Your ultimate guide to a long weekend in Liverpool

With a nod to its extensive heritage, GPO is Liverpool’s largest food hall and market with over 11 traders and 400 different dishes. With a mix of design and culinary excellence, the GPO showcases the best in up-and-coming food and drink talent in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. In Bloom Coffee Co. is the freshest way to start your day if you need a caffeine fix, whilst Korean Gangnam-style street food can be found at Love Kimchi and Chit ‘n’ Chaat has a rep for its colourful spices from the streets of India. There’s nothing but juicy fried chicken at Jailbird and dirty burgers at Patty B’s, meaning The GPO Food Market has something to accommodate anyone’s cravings.

The Cavern Club is located on Matthew Street, a famous street lined with bars and nightclubs that are all pumping out live music from the best Liverpool has to offer. You will be spoilt for choice anywhere along this road, but we recommend heading straight to The Cavern Club. The famous venue draws people in from far and wide because of the famous musicians that have taken to the stage here including The Beatles, Adele, Arctic Monkeys and The Rolling Stones. An intimate, brick vaulted cellar with 1960s memorabilia hosts live tribute acts day and night. On the weekend it’s £2 to get in past 4pm, which is a small price to pay. Be prepared to stand as there’s very little seating but it has such a great atmosphere and cheap draft beers, lager and ciders as well as bottles for you to choose from. This is the most famous bar in Liverpool so it’s a must attend when visiting the city. 

If you’ve lined your stomach and are looking to spice up the night with some more drinks and somewhere to dance, then head to Red Door. Expect exposed brick, industrial style furnishings and dim, moody lighting. Red Door’s cocktail menu represents the journey of alcohol, from the love of whisky in the 19th century, through to the love of gin in the 21st. Red Door has you covered no matter what you like to drink. From the most popular classics such as an espresso martini, to unique Red Door creations like the Mrs Jones. Red Door is not for the faint hearted, as this place gets pretty rowdy on the weekends! Open until late, it’s a great spot to lose your inhibitions, challenge your taste buds with some unique flavoured drinks and dance the night away behind the infamous red door… 

Moose Coffee serves a huge array of delicious breakfast foods, from pancakes and eggs to the legendary, Mighty Moose full English. For £8.95, it’s created its own twist on the classic breakfast feast; homemade fresh potato hash, fried on the griddle with garlic, onion and Dijon mustard. This is topped with two Moose-style fried eggs and three rashers of back bacon, served with white or granary toast. You can also add a number of sides including beans and sausages. If you’re feeling extremely brave, why not order the Lone Star Moose? This is a meat feast of minute steak, gourmet chipolata sausages and the potato hash. Topped with two free range fried eggs, griddled tomato AND your choice of toast. Or, if you have a sweet tooth, there’s a HUGE array of waffles and pancakes including the Nutella stack, which is a chocoholic’s dream breakfast…There are three locations around Liverpool: Hope Street, Dale Street and on the Princess Dock. Are you up to the challenge? 

If it’s sunny, you can’t miss heading to OH ME OH MY. Located opposite the city’s iconic Three Graces, West Africa House lives in the heart of historic downtown Liverpool. Built in the 1920s, it was home to the former bank of West Africa. Fast forward 90 years and OH ME OH MY was born. The original vision was to create a casual and creative space: a tea house through the week and a unique events space by night and at weekends.

This venue undoubtedly has one of the best views in Liverpool. Take a mighty hike (or get the lift) to the roof garden on the eighth floor of the building and you’ll be faced by the infamous Liver Birds called Bertie and Bella. The male, Bertie looks over the city and the female, Bella looks to the sea. If you like Hollywood films, this is also the building that Robert Patterson jumped off in the 2022 Batman film! 

If you want to indulge in something really special, OH ME OH MY offers a beautiful Champagne Afternoon Tea for £33.50 per person on its glorious rooftop. Booking is essential, but why not kick-start your weekend celebrations in style? Over the weekend, this venue only offers drinks on its rooftop terrace. The drink selection includes pitchers of PIMMS, Aperol Spritz, gins and Prosecco. 

If you think it’s time for some brunch on your long weekend, the newly opened Nova Scotia offers something for everyone. Welcoming guests from 2nd July 2022, Nova Scotia is an independent bar and eatery that celebrates Liverpool’s forgotten Nova Scotia district that was an integral part of Liverpool’s maritime history.

Nova Scotia serves great breakfasts, brunches, small plates, hearty mains and delicious desserts with a wide range of drinks and signature cocktails. Dishes include six burgers including PS Scotia, Marco Polo and Royal Charter; sandwiches and hotdogs; and mains including traditional Scouse, fish and chips and a healthy rainbow salad.

If you’re searching for fun things to do in Liverpool besides bask in its culture and amazing pubs, then Ghetto Golf is the perfect crazy golf venue that has a seriously twisted 18 hole course. Think satirical humour meets neon lights, meets Ibiza rave! The fun doesn’t stop there, there’s also a cosy outdoor bar that serves BBQ street food – perfect in the warmer weather. The food is naughty but delicious! Ghetto Golf serves a range of ‘twisted tapas’ if you just want a nibble, or there’s also an amazing selection of burgers. Our personal faves are a toss-up between the pulled pork smothered in BBQ sauce or the salt and pepper chicken burger with spicy sriracha. Is your mouth watering yet?

McCooley’s is located in Concert Square. A bustling square in the heart of the city with central courtyard and outdoor heaters, booming music and a great atmosphere, this is the drinking heart of the city. People flock in from far and wide to enjoy the variety of clubs and pubs in this area including McCooley’s Irish bar. McCooley’s is open from 8am daily. Showing all sporting events on large screens and LED televisions, McCooley’s is the perfect destination for sport fans. It also has live music on every night of the week and on the weekends there is a DJ playing crowd pleasing tunes until 4am. This is the perfect location for a night of partying! 

We all know coffee is the most important meal of the day and we all know the saying, ‘It’s 12 o’clock somewhere!’ Press Bros combine both of these classic sayings to create its boozy, delicious coffee based cocktails. Donning from the Baltic Market, brothers Oliver and Tito started Press Bros in 2018 and have recently opened their very own shop on Lark Lane. Using the infamous coffee specialists, Neighbourhood Coffee, these guys know their way around everything from the frothiest of cappuccinos to the flattest of whites. They also sell unreal espresso martinis. But not just any espresso martinis. This is the place to go for Biscoff, Kinder Bueno AND Baileys espresso martinis to name a few. So, whether you want to start your day with the hair of the dog or just a regular coffee, you can find them in Baltic Market or on Lark Lane, just out of the city centre.

Mani is a delicate and charming Italian tapas restaurant located in the middle of the bustling Lark Lane. Mani not only has beautiful food, but a beautiful courtyard towards the back of this quaint and intimate restaurant. The menu has been carefully selected and changes seasonally to bring you the finest ingredients; we highly recommend that you try as many dishes as possible. 

The food menu offers a delicious selection of Italian-inspired small plates, from hand-stretched pizzettes to classic Italian seafood dishes, not to mention a mouthwatering array of vegan options. The ‘big plates’ are not that big… well, not when you have an appetite like ours! So, we would recommend ordering at least one big plate and two small plates, as the small plates are not enough for a full meal, but they pack a punch of flavour nonetheless! You obviously need to leave room for the refreshing cocktails too, of course. Expect everything from fruity and long, to sharp and short, all your cocktail needs will be sorted, including non-alcoholic ones.