Ranatuor’s guide to Liverpool, Safari city for Pokémon Go.

Hi, I’ve put together this little guide to get to know Liverpool and all the great cultural stuff it has to offer and also some information about the venue itself. If you have any questions about Liverpool please ask, I’ll try to answer them.
Thanks,
Ranatuor (Tim)

Pokémon Go Liverpool Safari Zone

https://pokemongolive.com/en/post/liveevents-2020/

Pokémon Go City Explorer Pass

https://pokemongolive.com/en/post/safarizoneliverpool-cityexplorerpass/

Registering for the Live Events

https://niantic.helpshift.com/a/pokemon-go/?p=web&s=events&f=registering-for-live-events

Live Event Registration FAQ

https://niantic.helpshift.com/a/pokemon-go/?p=web&s=events&f=live-event-registration-faq&l=en

Location: Liverpool
Date: Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April
Venue: Sefton Park

The first UK Safari Zone has been announced and Liverpool has the honour of hosting it. This is a well-deserved coup for the 2008 Capital of Culture. Liverpool has so much going for it.

Situated in the North West of England where the River Mersey meets the sea, Liverpool is a port and a city. Liverpool is one of five metropolitan boroughs of the county of Merseyside, the other four being Sefton, Knowsley, Wirral and St. Helens.

From the rather dubious origins of being the “muddy pool” to being given the Royal Charter in 1207 Liverpool, through to being dubbed the second city of the Empire, Liverpool has seen good times, and some bad. The city will forever be linked to the Slave trade but has also stood at the forefront of great cultural change. It saw much devastation during the 1940s Blitz but in recent years Liverpool is standing proud again, proud of its heritage and its future.

Liverpool is an UNESCO World Heritage Site: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1150/

Key websites

Visit Liverpool            https://www.visitliverpool.com/

Culture Liverpool      https://www.cultureliverpool.co.uk/
Pokemon announcement            https://www.cultureliverpool.co.uk/news/pokemon-go-for-liverpool/
City Council              https://liverpool.gov.uk/leisure-parks-and-events/information-for-tourists/
Art in Liverpool          https://www.artinliverpool.com/

Maps
You can find several useful maps from the following websites:
https://www.visitliverpool.com/plan-your-visit/city-map              
The Merseyrail network map can be found here:
https://www.merseyrail.org/_common/map/networkmap.htm

Travel
The main travel hub for Merseyside is Merseytravel (https://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/). This covers buses, trains, ferries and more. Key bus firms include Arriva and Stagecoach.

Merseyrail is the rail network for the area. There are several routes – the Northern Line from Hunts Cross to Southport, Ormskirk and Kirby. The Wirral Line gets you to West Kirby, New Brighton, Ellesmere Port and Chester. The City Line is part of Northern Trains (https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/) route taking you out from Lime Street station.

Lime Street is the main train station linked to the rest of the UK, whilst stations in the city centre (part of Merseyrail) also include Central Station, James Street and Moorfields. These form the Loop – the platforms on these stations are underground.

The closest train station to the Pokemon Go Safari is St Michaels (https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/stations/st-michaels.aspx).

There are various tickets, Merseyrail is quite cheap and the best deal is the Adult unlimited off-peak (after 9.30am) all zones pass for £5.50, young persons (5-18) get that ticket for £2.75.

Taxis
Liverpool has several taxi companies (such as Delta) and there is a taxi rank for Black Cabs in Lime Street station.

Liverpool Airport
If you are arriving from further afield then Liverpool John Lennon airport (https://www.liverpoolairport.com/) may well be your arrival point into the UK. There is travel guidance about getting to and from the airport here:
https://www.liverpoolairport.com/transport. You will need to take a short bus journey to get to the nearest train station, Liverpool South Parkway, which then gets you directly into Liverpool Lime Street.

If you are arriving at Manchester Airport, then there is a direct link between the Manchester Airport station and Liverpool Lime Street. It takes about 1hr 30mins and an advance single fare is between £6-£9.

Coach

Liverpool is also serviced by coaches. The main coach station is by Liverpool One (https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/coach-stations/liverpool).

Ferry
Mersey Ferries (https://www.merseyferries.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx) take workers and tourists alike from one side of the Mersey to the other. Definitely something to tick of your “To do” list and the stops on both the Wirral side and the Liverpool side have some great attractions to visit (see below).

Culture
If there is one thing Liverpool has in abundance, its cultural institutions. There is so much to see and do, so a whistle-stop tour of some of worthwhile venues will have to suffice.

The National Museums Liverpool (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/) has seven venues:
Museum of Liverpool (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/museum-of-liverpool)
World Museum (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/world-museum)
International Slavery Museum (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum)
Maritime Museum (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/merseyside-maritime-museum)
Walker Art Gallery (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker-art-gallery)
Sudley House (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/sudley-house)
Lady Lever Art Gallery (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/lady-lever-art-gallery)

The World Museum and the Walker Art Gallery are on William Brown Street, a short (walk) distance from Liverpool Lime Street. On the same street is Liverpool Central Library (https://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library/), also worth a visit.
Across the road is the beautiful St. Georges Hall (https://www.stgeorgeshallliverpool.co.uk/) with St. Johns Gardens nestled behind, a favourite venue for Pokémon Go Community Days. This area is called St. Georges Quarter (https://www.stgeorgesquarter.org/). St. Georges Hall has been used as the backdrop for many a film and TV series, including the Tolkien film and the War of the Worlds BBC series.

