16/07/26 - Stanley Park to Stanley Docks, Liverpool

Football Crazy

The day after the night before. That old familiar England supporter feeling. We were so close, yet nowhere near. Even my Gareth Southgate-hating mate was admitting he may have been hasty. 

Only one thing could cheer me up. More football.

Admittedly, I'd booked the rail tickets before consulting the wall chart. The traditional "knocked out of a major tournament" whisky may have been a bad idea, as the alarm went at 6am.

A painless journey to Lime Street and the PlusBus ticket to drop me off at the edge of Stanley Park for my latest Liverpool A-Z walk. Originally hosting the stadiums for Liverpool and Everton, I will have to work for the second location. Anfield takes the early glory with some stunning street art and a celebration of a team that knows how to win.

Stadium in the heart of the community

Stars - present and past - are celebrated in style

Bill made people happy. Thomas did not

Anfield is left behind for Everton Rise - a public park that offers a perfect view over the city. It really shouldn't be missed and if the OS produce a second edition of the AZ book, I would suggest they make this Walk 1. From this view, you get to understand the port city.

The City from Everton Rise

The view also shows Everton's ground - relocated to the docks. This is accessed via Summer Street - an interesting street of Arts and Crafts houses and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Looking down the final spur of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal to Stanley Docks

For the new Stadium

Alas, Everton's home feels a little soulless in comparison to the splendour of Anfield. I'm sure the Liverpudlians won't allow it to affect the match-day atmosphere in the way the relocation at West Ham did.

Time to call it a day and a bus back to the city. Through this AZ Guide book, I have been investigating Liverpool for three years. Over that time, the 'Spoons pubs have dropped out of the Good Beer Guide, only to come back in the 2026 edition.

The Captain Alexander allows me to "green" the city centre in the book - but there's nothing new for me to say here.

Architecturally dull, cheap, dirty tables, efficient app service - a sh*t sandwich review

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 18

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 13

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7, Walk 8 and 9, Walk 10, Walk 11 and 12

17/03/26 - Liverpool Architecture and Knowledge

St Patrick's Day Carnage

I knew something was afoot on arrival at Lime Street. Gangs of youth marching around the streets, beers in hand and very much a uniform of green. It's Tuesday, 10am and this is a little unusual - even for the party city that is Liverpool. 

At first, I think there is some sort of sporting event on - most of the tops are sporting. Eventually, I twig. It's St Patrick's Day. The patron saint of skiving off college and wearing minimal clothing.

My walks are from the A-Z City Guide but I feel the centre is done now. Primarily, I am looking for Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Architecture (Walk 11) and a circuit of the Knowledge Quarter (Walk 12) for the hospitals and universities. 

These streets have been walked before - and there is little new to find. You can see this from the Geocache count. Just 2. No doubt, the Georgian Streets have some very pretty houses but little to photograph in the Knowledge Quarter - especially when the streets are thronged with students boozing.

Skiving Students in front of the Adelphi

When the guidebook says look for interesting doorways, you know you are in trouble

Possibly Canning Street - looking towards the Cathedral

Many back streets cut through

What else is there to do in Liverpool - when only the Good Beer Guide Tick required is the Captain Alexander and I am nowhere near it?

I fire up the Bar Trek App. Liverpool is the most featured city within this app but "Top 10 Real Ales Pub Walking Tour" has to be worth a go. 4 of the 10 make a nice little square in the part of town I am located.

See if you can guess?

Roscoe Head - a Good Beer Guide Ever Present - No further words required

The White Hart is new to me. Once again, I fall in love with a new place. This seems to happen every time I visit Liverpool. Surely the greatest of pub city of them all? It doesn't look much from the outside, but has a well-worn, timeless feel inside. Multiple roomed and on the day that I decide winter is over, a roaring log fire. This is backed up by the students taking advantage of the sun trap beer garden, but with Sir Timbo style upstairs loos, there is constant motion. A first Baltic Best Bitter by the Black Lodge Brewery was perfect.

Best Beer Garden in Town?

But how could you leave this comfort

Next Door - and due to the volume of street-drinkers, no external photos available - is Bar Casa. This is one of the 60 venues that Paul Heaton put a grand behind the bar to celebrate a significant birthday. His 60 favourite pubs in the land. And he looks like the sort of man that can be trusted.

Despite the triangular Bass beer mats, it appeared to be a keg only venue but pleasant enough - proudly celebrating its socialist ideals as decor.

God is in the Casa

The Belvedere is always an oasis of calm - and this proves true even on this, the most mental of days. The same could not be said for The Grapes - where I declared the day done. 

