Liverpool was the second destination on my northern England and Scotland trip in 2010. This smallish port city I found to be, for the most part, somewhat more decrepit than Manchester had been. It's waterfront is receiving a massive makeover, and benefits from a wonderfully curated outpost of the Tate Museum, while other destinations on the waterfront will be opening in years to come. Too much of the central city, however, seems abandoned and unneeded. A newspaper article when I was there, on the future of the UK's cities, encouraged Liverpool to shrink.
Photo List (Total 308 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Liverpool waterfront (47 photos) - Liverpool is rapidly developing it's waterfront into a concentrated zone of attractions. These photos start with the very famous "three graces" (three lovely old buildings in a row, that define the Liverpool waterfront), and show other aspects of the waterfront, such as new pedestrian walkways, modern buildings, and photos from my visit to Tate Liverpool.
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Central Liverpool (71 photos) - This includes photos of the central city, essentially between the waterfront and the St. John's area. Included are a few modern towers, and the LIverpool ONE development (a hotel, condo, and shopping area in a superblock near to the harbour), as well as twisty older streets and the highly lovely Bluecoat Arts Centre.
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Liverpool around the St. John's Centre (54 photos) - This area, which is where my hotel was found, was a mix of highly unpleasant streets surrounding the St. John's Centre (a shopping mall), but with a complex of beautiful classical buildings forming a cluster of cultural purposes nearby. These photos begin by showing the ugly side of the area - the many abandoned or otherwise ugly buildings, but then show the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Central Library, and the nearby St. John's Garden, which were lovely. There are some additional photos of this area from the steeple of the cathedral in the next gallery as well.
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Cathedrals and Hope Street (63 photos) - Here are photos of the south side of central Liverpool, which is a lovely neighbourhood. Prominent in these photos are the massive Liverpool Cathedral (completed in 1978 after 74 years of building!), including views from it's tower, and the nearby St. James Cemetery. Then a bit of the lovely Hope Street, where I dined one night. The neighbourhood is bounded by a second massive church - the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, the Catholic cathedral, built in the 1960's to designs by architect Sir Frederick Gibberd, a remarkable and quite lovely 1960's brutalist take on gothic architecture. Finally, a few photos from the campus of the University of Liverpool, close to the Metropolitan Cathedral.
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Toxteth and parks in the south (53 photos) - On my last day in Liverpool, I set out for the Palm Houses in Sefton Park, guided only by blurry snapped photos from a Liverpool A-Z street Guide as my map. This walk took me through Toxteth, one of Liverpool's unthriving neighbourhoods, where I saw many blocks that were completely abandoned. These photos show Toxteth, and two parks, Princes Park and Sefton Park, including the smallish Palm House there. A few photos at the end, again of Toxteth, were taken from the bus ride back into the centre of town.
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Transit photos (20 photos) - Photos of the interior of the train station, of my brief but interesting trip on Liverpool's Merseyrail system (underground in the central city), a few of the train ride out of the city, and two blurry uninteresting shots of Liverpool caught from the plane as I flew from Glasgow to London.
