The legendary Zanzibar is back and doing what it does best

Zanzibar has been a much-loved home for live music in Liverpool for decades, it’s got the city’s music DNA all over it.

Now the venue which has been a theatre of dreams for thousands of artists has reopened to do what it does best.

The legendary Seel Street club closed down in summer 2020, but Pub Invest Group took it over with a promise to get it back to business.

Keeping some of the trademark original features, they overhauled the old building, including replacing the roof and the sound system.

The influential club that’s welcomed names like The Kooks, Miles Kane, Noel Gallagher and The Libertines has opened its doors again and it’s putting together a line-up of events tailor-made for Liverpool’s live music fans.

“Zanzibar is a community venue so it’s about knowing the crowd that comes in, the customers, the bands, and being a part of the live music culture in Liverpool which is obviously all around us,” says marketing manager Phil Gillespie.

“We’re building on what Tony Butler set up, and at the same time making sure that we make it a viable venue for the future.”

Like the old one, the new Zanzibar has live music at its heart, and the aim is to have live bands on five shows a week, in a mix of free gigs for local bands and touring gigs. It will also host after-parties for big-name performer coming on from larger venues such as the Arena or O2.

Alongside the gigs, there’ll be other events including club nights, makers markets and vinyl fairs.

“We can’t preserve Zanzibar in time because we’re never going to live up to that legacy,” says Phil. “But it won’t lose what it’s really about which is essentially encouraging grassroots music and particularly local grassroots music.”

Find out more on the Zanzibar website

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