Liverpool - No Limits

Your weekend, day by day

1. 1

   Day 1

   

   Prison & communist experiences

   From about 19:30 · 2 hours

   The prison-themed cocktail experience. Bring your own spirits; the cocktails are mixed with them.

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   In Liverpool this is a prison-themed cocktail bar on Seel Street, about eight minutes' walk from Mathew Street, rather than a tour of a real jail. Actors play the warden and guards, everyone wears an orange jumpsuit, and you smuggle in your own sealed spirit for the bar team to turn into around four rounds of cocktails. Allow one 70cl bottle between three or four people, or bring unopened beers. Sessions last an hour and 45 minutes for six to 40 people. Bring photo ID.

   These are guided tours with a performance element. A prison experience puts the group through the routine of an old jail: the cells, the uniforms, the drills and a guard who does not break character. A communist tour covers a city's Soviet history through the bunkers, the buildings and often a vehicle from the period.

   Both run a couple of hours and both are more interesting than they sound. There is usually shouting and there is always at least one member of the group singled out.

   Cold buildings and uneven floors, so a jacket and proper shoes. Anyone claustrophobic should say so before the cells, not inside them.

2. 2

   Day 2

   

   Club entry, VIP & booths

   From about 23:00 · 2 hours

   VIP entry and a reserved table on the main night.

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   Liverpool's nights split between Concert Square in the Ropewalks, Mathew Street and Hanover Street, with a few party bars on the Albert Dock. Guest-list entry usually has to be used before 11pm, and before 10pm at one Concert Square club and one dock bar. Smart casual is the standard, though the 70s-themed bars on Mathew Street welcome fancy dress. Reserved-area packages cap at six to ten people, so a big group books several. A Mathew Street bar pass covers guest-list entry to six bars.

   Standard entry gets the group past the queue on a guest list, which matters because large male groups are the first ones a door turns away. A booth adds a reserved table, a set number of bottles with mixers and a host who looks after the table.

   Booths are sold on a minimum spend rather than a flat fee at many clubs, so the bottles you order count towards it. Ask what the minimum is and what it includes before you agree to anything.

   Dress code is enforced hard on stag groups. No sportswear, no trainers at some doors, no matching shirts, and nobody visibly drunk gets in regardless of the booking.