Culture of Liverpool

The culture of Liverpool goes back as far back as 1715 when Thomas Steers built the world’s first commercial dock (Old Dock) paving the way for Liverpool to become one of the world’s greatest seaports and was a contributing factor in the Industrial Revolution that began shortly after, bringing Culture from all over the world from Blue Funnel Line brought the first Chinese culture to Europe or a million Irish people passing through to the new world at the Port of Liverpool, The city is widely known for having the strongest Irish heritage and culture of any UK city, Liverpool has the highest concentration of Irish pubs per capita making it the second- highest globally, the city were recognised in 2008, when it was named the European Capital of Culture, since 2015 Liverpool is a UNESCO City of Music and was once UNESCO Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site
Liverpool musical culture covers worldwide that as fusion into football culture, You Will Never Walk Alone from Merseybeat band Gerry and the Pacemakers, Liverpool F.C. , Borussia Dortmund Glasgow Celtic as their football anthem, ..The Beatles hit single Hey Jude Brentford F.C., Manchester City F.C. and Arsenal F.C. and other clubs have adopted as pre-match and during the match chants as a terrace anthem also . .. another Beatles hit single Yellow Submarine.. is Villarreal CF football anthem who have nicknamed and associated the club the Yellow Submarine supporters have adopted.
Liverpools culture in athletics goes back as far as 1865, John Hulley Gymnasiarch of Liverpool was the founder of the British Olympic movement
Liverpool is known for its cultural scene encompassing vibrant music heritage a thriving arts and theatre scene from its black African and Irish multicultural all rooted in its maritime past many Sea shanty songs refer to Liverpool and musician Stan Hugill to when Cunard Yanks brought Rock and roll to Liverpool.
The Mersey Ferry’s are an integral part of Liverpool culture, serving as a vital transport link and a symbol of the city regions identity for over 800 years beginning in 1150, connecting communities and attracting visitors, made famous in the 1960s with the Gerry and the Pacemakers hit single Ferry Cross the Mersey
The Beatles, exemplified Changing culture dynamics not only in music, but in fashion and lifestyle, over half century after their emergence, they continue to have a worldwide Cultural impact
On 4 June 2008, Liverpool was named a European Capital of Culture for 2008, the other site being Stavanger, Norway.
Beryl Bainbridge, one of England's greatest contemporary writers, grew up in Liverpool. Many of her stories are set there.
A number of notable authors have visited Liverpool including Daniel Defoe, Washington Irving, Thomas De Quincey, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Hugh Walpole all of whom spent extended periods in the city. Hawthorne was stationed in Liverpool as United States consul between 1853 and 1856. Although he is not known to have ever visited Liverpool, Jung famously had a vivid dream of the city which he analysed in one of his works.
Liverpool is a popular filming location. Liverpool also has a TV station, Liverpool TV and several radio stations including Radio Merseyside. Jimmy McGovern has been awarded Freedom of Liverpool for his TV writing contributions to Liverpool.
Liverpool F.C., featured in the first edition of Match of the Day with the BBC screened highlights of their match against Arsenal F.C. at Anfield on August 1964, the programme audience was estimated at only 20,000 less than half the attendance at the Anfield stadium, televised football has become a significant global cultural phenomenon, this growth in broadcast attendance is a continuation when Liverpool F.C. were officially the most watched team globally in the Premier League with a cumulative audience of 471 million for all 38 top-flight games in the 2024-25 season.
Our World (1967 TV program) was the first live multinational, multi-satellite television production in twenty five countries with audiences of 400-700 million people, The Beatles performing All You Need Is Love topped the event and became a anthem for Counterculture embracing Flower power philosophy.
The Grand National is among the most famous and televised watched horses race globally viewed by about 800 million around the world, the event is prominent in British culture dating back to 1829.
Lennon and McCartney the most successful collaborations in history and was the centre in the 1960s of Merseybeat, The Beatles set a record that may never be broken- five songs held the Billboard Hot 100 top five songs , since then has been home to a music scene The Cavern Club and Eric's Club , the music coming out of Liverpool during that time was that profound that American rock and roll star Chuck Berry paid tribute to the city by writing and producing studio album St. Louis to Liverpool with the song The Liverpool Drive as one of the tracking records.
The first British woman to have a number one hit in UK music charts was Lita Roza with her 1953 record of (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?.. The Liverbirds a band from Liverpool are widely considered to be one of the worlds first All-female band emerging on the Merseybeat scene in 1963, Cilla Black is the highest- placed female artist on the List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom with her 1964 single Anyone Who Had a Heart.
Ken Dodd is third on the List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom with is single Tears
Paul McCartney and Wings is first on the List of best-selling singles of the 1970s in the United Kingdom with is single Mull of Kintyre
Apple Records founded by members of The Beatles that launched the career of James Taylor and produced Mary Hopkin career with one of the best-selling singles of the 1960s with Those Were the Days.
Nigel Olsson a member of the Liverpool Merseybeat band The Big Three before joining Elton John drummer in the Elton John Band in 1970.
