LIVERPOOL'S STREET ART

Liverpool's Street Art

So - all aboard for a Magical Mystery Tour. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

I always look forward to returning to the city where I was a student from 1966-1969. It's home to not only my favourite band but also my favourite football club. This trip down memory (and Penny) lane was especially nostalgic because tracking down Liverpool's best street art took me back to some of my old haunts, well away from the city centre, where the scouse accents become even broader - particularly those of the bin men around Anfield. Scouse was once described as a mixture of Irish and catarrh.

This post divides (more or less seamlessly ?) into four parts: Liverpool Street Art; Beatles Street Art; Liverpool for Day Trippers; Liverpool FC Street Art.

Liam Bononi

Katerina Johnson-Thompson Natasha Jonas

Johnson-Thompson was the 2019 and 2023 world heptathlon champion. Jonas held the unified WBC and WBO light-middleweight boxing titles between 2022 and 2025.

Philth

Peter Sheridan Mr Cenz

Cranio

Nomad Clan Sound of Freedom Somari/Neil Keating

Paul Curtis

All You Need Is Love Dave Bonzai Liverpool Life Sciences

Everton Legends

Dixie Dean, Alan Ball, Howard Kendall, Neville Southall, Leighton Baines.

Stine Hvid

Human Search Liam Bononi (2020)

Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is the largest religious building in Britain. It is based on a design by Giles Gilbert Scott and took 74 years to build, finally being completed in 1978.

Human Search covers one side of a wedding shop, this is on the other side ....

Liver Bird John Culshaw

The Vivienne

Liam Bononi

Fai McCabe Fai McCabe

Love Lane Brewery Bar & Kitchen

Nelson Street, China Town

The Year of the Horse (2026)

I'm told the large Chinese text is translated as 'dragon' (thanks, Sam).

More specifically, 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse, said to represent independence, bold change, energy, freedom and rebellion. Fire Horse years (1906, 1966, 2026 and 2086) are traditionally regarded as action-packed and dramatic.

I'm an Earth Rat (1948): clever, practical, resourceful and reliable... and, naturally, handsome.

Liverpool Mountain Ugo Rondinone (2018) Waiting Judy Boyt (2010)

Waiting commemorates the 250 years service of the working horses of Liverpool, hauling goods between docks and warehouses.

The Beatles Andy Edwards

This portrait of the fab four, in a sweet shop in Albert Dock, is made from over 15,000 jelly beans. In October 1963, as Beatlemania erupted, British fans pelted the group with jelly babies after George Harrison mentioned they were his favourite sweet. Unfortunately, jelly babies weren't widely available in the United States, so American audiences threw the much harder jelly beans instead.

Not the best Beatles mural - I think it's supposed to be Ringo on the left, although it looks more like Alex Harvey. This is better of the drummer ...

The Empress pub appeared on the cover of Sentimental Journey - Ringo's first solo album. His childhood home was 10 Admiral Grove (below) which runs alongside the right-hand side of the pub.

And opposite The Empress ....

Peace and Love

Andrew Edwards 2022 statue of Brian Epstein stands opposite 12/14 Whitechapel (above), once the site of his NEMS record store. On June 1, 1967, I bought my copy of Sgt Pepper here. NEMS had listening booths where you could ask for your record to be played before deciding to spend some of your student grant. But it was the Beatles - I knew it would be good, so I simply took one off the pile on the counter and handed over 37/6.

John Lennon, Mathew Street

Hard Days Night Hotel

Yellow Submarine Apartments Abbey Road Paul Curtis

Eleanor Rigby - "All the lonely people" (1982)

By Tommy Steele as a 'thank you' to the people of Liverpool.

This is the oldest of the four Penny Lane signs, with its protective shield. It's the one Paul McCartney signed in Carpool Karaoke in 2018. A local guide pointed out Paul's now very faded signature in the bottom-right corner. I couldn't make it out – and neither, it seemed, could his paying customers.

Currently, Liverpool Council are fighting a losing battle replacing the sign in Dungeon Road - the title of Paul McCartney's latest album.

In My Life

There are places I'll remember

All my life though some have changed

Some forever not for better

Some have gone and some remain

Edward VII overlooking the River Mersey

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria

It is said the Liver birds atop the Liver Building squawk whenever a virgin walks underneath. Liver rhymes with 'diver'.

Fab Four Fans should explore the Cavern Quarter on foot, then visit "The world's largest permanent exhibition devoted to telling the story of The Beatles’ rise to fame"....

The Beatles Story, Albert Dock

There are plenty of guided tours available if you want to visit Penny Lane, Strawberry Field(s) and the houses where the lads grew up.

