Liverpool Olympia

We visited Liverpool Olympia to see Foals recently and whilst the band were predictably amazing, the entire experience of the venue was totally depressing!
We initially phoned up a few weeks before to ask about disabled access as one of us had a broken foot. We were told in no uncertain terms that there was no provisions for disabled people, and if we needed a seat we should ‘try and swap tickets with someone outside or something ‘. Whilst we weren’t expecting VIP treatment, most places have something in place for people with limited mobility. Once we were inside things didn’t get much better.
The venue itself still boasts a lot of ornate features which would be stunning if the place was looked after properly! The toilets were incredibly old, dirty and almost in Narnia you had to walk that far to find them!
The bars were limited, overpriced and staffed by literally the worst barmaids in the world! Drinks were thrown in glasses and money grabbed, people were glared at or intimidated and at one point I saw one lady hurl herself over the bar to get involved in some kind of tussle with a customer. Splendid, just what you need at a busy event.
The door staff literally had no idea what was going on and refused to allow people in to a smoking area until ‘everyone is in’. As imagined, that went down like a lead balloon.
The long and short of this is that this venue has the potential to be so amazing, the sound quality was incredible and the features added so much character and atmosphere to the event .
Unfortunately it seems that the entire staff literally have no care for the place or the customers coming through the door, and it really shows!

The Olympia was once a grand forum for all sorts of live performances and until recently was the mecca for the city’s proud boxing tradition.
My feelings on the place are not nearly as warm as they once were as the venue now mainly plays host to Mixed Martial Arts fighting which to me is not really much of sport. Ex bouncers beating each other up in a cage is nothing like boxing but the times move on and this stuff is very popular.
The place will still host the odd gig but the glory days of the venue are long gone.

The Olympia lives at the end of West Derby Road between an abandoned Grosvenor casino and, home of legendary Grab-​a-​granny nights, the Grafton. In it’s heyday, a triumvirate of buildings I can only imagine was like a glorious snippet of Las Vegas. For once, I’m not being sarcastic; the Olympia’s former incarnations include an indoor circus, a palatial cinema, a Wartime naval depot and a ballroom.
Now, however, the place looks equally run down outside as it is in, the only signs of it not being derelict are the ever-​changing fly posters plastered to the outside walls advertising whichever upcoming bottom-​rung mixed martial arts/​boxing/​generally violent event is being held there, and the long queues of Liverpool’s buff and rough queueing up literally at the smell of blood. As the Olympia appears to host utterly no other type of night, this is clearly profitable enough to keep the business open, so it would be wrong of me to discredit the management’s savvy. Still, I can’t help but feel if you took away the cage and advertising, you could still walk in of a weekend and see tattooed monkey-​men punching each other in the face with the same amount of fervour.
Originally a grand building, with genuinely fabulous architecture inside and out, the only thing spectacular about the Grade II-​listed Olympia now is its fall from grace.

The Liverpool Olympia is an old, slightly decrepit, very dirty music and event venue located just outside of Liverpool city centre.
Outside of the slums of LA, I’ve never in my life seen so many boarded-​up houses and buildings and empty, grass-​filled plots outside a cemetery as I’ve seen in Liverpool. Yet there’s something about the dirty, unkempt streets that seems to pulse with energy. Not nearly as good as Brooklyn, but if you’re in the UK, it’s interesting to see.
The Liverpool Olympia continues this theme and doesn’t disappoint. It’s over-​the-​top, Victoriana gingerbread soffit and fascia, and it’s gorgeously gilt gold and white finishings are completely contrasted with burnt orange walls straight out of the bar from the beginning of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The floors are black, sticky and dirty, and the meandering, ten-​minute walk to the bathrooms is filled with plastic-​covered ancient sofas and chairs with cigarette burns and flower patterns your grandmother would covet.
Everything about this place is sad, worn-​down and creepy. The vibe would perfectly suit a Halloween haunted house, or a Madonna concert. Something nightmarish.
The «food» offered was a metal stand the size of water closet consisting of mushy chips with curry sauce or «hot dogs» shaped like pigs intestines.
There are loads of bars — three just on the floor where we were standing, and at least one on each balcony level. The prices for drinks are ridiculous — £3.50 for a can of beer in a plastic cup — but the service is so bad there, the waitress just dump your beer straight into the cup, resulting in over half a cup of foam, and no top up.
We saw The Specials there, and the concert was outstanding, despite the venue. For an even odder flavouring to the night, all of the bouncers were from Northern Ireland — a privately hired-​in company. OK. Two words that rhyme with Liverpool Olympia? Never again.