Liverpool musician Gordon Stretton took Jazz culture to Argentina and is credited to making jazz culture to Latin America.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood pop band gained notoriety in the 1980s for provocative music, raunchy visuals and unashamedly sexual themes particularly with their hit song Relax, that challenge mainstream norms and become a cultural phenomenon particularly with the LGBTQ community, their unvarnished depiction of life including their sexuality ushered in a brief era of mainstream acceptance of Gay Culture, Relax single is second on the List of best-selling singles of the 1980s in the United Kingdom
Elvis Costello produced and backing vocalist alongside Dick Cuthell trumpet musician with the The Specials their 1984 single Free Nelson Mandela had a role in the downfall of the Apartheid, as it raised awareness of the issue and became an anthem of the initi-apartheid movement in South Africa, The Guardian referred to it as one of the most effective protest songs in history.
American singer Michael Jackson performed The final European show of his Bad world tour in Liverpool at Aintree Racecourse a crowd of 125,000 the largest show of the Bad (tour) it was the largest concert ever performed by a solo artist in the United Kingdom at that time.
Liverpool is also home to the UK's oldest-established orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, headquartered in the Philharmonic Hall, and a youth orchestra. Sir Adrian Boult brought up and his family connected in the Liverpool shipping and oil trade, and Sir Simon Rattle internationally renowned conductor from Liverpool, Max Bruch was one of numerous notable conductors of the RLPO, and dedicated his Kol Nidre to the Jewish community in the city. Sir Edward Elgar dedicated his famous Pomp and Circumstance No.1 to the Liverpool Orchestral Society, and the piece had its first performance in the city in 1901. Among Liverpool's curiosities, the Austrian émigré Fritz Spiegl is notable. He not only became a world expert on the etymology of Scouse, but composed the music to Z-Cars and the Radio 4 UK Theme. It hosted Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
Yoko Ono Lennon Centre opened in Liverpool in 2022.
During the late 1960s the city became well known for the Liverpool poets, who include Roger McGough and the late Adrian Henri. An anthology of poems, The Mersey Sound, written by Henri, McGough and Brian Patten, has sold over 500,000 copies since first being published in 1967.
Liverpool also has a history of performing arts, reflected every summer in its annual theatrical highlight, the Liverpool Shakespeare Festival, and by the number of theatres in the city. These include the Empire, Everyman, Playhouse, Royal Court, and Unity Theatres. The Everyman, Unity, and Playhouse Theatres all run their own theatre companies.
Liverpool has more galleries and national museums than any other city in the United Kingdom apart from London. National Museums Liverpool is the only English national collection based wholly outside London. The Tate Liverpool gallery houses the modern art collection of the Tate in the North of England and was, until the opening of Tate Modern, the largest exhibition space dedicated to modern art in the United Kingdom. The FACT centre hosts touring multimedia exhibitions, whilst the Walker Art Gallery houses an extensive collection of Pre-Raphaelites. Sudley House contains another major collection of pre-20th-century art, and the number of galleries continues to expand: Ceri Hand Gallery opened in 2008, exhibiting primarily contemporary art, and Liverpool University's Victoria Building was re-opened as a public art gallery and museum to display the University's artwork and historical collections which include the second-largest display of art by Audubon outside the US.
Sheppard-Worlock Statue, statue of Derek Worlock the English archbishop of Liverpool who played a crucial role in the 1982 visit by Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom, the first time visit to the Uk for 400 years, a million people lined the route from Liverpool airport to the city showcasing the immense public interest in The pope visit, The Pope attended services at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
Superlambanana reflects the history of Liverpool when the Elder Dempster Lines played a crucial role in the Banana trade it was Alfred Lewis Jones the controlling partner of Elder Dempster, who is credited with introducing the banana to the British mass market in 1884, Liverpool Blue Star Line and Vestey was the largest retailer of meat in the world at that time.
John Lennon Peace Monument, John Lennon was a prominent figure in the peace movement particularly during the Vietnam War through is music, activism and his Bed-in for peace events with Yoko Ono most notably with Give Peace a Chance and Imagine (song)
Memories of August 1914
Sea Odyssey: Giant Spectacular: the event staged to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS titanic.
Liverpool's Dream
La Princesse
Liverpool and surrounding area boasts several beaches including the Crosby Beach Antony Gormley Another place statues.
Artists have also come from the city, including painter George Stubbs who was born in Liverpool in 1724, as well as Luke Fildes, Richard Ansdell
Liverpool maritime heritage as produced painters of Marine art such as Samual Walters and William Halsall and many more.
The Liverpool Biennial festival of arts runs from mid-September to late November and comprises three main sections; the International, The Independents and New Contemporaries although fringe events are timed to coincide. It was during the 2004 festival that Yoko Ono's work "My mother is beautiful" caused widespread public protest when photographs of a naked woman's pubic area were exhibited on the main shopping street. Despite protests the work remained in place.
Salt and pepper chips are believed to have been invented in Liverpool as a fusion of Chinese and Scouse cuisine.
Vestey foods global international food producers and retailers founded in port city of Liverpool in 1897
Scouse associated with the Port of Liverpool.
John West Foods established in the seaport of Liverpool bringing caned tuna and salmon to the uk.
Princess foods and drink Liverpool rich maritime heritage and culture seaport brought canned food to the uk