Sluttery Travels: 48 Hours In Liverpool

A bit of lambanana spotting.

It's a little known Sluttery fact that I lived in Liverpool and Wirral for eight years when I was younger and I've not been back properly since I left when I was 16. In the, *ahem*, several years that have passed, it's undergone a bit of a transformation so I went to have a nose around and see what it has to offer.

It turns out that you will never want for food or drink in Liverpool. Bold Street is like one long coffee shop, with seemingly every other place offering some sort of caffeine. I went to Leaf for some tea and brunch. Their tea selection is impressive but not overwhelming and my brunch of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon was just the right size. It felt a bit flat during the day but it's open until midnight during the week and until the early hours at weekends which is where it probably comes into its own for times when you don't want to go to a bar or pub. A bit further up is Tribeca on Berry Street, just at the edge of China Town, where I went for dinner and cocktails. They do enormous pizzas for under £6 and have a great cocktail list, with most of them being under £6 too.

If you want to splash out on a nice dinner, make sure you go to Lunya in Liverpool One, which is a Catalan deli and restaurant. I met up with my friend and her husband and we had an absolute feast with the gourmet tapas banquet which is £35 per person but totally worth it. The slow roasted ox cheeks were so delicious I could've happily eaten more even though I was stuffed!

Drink mulled wine, look at moose.

The biggest change in Liverpool has been the development of Liverpool One. It's like a huge open air mall and has pretty much every single shop you can think of, including a Zara Home which would be incredibly bad for my bank balance but lovely for my home if I had permanent access to it. If you get chance to go before 8th January then you'll also be able to take advantage of all the lovely Christmas stuff including a pop-up Harvey Nichols food shop and the Polar Bar where you can get restorative hot cocktails to help with the shopping fatigue! I can heartily recommend the Winter Crumble - apples and cinnamon and vodka and deliciousness.

If you're looking for something a bit different from the usual high street shops, Utility on Bold Street (in two different shops, one for home stuff and one for gifts) has some nice things - I spotted a few bits we've already featured here so they obviously have great taste! I particularly liked their range of Liverpool based gifts which would make a nicer souvenir than a t-shirt. You should also check out The Bluecoat, which is a gallery and independent shop space all in one. I used to hang out here a lot when I was a teenager and it's still one of my favourite places. I could have easily bought all my Christmas presents in Landbaby.

Feeling the need for some culture? Just have a walk around! Liverpool has some amazing architecture from the museums on William Brown Street to the cathedrals to the docks. If you need to do one museum though then I'd recommend the new Museum of Liverpool. It has a bit of everything but really focuses on the social history of Liverpool which I found particularly interesting but then I am a bit of a social history geek!

So after all that shopping and eating and culture, you need somewhere to stay. Try Hope Street Hotel or 62 Castle Street if you're after somewhere cool and boutique. If though you want to indulge in some Beatles heaven (you didn't think I'd get through a whole post without mentioning them did you?!), then you can stay at The Hard Days Night, which is stylishly kitsch and quite frankly, where else can you get away with staying in a Beatles themed hotel?

I had a fab time in Liverpool and can't wait to go back. I shan't leave it so long next time!