Liverpool One

I had a bit of a dilemma yesterday. I wanted to catch the Chester half marathon and see some of the finishes but I was busy on something else first thing in the morning followed by a prior engagement in Liverpool. While this is a Chester website we all know there are also plenty of places to visit right on our doorstep. Liverpool of course being one of them. Anyone considering visiting Chester may not be aware that Liverpool is so close. There are so many places to visit in Liverpool, as there are in Chester of course. One place worth visiting in Liverpool is Liverpool One.

We called in there yesterday after a trip around the World Museum in William Brown Street to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibition. This visit in itself is worth a post of its own. I’ll do that post later or tomorrow. Suffice it to say, it was fascinating.

Liverpool One

Having worked in Liverpool on and off for quite a few years and visited many times socially I must say I think it’s a great city. It is so lively and vibrant. Over the last few years there has been so much money spent on the city centre. It is hardly recognisable in terms of things to do and places to visit from the Liverpool of the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. One huge new development is Liverpool One.

For those that don’t know, Liverpool One is a shopping, residential and leisure complex in the city centre. Liverpool One is the largest open air shopping centre in the United Kingdom and the 5th largest overall. Different architects created each store. Therefore you will notice some quite stark differences between some buildings. This ‘uniqueness’ is one way in which Liverpool One differentiates itself from other shopping centres.

Most of the retail development was opened in 2008 (May and October), while the final residential units were completed in early 2009.

One of the entrances to Liverpool One can be found in pedestrianised Church Street. A feature I really like about Church Street is the fantastic array of busking talents that play there. Here’s a short video of one such act….

There are plenty of shops to have a wander around for all you shoppers out there. One shop name that tickles me (although I’m a Red) is the Everton store up on the middle floor. They have called it “Everton 2”. Brilliant!!!

Places To Eat In Liverpool One

Places To Eat-Liverpool One-Zizzis

There are plenty of places to eat in Liverpool One. If you are looking for a recommendation, then I highly recommend Zizzis. Excellent food and excellent service. I am a big fan of Italian food and Zizzis ticked all the boxes for me. It is open until 11pm every night apart from Sundays – it closes 10.30pm on Sundays.

I like the idea of being able to see your food being cooked. The large, open area kitchens are clearly visible so you can see exactly what is going on. Reasonably priced as well. You should check it out if you are ever over in Liverpool and fancy a bite to eat.

In case you don’t know access to Liverpool One particularly and Liverpool in general is easy enough for anyone living in Chester. The Merseyrail service runs either every 15 (during peak times) or 30 minutes. A return train ticket is £5.20 so it is certainly cheap enough on the train. There are four train stations you can get off at. For Liverpool One you would be looking to get off at either James Street or Liverpool Central.

If you are looking for an alternative to places to visit in Chester then a trip to Liverpool may well be an option. Right on the doorstep and really easy to get to.

Terracotta Warriors

Terracotta Warriors-Liverpool

As mentioned earlier, we visited the Terracotta Warriors exhibition before Zizzis yesterday. This is worth a separate post in its own right. More on this tomorrow.

Chester Half Marathon

I’ve seen some posts on Social Media. Hope everything went well without any hitches. I’ll be looking to do a follow up post about this later in the week. If you have any Chester half marathon experiences to relate, then why not drop me a line.

More Information On Chester and Chester Lifestyle

If you are looking for more information on the beautiful city of Chester and Chester Lifestyle – click HERE.