Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a truly stunning space. Located in the heart of Hope Street, this beautiful art deco building is one of the true highpoints of Liverpool life.
This is a concert hall where you don’t have to wear a fancy dress or own opera glasses or pretend you can answer all the general knowledge questions in Mastermind. Instead, the Philharmonic Hall is a solid chunk of culture that stands on the spot where William Hope once lived, the man who gave his name to Hope Street.
At any given moment, you can see a wide variety of magnificent shows here — from huge bombastic orchestra manoeuvers, to performances from avant garde artistes such as Squarepusher, to talks from American televisual stars such as Sonja Sohn (who played Kima Greggs in The Wire). You can even watch films here on a majestic 1930s art deco wonder which rises dramatically from the stage. If you’re lucky, the performances might even be accompanied by the Philharmonic’s resident organist — and you certainly won’t get that in the local Odeon!
Comfy seats, wonderful music and a beautiful setting. The Philharmonic really has it all, and has a deserved reputation as being the ultimate Liverpudlian venue.

An excellent venue, a short walk out of the centre of the town and with excellent eating places nearby. Superb sound for music shows but also for theatre presentations.

The Philharmonic Hall is a beautiful concert venue, a masterpiece of art deco architecture restored not much more than a decade ago to its original glory. My visits are usually to hear the world-​class Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, or to see a movie. The Orchestra has moved onwards and upwards under conductor Vasily Petrenko. Watching a film at the Phil is a magical experience. The hall has the only remaining screen of its kind in Europe — a massive, 1930s original art deco screen that rises majestically out of the stage. Organist Dave Nicholas plays for about half an hour before the film, and usually plays the audience out at the end, too. An amazing experience.

Very comfortable seats with plenty of room, and a decent view even from the cheap seats, I like coming here for shows. The toilet facilities seem unable to cope with such large numbers of customers though, and the disabled toilet should be fitted with a RADAR key as I ended up having to wait for lots of able-​bodied people to stop using it! The restaurant downstairs is really delicious but they sell out fast so it can be disappointing.