Best-of list · Live Music Guides
The 9 best live music bars in Liverpool, from the Cavern Club and the Jacaranda to Jimmy's, EBGBs and the live jazz speakeasy Berry and Rye.
The short answer
9 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Liverpool is a music city to its core, and the proof is not the arena but the cellars and pubs where bands still play most nights. The Cavern Quarter holds the Beatles history, the Baltic Triangle and Ropewalks run the new rooms, and the Georgian Quarter keeps the grand old pubs. We worked the venue histories, the local press and the gig calendars to land on these nine, every one a bar where you catch a set with a drink in hand. Skip the stadium. This is where the city actually plays.
Mathew Street and Ropewalks hold the famous rooms and the new ones, the Cavern, the Jacaranda and the basements where rising bands play. Start in the center and walk between them.
The Cavern Club still trades on Mathew Street where the Beatles built their early residency, and the music runs daily across rock, pop and Merseybeat tributes. An all-day pass is around 8.50 pounds and buys more than twelve hours of bands, with the room open to 1am on weekends. For first-timers who want the city's founding myth with a pint in hand.
The Jacaranda opened on Slater Street in 1958 and has a fair claim as the Beatles' birthplace, now a bar, basement venue and record shop in one. New and indie acts play most nights, with live bands on weekends and open mic on Thursday and Sunday. It is trading under the temporary Maccaranda name in 2026, tied to a McCartney release. For diggers who want history and a turntable.
Jimmy's runs three floors of the Havelock Building at 130 Bold Street, an independent room built for up-and-coming artists seven nights a week. The house pours its own Holt-brewed cider, lager and pale ale, and the lava-lamp wall does the decorating. Best midweek when the new bands play. For Ropewalks regulars who want a venue, not a museum piece.
EBGBs hides in the basement under Heebie Jeebies at 80-82 Seel Street, a low-ceilinged room for indie, rock and grime acts. Doors run nightly from 7pm and later on weekends, when the long-running Liquidation night takes over. The bar keeps a wide rum selection for the long sets. For those who like their gigs sweaty, loud and underground.
Behind an unmarked black door on Berry Street, Berry and Rye runs a prohibition-era room where you knock to enter and find the menu hidden in a book. Live blues and jazz piano plays several nights a week, low and close. It opens seven days from 5pm. For couples who want the music intimate and the cocktails serious.
Full listing & hours →Across Mathew Street from its famous namesake, the Cavern Pub runs free live music every night, from Merseybeat covers to Ian Prowse's Monday Club open sessions. It opens daily from 11am and never charges at the door. For drinkers who want the Cavern Quarter sound without the ticket queue.
The Baltic Fleet is a Grade II-listed flat-iron Victorian pub on Wapping, once home to the Wapping Brewery and still built around its cask and craft ales. Live music is occasional rather than nightly, so this is the waterfront stop for a proper pint between venues. Open daily from noon to 11pm. For ale drinkers who want a landmark room on the dock road.
Full listing & hours →The Philharmonic Dining Rooms on Hope Street is a Grade I-listed Victorian gin palace, famous enough that its marble gents' toilets draw their own visitors. Cask ales and British pub food lead, with music an occasional fixture rather than the draw. It opens daily from 11am, to midnight on weekends. For anyone who wants Liverpool's grandest old room before a gig up the hill.
Full listing & hours →The Shankly Hotel on Victoria Street wraps Bill Shankly and Liverpool FC history into its bars, with the rooftop Garden of Eden running live music, tribute and indie nights and samba brunches. The room comes into its own in warmer months when the terrace opens. Best for a weekend rooftop session. For groups who want the music with a view over the city.
Full listing & hours →How we picked
For the history, the Cavern Club and the Jacaranda carry Mathew Street and Slater Street. For nightly new bands, Jimmy's and EBGBs lead the basements. For intimate jazz with a drink, Berry and Rye wins. Liverpool plays somewhere every night, so check the listings and follow the sound off Bold Street.
Sofia Reeves covers bar design and the rooms behind the music, from Liverpool's Cavern Quarter to the late venues of Europe.
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.