Liverpool 1 offers shopping fans over 170 shops from High street staples and department stores to upmarket Designer brands. It is right in the middle of the city and is mostly open air. I personally prefer Bold street adjacent to Central station. Famously bohemian, Bold Street has always had an independence and charm unmatched by any other area of the city. But in recent years, it’s the Bold Street restaurants that have got Liverpool talking.

Witnessing somewhat of a food revolution,  the gaps between vintage retailers and gift shops on this road has been filled by coffee bars, brunch stops and restaurants, all busy putting a Scouse twist on global cuisines.

There are Greek, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Lebanese restaurants to name but a few. There are some fantastic independent cafes which are a pleasure to visit.

I love the Vintage shops such as Soho and Pop boutique both of which sell records. My favourite record shop though is Dig Vinyl which is on the first floor of Resurrection, a cool clothes shop. I have picked up some great albums and real bargains at Dig Vinyl.

Bold street also offers a gateway to Concert Square which is one of the cities liveliest nightlife spots.  Here you’ll find some of the most popular nightlife venues in the city including McCooleys, Modo, Soho, Fusion, Einstein, Coyote Ugly Saloon, Level and Boston Pool Loft. As you can imagine, this area is for younger people!  An alley off Concert Square leads to Seel street which has some cool hotels and some decent bars and restaurants.

For culture buffs there is the Museum of Liverpool on Albert Dock. This is a fantastic place that features both permanent and special exhibits. The museum deals honestly with the part that Liverpool played in the repugnant slave trade as well as celebrating the history of this vibrant city. There is also a Beatles museum on Albert Dock which I have never visited but gets good reviews on Trip advisor. There is also a branch of the Tate gallery on Albert Dock which is high on my to do list.

There are two magnificent cathedrals at each end of Hope Street. The Anglican cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece while the Catholic cathedral is a modernistic building affectionally known to Scousers as Paddy’s Wigwam!!

John Moores University enjoys an excellent reputation in academic circles (I wouldn’t know)

A must do is to take the Ferry across the Mersey. The return journey from Birkenhead is the best as the views of the city skyline and the Liver birds are spectacular. Spoiler alert, you’ll hate the f**k*ng song by the time you get back to dry land!!!

I still want to visit Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and go for a few beers in Wavertree. I really could write much more. As I scan through this blog I am conscious of the great pubs I have missed, the fantastic statues, the Mersey tunnel. Do yourself a favour and book a few days in Liverpool and check out some of these brilliant places and discover a few of your own. Share them with me and I will visit……. as long as they are not red of course!!!