Just in time to watch the parade on the way back to the station.

Red Willow - always a fine pint

Get back to class and leave the Grapes to middle aged bloggers!

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 11 and 12

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7, Walk 8 and 9, Walk 10

13/01/26 - Liverpool's Religious Buildings

With one in the Good Beer Guide

Walk 10 of Liverpool's Hidden City Walks takes me on a crawl with a difference. Not my usual pub type, but one of the significant religious buildings in the City. A fantastic city that is always throwing up surprises, not least with St Peters. The City's oldest church and also a Good Beer Guide 2026 entry. That must be a first!

Hope Street divides the two Cathedrals. The Anglican Cathedral, the biggest in Britain and the Metropolitan Catholic. 

From the Catholic down to the Anglican

Another surprise is how modern the two Cathedrals are. The Catholic one completed after 40 years in 1967. The Anglican started in 1904 and completed in 1978. Only one way to determine the reason for this. Ask ChatGPT.

Liverpool’s two cathedrals are relatively new because the city itself rose to prominence far later than England’s historic cathedral centres. For centuries Liverpool was a modest port, only expanding rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries with Atlantic trade and industrial growth, and it did not become an Anglican diocese until 1880. When Liverpool Cathedral was begun in 1904, it was conceived as a bold statement of civic and imperial confidence, though its completion was stretched across wars and economic hardship well into the late 20th century. The Catholic cathedral is newer still, reflecting the long suppression of Catholic cathedral building in England after the Reformation and the city’s expanding Irish Catholic population in the 19th century. Together, the two buildings are less the product of medieval inheritance than of modern history, shaped by industrial expansion, migration, war and changing religious confidence.

In the interests of space - simple pictures. Until we reach the pub.

The garden below the Cathedral well worth a visit

Inside, where it is unlucky to still have Xmas decorations up

German Church - started out on a disused boat on the Mersey

The Synagogue

A rare Bellcote Tower at Vincent De Paul Catholic Church

Metropolitan Cathedral peeping through the trees

Modern flying buttresses

All about the light

St Paul's Tavern should have been discovered on the Ropewalks journey from this guidebook. Down Seel Street in St Pauls Tavern - hosted in the first church in the City, built in 1788.

More than mild on offer

In a City of great pubs, here is another unique offering. Inside, it maintains much of its religious paraphernalia - the altar, the stained glass windows, the crypts, candles and even the memorial stones. A lengthy bar offers enough cask to get it noticed by CAMRA. The Timothy Taylor Landlord Dark in good enough condition to warrant its inclusion on the 2026 Good Beer Guide.

Classy

The altar

One of those pubs that warrants a wander around, pint in hand. You can go upstairs, into booths in side crypts, admire the art, admire the memorial dedications. All this and a quality pint for £4.50.

As usual for Liverpool, there was more to do. The 'spoons are back in the GBG. There were mosques. There were controversial sculptures of Christ. There were churches bombed out by the Luftwaffe.

The blog could have turned into an epic.

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 10

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7, Walk 8 and 9

06/08/25 - Liverpool Ropewalks, China Town and the Baltic Triangle

A Liverpool First, Poor Pub Recommendations

I'm nearly halfway through the Liverpool A-Z City Walks Book. They may be running out of ideas, as I am sure that I have fully explored the docks before. Never mind, it's a fascinating city.

Before I get there - an odd walk, celebrating maritime history in the Ropewalks area and the city's relationship with China. Basically walking up and down arrow-straight shopping streets and nightclub-laden back alleys.

Liverpool’s Ropewalks district takes its name from the long, straight streets where ropes were once laid out and twisted for the city’s ships, reflecting its deep maritime heritage in the 18th and 19th centuries when Liverpool was one of the world’s busiest ports. Just south of the area lies Liverpool’s Chinatown—the oldest in Europe—established in the late 19th century as Chinese sailors, mainly from Canton, settled near the docks. Over time, it became a hub for Liverpool’s Chinese community, symbolised today by its ornate paifang arch, the largest outside China. This relationship grew through the city’s historic trading links, particularly with Shanghai, cementing cultural and commercial ties that still influence Liverpool’s identity.

Bold Street for the Shops

Street Art

All Together Now - at the Bombed Out Church

Entertainment Options for later

Largest Arch outside of China

I'm ahead of myself, having already visited this walk's pub recommendations - The Monro, one of Liverpool's oldest and the unique Bridewell, hosted in a former Police Station.

