pipsqueak's Qype profile

Walkabout is right in the centre of one of the busiest night life areas in Liverpool; Concert Square. As it’s part of a chain it is very similar to other Walkabout bars you find in other cities. The food and drink are pretty reasonably priced, although you can get cheaper drinks elsewhere. It gets very busy on weekend nights with queues stretching round the building. You also have to pay for entry later on and I don’t really think that it is worth it, especially as there are quite a few better places nearby. There are two floors, with seating on the ground floor and the main dancefloor on the first floor. The music played is generally cheesy chart pop stuff.

The Pilgrim is a good wee bar tucked away on Pilgrim Street off Hardman Street. To get into it you have to go a few steps and past a small courtyard outside. It’s close to Liverpool University and LIPA so it atracts a lot of students. The prices are really good as well (which also attracts the students). The normally have at least one real ale on tap, as well as all the standards (lager, cider etc). The food is supposed to be good and also cheap, but I’ve never eaten in here. There are two floors, although I only noticed that there was another floor on my third visit I think. I had previously thought that the staircase was purely a decoration until I lost my friends one night. It’s not the prettiest place, but I think that this adds to its charm.

This is probably one of the most well known pub in Liverpool, thanks to it having very ornate gents toilets and also being mentioned by John Lennon as one of his favourite pubs. I would agree that if you are visiting Liverpool then it is definitely worth making a trip to “the Phil” as it is known locally. When you walk in you see a beautiful traditional bar with several rooms leading off. There are two very cosy wood panelled rooms, and beyond those there is the grand dining room. I prefer the smaller rooms myself as they feel warmer, but you should have a look around. The most famous feature of the pub is the gents toilet. Even women can visit these if you ask the bar staff to take you. I still haven’t gone to see them yet as the bar has normally been busy when I’ve been there, but the next time I’m there and it’s a bit quieter I’m going to ask. All my male friends have confirmed that it is indeed something special. They serve food and have a restaurant upstairs. I haven’t eaten here but everyone I know that has said it was good.

They serve a fairly good range of beer at the Phil, normally having two guest ales on tap and either Deuchars or Greene King IPA. The prices are quite reasonable.

The cakes in Kember & Jones are some of the best I have ever tasted! They have a shop and a small cafe with seats upstairs and a few on the pavement outside the front of the shop. It’s always busy and if you go around lunchtime (and anytime on a Saturday as the previous reviewer also says) you will probably have to queue to get a table. However, the wait is definitely worht it. In the mornings they serve great breakfasts but I always find it hard to resist the scones. At lunchtime they serve great soups and sandwiches. Their platters (Spanish, Italian, French and British themed) are great to share. They sell most of these items for takeaway at the deli counter and they have a good range of other items for sale in the shop as well.

News From Nowhere is a great radical bookshop situated at the top end of Bold Street. It stocks a wide variety of books with sections including history, fiction (including gay and lesbian fiction), feminism and women, masculinity and men, work and workers rights, politics, philosophy, spirituality, sexuality, Liverpool, media and culture, arts and photography, economics and much more.

The staff are very friendly and very knowledgable so are great at helping you find the book you are looking for. They also have a great website where you can order books (www.newsfromnowhere.co.uk)

Peckhams on Glassford has a great selection of beers and wines in their basement, and although it is a bit expensive it is the onle place you can find some more unusual beers in Glasgow. It is also a delicatessen and sells a selection of pre-prepared foods like stuffed vegetables and quiches. I find some of these are overpriced but whenever I’ve bought some it’s been very nice. I haven’t tried any of their sandwiches so I can’t comment on what they are like. Their cakes, however, are amazing, and they also sell a range of fresh bread. This branch is located close to the city centre.

Heebie Jeebies is one of my favourite places to go to on a night out in Liverpool. It is actually two separate venues, one more relaxed bar upstairs and another one in the basement downstairs. You have to go right out of one to enter the other, which can be a bit of a pain when you are trying to find your friends (I’ve learned always to specify if people mean upstairs or downstairs when I’m making plans to meet there).

Upstairs there are a couple of bars with seating areas and a courtyard which is always busy in the summer when it’s dry (and busy with smokers in the winter and when the weather isn’t so good). The club in the basement has brickwork archways separating the seating areas from the dancefloor, and they’ve installed some booth like seating alongside the dancefloor which is great to give your feet a bit of a rest. The music played is generally good, everything from the latest indie hits to 60s girl groups. The bar prices are good too with promotions like £1 bottles of Stella.

The Everyman Bistro is a nice little bar and restaurant tucked away underneath the Everyman Theatre. The bar has a good selection of beers which always include Cains best bitter, de Koninck (my favourite Belgian beer), a lager and normally a couple of guest ales/cider as well. The bar prices are pretty reasonable and you can buy bottles of wines for about £11 upwards. The food is served canteen style and there is normally a selection of salads, quiches, soups and main meals. The deserts are generally excellent, they do great crumbles! At lunchtime it’s good to come here for some lovely homemade soup, and a desert if you’re still feeling a bit hungry. The food isn’t too expensive, although as some of it is reheated in a microwave I feel that some of it can be a little overpriced. It gets very busy at lunch time and in the evenings (especially when there is something on in the theatre upstairs), so expect to queue for food at these times. It can also be a bit tricky to find a table for a large groups in the evening.

The Waterstones bookshop on Bold Street is similar to all Waterstones stores. It has a good selection of books and it has a nice friendly atmosphere so it’s a nice place to browse. They have a reasonable science fiction and fantasy section, and unlike a lot of other bookshops they separate these which I find makes a lot of sense (and makes browsing these a lot easier). They don’t have a large selection of graphic novels, however there is a Forbidden Planet shop just along the road so it makes sense not to stock so many. There are three floors in this shop, the bottom floor has general fiction, science fiction and fantasy; the second floor has travel literature, cookery and languages as well as a Costa cafe; and the third floor has more reference books (including hobbies, religion etc).