A Day Out in Liverpool, the North’s Other Capital

Tate Liverpool

Located in a former warehouse on Albert Dock, once one of the most important shipping centres in the world, Tate Liverpool opened in 1988 as the first Tate gallery located outside London. Its inauguration marked the reopening of the then-derelict docks that were at the time facing demolition following several years of dereliction and set into motion the rejuvenation of what is now the city’s most iconic tourist area and one of the most visited waterfronts in the world.

As a Tate gallery, the Tate Liverpool displays a rotating selection of works from the Tate Collection, which comprises the national collection of British art from the year 1500 to the present day and international modern art. Among some recently featured and exhibited artists include pioneering graffiti artist and queer activist Keith Haring; the melancholic and transgressively raw portrait artist Lucian Freud; and the surrealist sculptrice Louise Bourgeois.

The Beatles Story

The Beatles are a band whose legacy is inseparable from the seams of modern Liverpool. Emerging from the city in 1960 and swiftly growing into the biggest band in the world and one of the most influential groups in history, echoes of the Fab Four are to be found throughout the city, from the legendary Cavern Club, where the band cut their teeth and found their identity, to Penny Lane. However, the one attraction that towers above the rest is the Beatles Story, found a stone’s throw away from the Tate Liverpool on Albert Dock. The largest dedicated Beatles museum in the world (and one of two in Liverpool!)the interactive museum contains recreation of the Casbah Coffee Club, the Cavern Club, and Abbey Road studios, as well as countless pieces of memorabilia. An award-winning attraction that gives unparalleled insight into the life and times of the world’s greatest band and the band that made Liverpool, this is a must-visit for anybody with at least passing interest in The Beatles.

Bold Street

Liverpool’s answer-in-miniature to Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Bold Street cascades in vibrant, street art-laden technicolour from the city’s iconic “Bombed-Out Church”, the bones of a Gothic Revival church heavily damaged during the 1941 Liverpool Blitz, to Liverpool One, the city’s main shopping and retail centre. Populated by a global mix of independent cafes and restaurants (we recommend Mowgli for authentic Indian street food at a local institution or Crust for award-winning wood-fired pizzas), charity and vintage shops, vinyl stores, and all the like. The street isn’t long so have a short stroll and see if anything catches your eye, and if not, we recommend heading to nearby 69A, a delightfully eclectic antiques emporium one street over willing to unveil its secrets to those willing to dig for them.

Liverpool Cathedral

The largest religious building in Britain and the eighth largest church in the world, Liverpool Cathedral is actually one of two cathedrals in the city, with the Roman Catholic Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral being located at the other end of Hope Street from this Gothic Revival giant. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (elsewhere famous for designing Britain’s iconic red telephone boxes) and taking 70 years to complete, it features the world’s highest and widest Gothic arches, the UK’s largest organ, the world’s highest and heaviest working bells, and stunning stained glass depictions of a range of figures, from the Twelve Apostles and the Archangel Gabriel to Sir Isaac Newton, Bach, and Dante to Queen Victoria and Christina Rossetti. If you want unbeatable panoramas 500ft (150m) above the city, you can also climb 108 stairs to the cathedral rooftop, although this is not for the faint of heart.

Belzan

An at-first-glance unassuming bistro in the city’s student-rich suburbs, it’s the modesty of Belzan, who describe themselves as a ‘neighbourhood bistro and wine bar serving humble dishes’, that makes their food stand out all the more. With a regularly updated menu to match the ebbs and flows of the seasons and always making judicious use of local ingredients, there is a masterful complexity and worldliness to every single dish, whose flavours are simultaneously classic and daring. The Guinness Rarebit Potato is a particular stroke of genius.

Baltic Market

The city’s first street food market and found in the Baltic Triangle, a redeveloped neighbourhood quickly winning a reputation as Liverpool’s creative quarter, Baltic Market is not one restaurant but a collection of the city’s very best independent food stalls spaced across an unpretentious upcycled warehouse. Among your dining choices are NOSO, Latin American-inspired bites informed by the chef-owners’ Venezuelan roots; Spice Thai, classic Thai food packing all the expected flavour and then some; Halfa Halfa, a contemporary Middle Eastern eatery with a cult following; and The Midnight Delivery, a saccharine dessert stand selling Instagram-worthy bubble waffles and cakes. Baltic Market is the place to come if you want the world at your lips.

Röski

Headed by Masterchef: The Professionals winner Anton Piotrowski, Röski serves a carefully and playfully curated tasting menu, each course coming with an optional drinks pairing. The small, beautifully-plated portions conceal daring and balanced flavours that seek to evoke something of British childhood: a deconstructed English breakfast consisting of bacon jam, baked bean foam, black pudding purée, and a foie gras hash brown; their famous ‘spag bol’ consisting of red cabbage ‘bolognese’, parmesan custard, intense tomato sauce, and a green herb supplement. It might sound pretentious, and maybe it is, but the results are undeniable.

Titanic Hotel Liverpool

Located in a Victorian warehouse on Stanley Dock, everything - the exposed brick, giant ironwork doors, steel girders, and original windows - was salvaged to curate a stylish and refined atmosphere that harkens to the city’s industrial shipping past. With 153 judiciously furnished, spacious rooms on offer, the best of which have inviting views of the River Mersey, the hotel has in the past been named the ‘Best Historic Hotel in the UK’ and is ideally located outside the bustle of central Liverpool, but still within walking distance of its major tourist attractions on Albert Dock. The hotel also features a restaurant, bar, and spa beautifully set within the arches of the old basement.