# Thoughts on Liverpool after visiting there today



## Shevek (Jan 28, 2010)

Spent about two hours in Liverpool city centre today whilst my partner was at a meeting. The city centre was full of radical grafiti and left wing posters (much more so than my home city of Manchester). Went to the radical bookshop 'news from nowhere' which was really interesting. 

Near the bookshop on the back of an old shop in 6 foot high lettering was a slogan about climate change something like 'IT WAS THE WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD IN 2007 DO YOU CARE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT' stuff like that I thought was pretty cool. 

People generally seemed friendlier than manc. We went into one coffee shop where the lady behind the bar said we could bring our own sandwiches in. Mr Shevek found the taxi drivers friendly and knowledgeable

I like liverpool. Didn't like it in the central library. The library itself was ok a bit run down sixties affair but charming in a way. Just the library staff had to wear a uniform. I think library staff look better in civilian clothes. 

Shevek


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

I also like Liverpool.


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## blairsh (Jan 28, 2010)

Boss city, shame about the scallys


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## kabbes (Jan 28, 2010)

Brilliant.  Now tell us all about your magical thoughts on Birmingham.


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## toblerone3 (Jan 28, 2010)

I've never been to Liverpool.


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## kabbes (Jan 28, 2010)

I was in Gloucester the other day -- shall I give a report on that now?


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## Maurice Picarda (Jan 28, 2010)

Please do.


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

kabbes said:


> I was in Gloucester the other day -- shall I give a report on that now?



Yes please.


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## krtek a houby (Jan 28, 2010)

I'd like to visit Liverpool. Furthest north I've been was Chester in 1996. Twice.

Does that count?


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## kabbes (Jan 28, 2010)

Well it was a town with some roads and there were people there, some of them were friendly and others were surly.  It had a main station that had an odd platform that was divided into two platforms.  And, er, there were shops but they were a bit run down.

Phew, this town report business is harder than it seems.


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## Maurice Picarda (Jan 28, 2010)

I was in Croydon very briefly on Tuesday, but I'll wait for the Gloucester update before I tell any more.

E2A - Oh! Well, it was a bit like Aylesbury, only more so. I got a cab at East Crydon station without difficulty and went to a meeting in Surrey.


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## kabbes (Jan 28, 2010)

Do you think somewhere that Liverpool is giving a report on Shevek?



Shevek said:


> Spent about two hours in Liverpool city centre today whilst my partner was at a meeting.


Did he give you £20 to buy yourself something nice?


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## krtek a houby (Jan 28, 2010)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I was in Croydon very briefly on Tuesday, but I'll wait for the Gloucester update before I tell any more.



Croydon's sponsored by Nestle, no? That's what it says on the platform...


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I was in Croydon very briefly on Tuesday, but I'll wait for the Gloucester update before I tell any more.



I think that was it. I was disappointed, but maybe that is all a report on Gloucester can manage.


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## kabbes (Jan 28, 2010)

Not sure what else I can say about it.  I was mostly in an office, which was much like an office.

The countryside around it is nice.  It's a good place to be able to get to other places from.


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

I can give you a report on Wigan, if you like. 

But I live (very near) there, so maybe it wouldn't be the same.


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## Maurice Picarda (Jan 28, 2010)

Yes, do. I'm particularly interested in the library. What do the staff wear?


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

Clothes. Mostly.


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## Maurice Picarda (Jan 28, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> Clothes. Mostly.


 
A poor substitute, this.

It is as if you have taken Shevek's pen and dipped it in the mire.


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## tim (Jan 28, 2010)

Shevek said:


> I like liverpool. Didn't like it in the central library. The library itself was ok a bit run down sixties affair but charming in a way. .
> 
> Shevek


70's actually, 1870's


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## futha (Jan 28, 2010)

Liverpool is a good place. Lots going on and the people are generally very friendly. Just a shame about the accent


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## Cribynkle (Jan 28, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Not sure what else I can say about it.  I was mostly in an office, which was much like an office.
> 
> The countryside around it is nice.  It's a good place to be able to get to other places from.



Ooh I was in Stoke today and it has the same going for it. When I was driving in along the A50 (500?) there was a buzzard sitting on one of the lights. So that was nice


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

futha said:


> Liverpool is a good place. Lots going on and the people are generally very friendly. Just a shame about the accent



Scouse girls are the best.


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

What else did you do in Liverpool today?


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## Bernie Gunther (Jan 28, 2010)

Liverpool has character ... even the soulless bits.


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## Fedayn (Jan 28, 2010)

I rather like the place, after all Everton FC play there.