The second walk explores the South Docks, adding in the vibrant and rapidly gentrifying Baltic Triangle. All artisan bakers and brewers and extensive building regeneration.

Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle is a former 19th-century dockside industrial zone—once home to timber yards, warehouses, and merchants trading with the Baltic region—that has transformed into one of the city’s most vibrant creative and nightlife districts. Retaining its red-brick heritage and landmarks like the Gustav Adolf Scandinavian Church and the Baltic Fleet pub, it now buzzes with independent bars, food markets, live music venues, and street art, including the famous Klopp mural. Anchored by hubs such as Cains Brewery Village, Baltic Market, and Camp and Furnace, the area has attracted hundreds of creative and digital businesses. 

The South Docks (again)

My guide book recommending the Baltic Fleet (of course) and Love Lane Brewery which is somewhere new to me.

I have two other sources of recommendation. A lengthy chat with the landlord of Tewkesbury's Cross House Tavern, which showed the man really knew his pub onions. And of course, the Good Beer Guide has one city centre entry left to tick. Let's tackle them in order of visit.

Mr Tewkesbury mentioned all the classics you'd expect but the Coburg was previously unheralded. I rather like the way it is making a stand against rampant mid-rise development.

Holding out - The Coburg

Alas, I found little evidence of a "pub packed with maritime history" and the beer choice was keg only. I can only assume the pub has changed since my barman moved south.

The guidebook suggested I try Love Lane Brewery. A hipster brewery tap that has resurrected one of Liverpool's famous brewery brands - Higsons.

Higsons House

Few customers and a very bored staff member that failed to notice a new customer waiting at the bar. She continued with her text message interactions. I wondered whether to cough, stamp my feet or simply shout. Instead, I thought I would see how long it would take.  Far too long, is the answer.

And saving the worst for last, I am unsure what the local CAMRA branch are up to. They have replaced the previous year's two Spoons recommendations with The Vines (worthy) and Ma Boyles, which is where I headed.

Neon Eatery

A subterranean restaurant with two cask ales on - one a house brew and the other unheard of. In a town full of great pubs, most recommended in the bible, this one is a real oddity. An unpubby atmosphere, with little architectural merit selling a poor choice of cask. 

I'd love to know their thought process for selection.

And what Timbo has done to upset them. 

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 20

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 8 and 9

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7

11/02/25 - The Beatles in Liverpool

Victorian Architecture and Pop Music

Walk 6 in the A-Z Hidden Walks in Liverpool is a mere mile, along roads already discovered. Sure enough, it points out things of interest. Usually a buildings former use. What is now a hotel, was once a bank that printed its own money.

Of course, I walked it but to get full value from the rail fare (a bargain 200 year birthday sale £12 from Kidderminster) I needed to add in Walk 7.

The Beatles had to appear at some point. How sorry do you feel for any workers in Liverpool forced to listen to the same songs pumped out into the street day after day?

We start in Matthew Street. Where else?

Let It Be

Our Cilla

Enough of the statues - Brian Epstein

Some more interesting places are revealed..... including but not limited to the pubs.

"The price of fame is not being able to go to the Phil for a quiet pint" - John Lennon

The Silver Beetles played here 12 times

And here, when it was known as the Wyvern

No apologies for bring many photos of the Philharmonic. Liverpool is a great pub city. with a wide range of different types of boozer. But there is something very special about being able to walk in from the street and drink in such opulent surroundings.

A portal to another world

Such a beauty

And I avoided the temptation to show the lavs

Ye Cracke, at the other end of the scale, was another Beatles watering hole. Google Maps and Whatpub showing disparity on opening hours. 1pm. Probably. A good job I have been before.

Back Street Boozer

Walk over, lets see what else the City has to offer.

It my first time back since the new edition of the Good Beer Guide was produced and we have a couple of new entries, with two directly opposite each other. The Liverpool Brewing Company taking shabby chic to new heights.

Grim Art

Walk in and told instantly to come back tomorrow. All pump clips reversed, some sort of bar related malfunction. One for the dubious ticks committee. A revisit to the Vines (added to the 2025 guide and sister pub to the Philharmonic) to look for the Billiard Room, sadly neglected last time. It is wonderful but too busy to photograph.

Give me a Chesterfield, a bolt maker and a real fire and I am a happy man

Dead Crafty in Dale Street often comes up as a must visit in Twitter recommendations. I was the solo punter in my 45 minute stay. I couldn't be seduced by the £12 half pints. But I did spend £6 exporting Slabs to Worcestershire.

Again, text message received from the bank a/c monitor - go to 'spoons

 

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 6 and 7

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5