The Shipping Forecast

If you’re after a Liverpool bar that’s unapologetically cool, head to The Shipping Forecast.

This place is, to be frank, one cool mother. A three-storey pub-eatery-club-shop, the interiors are a cross between a stripped-back loft apartment and Jack Sparrow’s love nest: all vintage furniture, reclaimed school chairs and cosy booths, with the odd giant octopus (stencilled onto the wall) thrown in. The nautical theme extends to the signage – upstairs is “top deck”, the basement club “the hold”. And at the Shipping Forecast, the lights are low, the bar long and the kitchen open-sided.

Now, this should be a recipe for the type of place that looks upon those over the age of 30 askance. Yet the Shipping Forecast wears its hipness well; it’s somewhere you can comfortably hunker down for an afternoon, an evening or a night. Hey, I’ve taken my kids there and not one person looked at them as if they had two heads. So, the kids are all right.

The menu is as unpretentious as the staff; you’ll find the usual burgers. sharing plates, and some British (and American) classics. Food is served all day, every day, and while it offers nothing gastronomically exciting, the Shipping Forecast serves up a good line in comfort food. It’s an approach that suits the place well.

Eating aside, the Shipping Forecast works hard to keep the punters in and interested. Music nights range from disco DJs and live indie to the occasional vinyl record fair, there is live music and a whole interactive darts experience complete with competitiveness, food and drink. All in all, then, the Shipping Forecast is where it’s at – and you don’t even have to know your portside from your starboard to enjoy it.