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 28, 2010)

One thing I really like about Liverpool, which you get a sense of when you get outside the city centre, is that the atmosphere of some of the areas reminds me of London. 

I think it is when you see the big Victorian houses made out of yellow brick. I really like that, you don't get that sense in hardly any other places in the UK. In my opinion. It gives a real sense of place, a sense of importance (faded importance, maybe, but importance all the same), it makes feel like a real international city. 

As Bernie said, it has character. Real character, that few other cities in this country can lay claim too.


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## boohoo (Jan 28, 2010)

The warehouse reminded me of the London which has gone. Especially the large run down ones. It is an amazing city - some fantastic architecture and lots to see and do - i still have lots of places to see up there.


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## Larry O'Hara (Jan 29, 2010)

Aside from the Edwardian splendour of the Philharmonic pub, between the end of Hope Street and the Anglican cathedral (very impressive itself) some of the streets there have Georgian terraced housing that is the most extensive in England outside London/Bath.  I used to work in the ambulance station at the start of Upper Parliament Street in the 1970s--now that really was a bit tasty, as an area...


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## ivebeenhigh (Jan 29, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Well it was a town with some roads and there were people there, some of them were friendly and others were surly.  It had a main station that had an odd platform that was divided into two platforms.  And, er, there were shops but they were a bit run down.
> 
> Phew, this town report business is harder than it seems.



its the longest platform in england


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## Dillinger4 (Jan 29, 2010)

Just reading this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Liverpool


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## Bernie Gunther (Jan 29, 2010)

I've seen the Lutyens model for the RC cathedral, that would have been a wonder if they could have afforded to actually build it as designed. 

Paddy's wigwam is ok though, nice and colourful inside, but I prefer the Anglican one.


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## stereotypical (Feb 2, 2010)

Shevek said:


> Spent about two hours in Liverpool city centre today whilst my partner was at a meeting. The city centre was full of radical grafiti and left wing posters (much more so than my home city of Manchester). Went to the radical bookshop 'news from nowhere' which was really interesting.
> 
> Near the bookshop on the back of an old shop in 6 foot high lettering was a slogan about climate change something like 'IT WAS THE WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD IN 2007 DO YOU CARE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT' stuff like that I thought was pretty cool.
> 
> ...



Am glad you liked our city, be sure to come back soon.  We do have a fair bit of lefty/radical stuff going on.  Pretty much everyones dads a socialist here really.

Oh yeah and the central library is undergoing a massive refurb job thingy this year (£3 million apparently).


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## Miss-Shelf (Feb 20, 2010)

I am from Liverpool although have been in London for 18years now
I like the buildings and I like the attitudes
when I asked my daughter if she identified with liverpool at all and asked her what she liked about it she said she liked all the shops in liverpool one  I feel I have failed to pass on the cultural heritage of dissidence, cheap pubs, street arguaments and hopeless nostalgia that shaped my youth 

I am back in Liverpool today cos it was my mum's 70 birthday

I used to like studying in the central library and didn't notice anyone wearing uniforms

something I have noticed again is that people say 'yeah' a lot when they are talking to each other

'


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## lang rabbie (Feb 28, 2010)

Shevek said:


> n the central library. The library itself was ok a bit run down sixties affair but charming in a way.



All those run down bits (constructed after the war after bomb damage behind the original facade) get demolished soon for a £50million PFI project to revamp the library.

I've not been impressed by the designs.


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## boohoo (Feb 28, 2010)

Miss-Shelf said:


> I am from Liverpool although have been in London for 18years now
> I like the buildings and I like the attitudes
> when I asked my daughter if she identified with liverpool at all and asked her what she liked about it she said she liked all the shops in liverpool one  I feel I have failed to pass on the cultural heritage of dissidence, cheap pubs, street arguaments and hopeless nostalgia that shaped my youth
> 
> ...



Didn't know you are from Liverpool!!  I'm very fond of the place. Do  we need an urban trip to Liverpool??


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## tbaldwin (Mar 1, 2010)

I am going to Liverpool over easter. Need to book a guest house/hotel in the city or southport. Anyone have any recommendations of where to stay and where to go etc?


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## 1927 (Mar 1, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Well it was a town with some roads and there were people there, some of them were friendly and others were surly.  It had a main station that had an odd platform that was divided into two platforms.  And, er, there were shops but they were a bit run down.
> 
> Phew, this town report business is harder than it seems.



Gloucester has, or certainly had, the longest rail platform in the country. It sthe only remotely interesting thing to ever happen there.