George III Liverpool Resurgent (1956)

To symbolise Liverpool's resurgence following World War II, a Jacob Epstein statue of a nude man was added above the main entrance of John Lewis after the blitzed store had been rebuilt. Controversial at the time, the statue is affectionately known as "Dickie Lewis" to Liverpudlians.

The Grade II listed store closed in 2007 and awaits redevelopment. Dickie Lewis and his appendage remain proudly intact. He was immortalised in the 1962 song In My Liverpool Home by Peter McGovern:

We speak with an accent exceedingly rare

Meet under a statue exceedingly bare

And if you want a Cathedral, we've got one to spare

In my Liverpool home

Chance Meeting (2009) Tom Murphy

Sir Ken Dodd (with his tickling stick) and Bessie Braddock MP, Lime Street Station. The statue was unveiled by Doddy himself in 2009.

MV Snowdrop

This is one of the ferries Gerry and the Pacemakers sang about. It was originally the Woodchurch, launched in 1959, and became the Snowdrop in 2003 following an extensive refit. In 2015, the ferry was selected as a "dazzle ship" and given this new livery inspired by the First World War dazzle camouflage. The design is by Sir Peter Blake, best known as the creator of the Sgt Pepper cover. At first glance, dazzle seems an unlikely form of camouflage. But the intention of dazzle was not to conceal ships but to make it difficult to estimate range, speed, and direction.

Snowdrop's sister ship, the Royal Iris, was retired in March 2026.

Until his death in 2021, Gerry Marsden's recorded voice provided the commentary on the ferries.

Two sumptuous pubs worth visiting ....

The Vines, Lime Street - with its stunning billiard room

The Philharmonic Hotel

'The Phil' is where Paul gave an impromptu performance during the aforementioned Carpool Karaoke.

Beyond the Phil - Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral ....

... aka "Paddy's Wigwam".

Liverpool has a large population of Irish Catholics - hence Paddy's Wigwam. Scouse legend has it that the Mersey Tunnel was built by Irish navvies trying to dig their way back home after discovering that Liverpool's streets were not paved with gold. Another nickname for the cathedral is the "Mersey Funnel".

Billy Fury (2003) sculpted by Tom Murphy

Before the Beatles made beat groups fashionable, the British charts were full of male solo singers performing mostly American covers under fanciful stage names. So Reginald Smith became Marty Wilde, Richard Maxwell became Dickie Valentine, Thomas Hicks became Tommy Steele, Terence Nelhams-Wright became Adam Faith, Harry Webb became Cliff Richard. And Ronald Wycherley became Billy Fury, one of the most successful and, unusually, a songwriter too. He died of heart failure in 1983, aged just 42.

Cilla Black

This statue of Cilla stands in front of the location of the original Cavern Club where she worked as a cloakroom attendant before fame beckoned. It was commissioned by her family after her death in 2015.

The Shelter in the centre of the roundabout

I used to visit the Sgt Pepper Bistro very regularly - in the days when it was public toilet, halfway between the pub and where I lived.

All Together Now!

Bobby Firmino

These streets now have parking restrictions on match days. This was not the case when I first stood on the Kop in the 1960s and the local 'scallies' ran a protection racket. No sooner had you parked when a small child would appear and ask "mind yer car mister?". The only safe response was - "OK son!" After the game a small fee was payable to the child for kindly not letting your tyres down.

Bill Shankly Bob Paisley & Emlyn Hughes

Bob Paisley (then assistant manager) carrying an injured Emlyn Hughes, Anfield, April 1968.

Mo Salah

Virgil van Dijk Jordan Henderson

RIP Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva Diogo Jota

Andy Robertson & Diogo Jota

Andy Robertson David Johnson

Phil Neal & Ian Callaghan John Barnes

Alisson Becker

Ian Rush Jan Molby

Anne Williams (1951-2013) led the campaign for justice after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which her fifteen-year-old son Kevin was crushed to death.

The mural, painted by Paul Curtis, shows Anne holding her fist aloft in celebration of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012, which quashed the initial inquest verdicts.

Hillsborough memorial at Anfield ....

Steven Gerrard's cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was the youngest of the 97 who lost their lives at Hillsborough. He was just ten years old.

Steven Gerrard

Trent Alexander Arnold Robbie Fowler

Ian St John & Roger Hunt

Two of the stars of Liverpool when I lived here. At the time I recall there was a church poster with the words - "What would you do if Jesus came to Liverpool?" Underneath some scouse wag had scrawled - "Move St John to inside right".