Going Out
The Liverpool bars we’d love to see make a come back
6 years ago
We take a look back at some of the best bars that have made nights out in Liverpool, legendary.
Our city is known the world over for being a brilliant nightlife hot spot. From the touristy hustle and bustle of Mathew St that the hens and stags adore, to the student-centric Concert Square, the hipster Baltic and the corporate crew of Castle Street, Liverpool bars are as quirky, stylish and always chokker.
The city nightlife offering continues to get better and now extends from Invisible Wind Factory on Regent St to The Florist on Hardman Street and everywhere in between. If, like us, you started your love affair with Liverpool nights out back in the late 90’s, you’ll prob still have loads of bar photo key rings, you went crazy overboard with the tan, wore chokers and diamonte belts and you likely enjoyed the best sing alongs EVER on the night bus. Those were the times people and we’re taking you back.
Here’s 10 Liverpool bars we’d love to see make a comeback….
1 – The Wonder Bar
Take yourself back to the summer of 2000, Sonqiue, Fragma and Chicane supplied the soundtrack to this amazing Slater St bar. The lads in their Ben Sherman’s and the girls in their Kookai, remember Kookai? How many of us fell down those damn stairs going to the permanently swamped toilets? Good times! No the Shipping Forecast, the Wonder Bar really was the place to be, 7 days a week.
2 – The Old Monk
This was the place you were guaranteed to see someone you knew. Fit lads from the year above, girls who snarled you on the regular, everyone knew everyone. This Hanover St bar was more of a start your night venue, perfectly situated outside the Hanover Street taxi rank! It turned into the Baracuda in 2002 and is now the Head of Steam.
3 – VR Bar
Now when we say ‘the place to be’ this was really it! Liverpool’s biggest DJ’s on the decks spinning tunes like Lasgo – Something, Ultabeat – Pretty Green Eyes and Milk Inc – In My Eyes. Thursdays at VR will live in the hearts of scousers from that era, forever as Vodka Redbull was introduced to the city! VR we miss you, Thursday nights will never be the same again. Red Dog Saloon has now taken over the building and you can enjoy the memories flooding back whilst tucking into the best American cuisine, winner!
4 – Baby Cream
Our first hark back to the Albert Dock clubs, Baby Cream. Can anyone remember if the booths had curtains around them? Are we making that up? Anyway, with live DJ’s across the weekends, chilled out beats and banging floor fillers, who else lived it up on the dock at Baby Cream?
5 – Blue Bar & Grill
Nights out on the Albert Dock were a status symbol in the early noughties. Regaled as the place to party, Blue Bar & Grill was the night spot jewel in the dock’s crown for almost 20 years. Girls risked cobble wobble and flu skipping from club to waterfront club on a nightly basis to say, oh yeah we went to Blue! RIP Blue.
6 – Edwards, Mathew Street
Hands up who used to stand against the rail on the upstairs balcony to check out the fit lads heading to the bar? Who also used to flash their boobs to the bouncers so they didn’t have to queue to get in? Just us then? Ahhh Edwards, what a boss Liverpool bar.
7 – The Living Room
The white piano, the booths, the amount of people who fell up that sly step in front of the bar, the pure mission to get to the toilets, the local celebs and footballers. Most of us only dined at The Living Room like once, but the bar was an integral part of any weekend night out.
8 – Newz Bar
If you never drank over priced white wine spritzers in a booth and spent the whole night trying to catch a footballer at Newz, did you even go out in the early noughties? One of the ultimate celeb haunts in the city, Newz Bar was always worth the trek to Water Street. Regulars included Coleen Rooney, Stevie G, Jennifer Ellison and the entire cast of Brookside and Hollyoaks. Those booths could tell some serious stories!
9 – Howl at the Moon
Anyone else miss tequila for a quid, dunebug cocktails and the one and only Disco Dave behind the bar? Howl at the Moon, what can we possibly say? The stairs, the mad bouncers, thinking you were in Narnia when you got launched out the back way for being wasted. Oh, maybe that’s just us.
10 – Bar Med
The Queen Square basement boogie emporium that was Bar Med was the place to start a night out, before heading down to the Rat & Parrott and Yates for a bit of Shania Twain. With Radio City’s Louis Hurst on the decks, we’d be giving it beans to Don’t Call Me Baby, Mambo Number 5 and Livin La Vida Loca!