Sorry just seen post#30!


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## marty21 (Mar 1, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Well it was a town with some roads and there were people there, some of them were friendly and others were surly.  It had a main station that had an odd platform that was divided into two platforms.  And, er, there were shops but they were a bit run down.
> 
> Phew, this town report business is harder than it seems.



I've been to Gloucester 2 or 3 times, once i bought some boots there

true story


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## Dillinger4 (Mar 1, 2010)

marty21 said:


> I've been to Gloucester 2 or 3 times, once i bought some boots there
> 
> true story


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## marty21 (Mar 1, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


>



other boot buying stories in Oxford and Bath


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## boohoo (Mar 1, 2010)

tbaldwin said:


> I am going to Liverpool over easter. Need to book a guest house/hotel in the city or southport. Anyone have any recommendations of where to stay and where to go etc?



Stay in the city - the Walker Art gallery and the Tate. The Liver buildings and Albert Dock. The two cathedrals (check out the cemetry of the Anglican cathedral). Williamsons Tunnels (if open) Away day - Crosby beach for the Anthony Gormley figures and Port Sunlight for art gallery...

Wander up Bold street for the nightlife..

Yes all a bit arty...


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## Miss-Shelf (Mar 2, 2010)

boohoo said:


> Didn't know you are from Liverpool!!  I'm very fond of the place. Do  we need an urban trip to Liverpool??



that would be

my daughters thinking of going to uni there (but more because she'd get her Nana to go her washing and feed her)


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## toblerone3 (Mar 2, 2010)

boohoo said:


> Do  we need an urban trip to Liverpool??



This would be really good combined with a long walk in Liverpool.


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## marty21 (Mar 2, 2010)

Miss-Shelf said:


> that would be
> 
> my daughters thinking of going to uni there (but more because she'd get her Nana to go her washing and feed her)



my sister went to Poly there, she loved it


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## toblerone3 (Mar 2, 2010)

I'd like to see a whole load of Urbanites go on a long walk in Liverpool.


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## tbaldwin (Mar 2, 2010)

boohoo said:


> Stay in the city - the Walker Art gallery and the Tate. The Liver buildings and Albert Dock. The two cathedrals (check out the cemetry of the Anglican cathedral). Williamsons Tunnels (if open) Away day - Crosby beach for the Anthony Gormley figures and Port Sunlight for art gallery...
> 
> Wander up Bold street for the nightlife..
> 
> Yes all a bit arty...



Afraid im not very arty...I do like looking at buildings though from the outside mostly. More interested in places to eat and drink etc. I like Chinese food and heard there are some good places in Liverpool any suggestions.


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## sojourner (Mar 4, 2010)

boohoo said:


> Do  we need an urban trip to Liverpool??



That would be ace 

Could combine it with the Picasso exhibition, Peace and Freedom?


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## innit (Mar 4, 2010)

I went to Sheffield once.  It seemed to have some rather nice hills and nice buildings.  There were some clothes shops - in fact I bought a pair of shoes!  It seemed pleasant if a bit like lots of other places - it reminded me a little bit of Oxford city centre, which I know quite well.

My overwhelming impression was that it was very small.  "Call this a city?" I snorted to myself as I boarded the train back to civilisation (via Doncaster).


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## chainsaw cat (Mar 4, 2010)

jer said:


> I'd like to visit Liverpool. Furthest north I've been was Chester in 1996. Twice.
> 
> Does that count?



Can you hold off coming again until the council have mended the walls and the rows? (the only 2 things that are unique about chester btw)


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## el-ahrairah (Mar 4, 2010)

I took a cab through Liverpool to get to Bootle.  Most of it looked OK, like a big city.  But we drove through one of the roughest, most run down places I've ever seen.  Bootle was OK too, but no-one talked to me in the street like I'd been told Northerners were given to do.

The best bit about the whole thing was all the Gormley sculptures on the beach near Bootle.


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## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

Merseyside is an Objective One area for funding

It is Ob 1 because it is officially the most deprived area in the UK (or was, rather)

little factoid to explain a bit about why so much of it round here looks so fucking rundown


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## Dillinger4 (Mar 5, 2010)

sojourner said:


> Merseyside is an Objective One area for funding
> 
> It is Ob 1 because it is officially the most deprived area in the UK (or was, rather)
> 
> little factoid to explain a bit about why so much of it round here looks so fucking rundown



It all just looks normal to me.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

Shevek visited Liverpool, but *is not around at the moment*...


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## sojourner (Mar 5, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> It all just looks normal to me.



Me too mate - just get used to it don't you?


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