BANGING THE DRUM IN A CITY OF HISTORY, MUSIC AND LEGEND
ONE story has it that Bertie the Liver Bird looks out over the city to see if the pubs are open while his female pal Bella keeps watch over the sea so she can eye up visiting sailors.
Whatever the truth, the two 18ft statues have become an iconic symbol of Liverpool around the world.
You can now get a closer view of them on a tour of the Royal Liver Building, on top of which they proudly perch (£15 adult, £10 child at rlb360.com).
It’s now Grade I-listed, and there’s a great story behind it.
In 1850, a group of working men in the Lyver Inn pub were lamenting that poor people couldn’t afford proper burials and the idea behind the Liverpool Liver Burial Society was born.
By the end of the 1890s the society had expanded so much a purpose-built base overlooking the Mersey was proposed.
Designed by architect Walter Aubrey Thomas, the Royal Liver Building was the first in Britain made from reinforced concrete.
Opened in 1911, its crowning glories were the two copper Liver Birds, designed by Carl
Bernard Bartels, a German-born sculptor. He had lived in Britain since 1887 but was banished back to his native country after the outbreak of World War One.
His true nationality was hushed up for decades, but the city finally made amends with a posthumous Citizen of Honour award for Bartels in 2011.
On the 70-minute tour you’ll catch a lift to floor 10 then walk up 135 steps for a close encounter with the birds.
The Royal Liver Building forms part of the city’s Three Graces which stand side-by-side on the Pier Head. We went next door to the Cunard Building for the British Music Experience, inset, a museum dedicated to post-World War
Two pop music (£14 adult, £9 child, £32 family; see british musicexperience.com).
Don’t miss scrolling the interactive map to see pop links to different places. My son Freddie, 10, also loved the studio, where you can play guitars, keyboards and drums.
We were staying at the Titanic Hotel, set in a rejuvenated rum warehouse, once at the heart of Liverpool’s world-leading docklands.
It has been converted to reflect the grandeur of the Titanic while retaining the essence of the original building with exposed brickwork, archways and steel girders. Vintage posters of the doomed vessel and White Star Line – the Liverpoolbased company behind it – adorn the walls. In Stanley’s Bar and Grill, I enjoyed pan-fried salmon fillet and chocolate mousse with candied hazelnuts.
Next day we visited the newly opened Junkyard Golf Club in the Liverpool ONE shopping centre (from £8 per person at junkyardgolfclub.co.uk).
We had fun putting our way through old cars on the scrapyard course, then over freaky clowns and fairground rides.
Later, we headed to the Albert Dock for lunch at Rosa’s Thai Café (rosasthaicafe.com) ensuring that our Merseyside break ended on a real high.