Heading towards the docks from here, you hit the central shopping hub of Liverpool One (https://www.liverpool-one.com/), the Metquarter (https://metquarter.com/) and Church Street.

Other city centre locations of interest:

Bold Street (https://www.facebook.com/boldstreetliverpool) next to Liverpool Central Station. Bold Street has re-established itself in recent years as a foodie heaven with a lot of varied choice. At the top of Bold Street is the iconic Liverpool’s “Bombed Out Church” (https://www.bombedoutchurch.com/), also known as St. Luke’s Church. The building was hit during the May 1941 Blitz and stands as a testament to the people who lived and died during that time.

Just up the road from Bold Street and the Bombed Out Church is the Chinese Arch (https://www.visitliverpool.com/travel-trade/attractions/chinese-arch-p54681), a gift from Shanghai, and Liverpool has one of the oldest Chinese communities in Europe.

Bold Street is also part of the Ropewalks quarter (https://liverpoolropewalks.co.uk/). Two other cultural venues in this area include FACT (https://www.fact.co.uk/) and the Bluecoat (https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/).

Nearby is Hope Street (https://www.visitliverpool.com/explore-the-city/top-spots/hope-street) awarded “Best street in the UK.” Nestled at each end of Hope Street is a Cathedral – Liverpool Anglican Cathedral (https://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/) and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (https://www.liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/). There are also two cultural venues on Hope Street, the Royal Philharmonic Hall (https://www.liverpoolphil.com/) and the Everyman Theatre (https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/). It’s just been  announced the famous Philharmonic Dining Rooms (https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/northwest/thephilharmonicdiningroomsliverpool) will be given Grade 1 status (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51397915).  

Close to Hope Street are two Liverpool University cultural institutions, the Garstang Museum of Archaeology (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/archaeology-classics-and-egyptology/garstang-museum/) and the Victoria Gallery and Museum (https://vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/).

Heading towards the docks are a lot of historic buildings and visitor attractions. Hidden away is Liverpool’s top secret underground war bunker, The Western Approaches (https://liverpoolwarmuseum.co.uk/), where Britain co-ordinated the maritime war effort – the Battle of the Atlantic.

On the Strand across the road from Pier Head, you reach a famous Liverpool building known as Albion House, 30 James Street, also know as the White Star Building and now restored as a hotel (https://rmstitanichotel.co.uk/). Back in 1912 officials of the White Star Line read the names of the deceased from the Titanic disaster to the waiting crowd.

At Pier Head are many places of interest. Here are “the Three Graces” (https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/pier-head-and-the-three-graces-p17747) consisting of the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. The Pier Head Ferry terminal is here too. The Royal Liver Building is now a visitor attraction itself, the Royal Liver Building 360 (https://rlb360.com/).

If you do take the Ferry across the Mersey, the Woodside Ferry Terminal has a great visitor attraction – the U-Boat Story (https://www.u-boatstory.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx). There is a joint ticket for that and the ferries.

Back at Pier Head and Mann Island, RIBA North (https://www.architecture.com/contact-and-visit/riba-north) is the new national architecture centre on Liverpool’s waterfront. The Museum of Liverpool is also located here.

Nearby is the Royal Albert Dock (https://albertdock.com/), a hub of restaurants and cultural institutions including Tate Liverpool (https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool), the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum. From the Maritime Museum you can book on one of the free tours of the Old Dock (https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/merseyside-maritime-museum/event/old-dock-tour).

The Beatles of course have lots of venues to visit. On the Albert Dock there is the Beatles Story (https://www.beatlesstory.com/). On Mathew Street is the Cavern Club (https://www.cavernclub.com/) and also the Magical Beatles Museum (https://magicalbeatlesmuseum.com/). There is also a two-hour bus tour of the Beatle’s Liverpool called the Magical Mystery Tour (https://www.cavernclub.com/the-magical-mystery-tour/).

As you can see, Liverpool is brimming full of culture and places to spend time and these are just some of the more well known places. There’s also ghost tours run by Shiverpool (https://www.shiverpool.co.uk/), the crazy tunnel system created in the early Nineteenth Century by Joseph Williamson (http://www.williamsontunnels.co.uk/) and much more. We haven’t touched what the Wirral, Sefton or the rest of Merseyside have!

Geek Culture

Just a few recommendations for shops that may be interest to Pokémon Go players. Liverpool has quite a few comic and roleplaying shops. These include:

Worlds Apart/Forbidden Planet International – https://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/our-stores/
Forbidden Planet Liverpool - https://forbiddenplanet.com/stores/liverpool-store/
JustPlayGames - https://justplaygames.uk/
Critical Hit Games - https://www.criticalhitgames.cafe/
Sugar and Dice - https://www.sugaranddice.co.uk/

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The Pokémon Go Safari venue: Sefton Park
The venue for the Liverpool Pokemon Go Safari is the beautiful Sefton Park. Here are some information websites for the area:

Nearest station: St. Michaels (https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/stations/st-michaels.aspx)
Park website: https://liverpool.gov.uk/leisure-parks-and-events/parks-and-greenspaces/sefton-park/
Palm House: https://palmhouse.org.uk/
Getting there: https://palmhouse.org.uk/contact/
Historic England page: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000999
Friends of Sefton Park: https://www.friendsofseftonpark.co.uk/
Lark Lane (https://www.larklaneguide.com/) leads into Sefton Park and is a great foodie place.