The beloved Belvedere Arms on Sugnall Street, just off Falkner Street is hidden in the Georgian area of the inner city sitting in a Grade II listed building constructed around 1836 which was originally a hotel, though the pub itself was never actually a hotel. According to the pub's own website and it has the classic style of that period. The name 'Belvedere' comes from the views over the surrounding farmland that were available at the time. This small two-roomed community pub is a free house serving four rotating beers often including local microbreweries. The Belvedere closed in 2003 with the intention of converting it into apartments. Like pubs across the country it had closed during the Covid lockdowns, staying shut even after they were allowed to reopen, as its small size made social distancing measures impossible. It stayed closed for three years until Ivan Jenkins, who owns The Blackburne in the next street, offered to buy it and keep it as a pub. Possibly because they had been put off by the pub’s Grade II listing, the developers accepted the offer and it reopened in 2006.
After serving generations of Liverpool patrons, The Belvedere had grown "tired and in need of some care and attention" according to businessman Liam Riley, who took over. However its Grade II listing meant that the building has architectural significance and can't be significantly transformed. Liam said, "Our focus has been to just breathe a bit of life back into into the place really. Everything looks nice and smart and new. New bathrooms, new decorating top to bottom, new seating, new furniture." The original features like the superb etched glass, quarry tiled floor, sash windows on the bar counter and its two rooms, the bar and the smoke room, were retained. The distinctive windows and doorways though were added in the early 1900s. Restrictions meant the tile floors in the hallway couldn't be removed, so they replaced only the broken tiles. The 'classical' bar with shutter windows was stripped and re-varnished instead of being taken out. In the snug smoking room you can warm yourself in front of a roaring fire and it feels as though you have walked into someone's living room for a pint.
It’s a popular community pub and customers include members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra who allegedly nip in for a pint during performance intervals. There are four changing cask beers from breweries across the north of England and Wales. Being a pub in Liverpool's so-called Bohemian quarter it's had its fair share of famous punters. John Lennon, for one is immortalised in a pencil portrait in the corner of the smoking room, pictured in the grip of his Buddy Holly obsession circa 1958, quiff, glasses and all. The artist, Helen Anderson, confirmed he used to drink here. Another time, Mersey poet Brian Patten was so impressed at seeing a Bob Dylan poster next to a Dylan Thomas one in The Belvedere that he wrote out a poem for the pub now framed on the wall below both the Dylans.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2026/05/liverpool-pub-crawl-philharmonic-dining.html
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