“Look for the rusty wheelbarrow”: the best quirky bars in Liverpool

Some bars claim to be secret speakeasies even when they’ve got a big sign outside advertising cocktails. Shhh… don’t tell anyone.

81 Ltd is different. So secretive, you feel like part of an elite club when you get in.

Defunct red phone boxes are always being re-purposed as mini libraries, homes for defibrillators, or, in this case, an entrance to a cocktail bar.

From the traditional British landmark, you’ll be led to a modern drinking den with fluorescent brights and glitterballs.

Head to Liverpool Gin Distillery to drink gin, make gin, learn about gin and talk about gin.

Modern-day Bold Street in Liverpool and Via Veneto in 1960s Rome could be an example of time-travelling city twinning.

Little Hardware takes its name from the not-so-little Rapid Hardware store that used to take up a sizeable chunk of Renshaw Street.

Even the entrance to The Oracle has an air of mystery: look for the anonymous grey door to the left of The Monro. Inside, this small bar has a fin-de-siecle, theatrical feel; everything from the drinks list to the performers fits in with the atmosphere of illusion and artifice.

The Oriel Bar might be the only place in Liverpool where you can get a beard trim and a round of beers, both at the same time.

Be transported back in time with a visit to Puffin Rooms; Liverpool’s specialist whisky and cigar bar. With over 200 rare bottles behind the bar, whisky fans are in for a treat.