The 12 Best Places to Drink in Liverpool

Every cocktail on the menu comes in two versions, light or dark, so you're choosing a mood as much as a drink. Slowpour is a cocktail bar tucked into the basement of Ropes and Twines on Bold Street, built around the idea that nobody should be rushed, least of all you. The drinks are considered and the pacing is deliberate, which in a city that usually wants to get on with it, counts as a quiet act of defiance. It landed on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list in its first year open.

1. The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
2. Top 50 Cocktail Bars 2026 · #30 · Top 50 Cocktail Bars

A small cocktail bar tucked into Anchor Courtyard that holds maybe 30 people inside and turns the intimacy into a feature. The bespoke menu runs to eleven drinks, with names like Mechanical Bull that suggest the team enjoys themselves. Regulars who can't decide are pointed off-menu without fuss. Bar Glue ranked second on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list in 2026, which is a lot of swagger for a place that fits in a courtyard.

1. Top 50 Cocktail Bars 2026 · #2 · Top 50 Cocktail Bars

Wolstenholme Square's late-night cocktail bar takes its name from a Pavement album and its atmosphere from a record shop that actually has good taste. Scandinavian-lit interiors, a long counter where you can interrogate the bartenders, and a soundtrack curated by local DJs set the room. The menu runs fun and seasonal, and a kitchen pop-up covers food on weekends. Ranked 34th on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, and barely a year old.

1. Top 50 Cocktail Bars 2026 · #34 · Top 50 Cocktail Bars

A cocktail bar inside a converted stables that once served the Lord Mayor, Mojo has the bones of a grand civic past and the playlist of someone who peaked during the Metallica years. The drinks list runs from Woo Woos to Corpse Revivers without apology, and a beer is equally welcome. The crowd spans suits and students, which is either reassuring or a warning, depending on how you feel about Metallica.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

The 1970s kitsch is not ironic here; it's just how the place looks, and has for decades. Cafe Tabac on Bold Street starts the day as a cafe and quietly becomes a bar by night, serving beer, wine, and a short list of cocktails to a crowd that isn't there to be impressed. No long menus, no elaborate pours, no one performing behind the bar. DJ nights and film nights fill the calendar when the mood calls for it.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3 stars · Difford's Guide

Parked halfway between Liverpool's two cathedrals, The Magnet is a late-night bar that's been around long enough to mean something to the city's music scene. The stag-and-hen circuit doesn't reach this far up Hardman Street, which is either a mild inconvenience or the whole point, depending on who you ask. Tokyo Industries owns it now, post-refit, but the bones of the place carry fifty years of noise.

1. Difford's Guide 3 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3 stars · Difford's Guide