Bold Street and the SOLO (South of Liverpool One) District

Liverpool has, for all the time that I have known it, been within the throes of gentrification (and descallification) after spending decades in the throes of slowing crumbling into ruin and disrepute, but within all this death and commercialization there are a few pockets of bohemiphilia. There is a splattering of places in the city center concentrated along Bold Street, a dash of it in the student enclaves of Smithdown in the shadow of the great Super Asda, and lastly there is Lark Lane, an outpost of quirk in the calm of midurbia. While the bar has not been set very high and the lack of full body track wear can make one appear quixotic in these parts, there is a certain basement level of bohemitude within the netherregions of this kosmos of tanning salons, offies, kebab shops, pound stores and two for one fish and chip specials. The city center now boosts every major commercial chain known to civilized man, and has recently had the largest shopping mall in all of Europa graciously bequeathed to it (some may say crammed down its throat) by the autocratic powers that be. This new development completely obliterated the alternative shopping paradise known as Quiggins. . Most of the Quigginites managed to jump ship and have recamped further to the south and nearer to the heart of what is one of Liverpool’s most independent shopping regions, Bold Street. Now it’s true the northern end is being slowly consumed by corporate coffee stores, but stroll a few blocks up from Café Costabucks, and you’ll leave most of that behind you. At its extreme southern tip you’ll find its heart of hearts, the left wing propaganda shop and book store, News From Nowhere where you can breath freely and enjoy a good bit of anarcho-socialist reading before making your way across the street to the local free trade/indigenous goods store, the Liverpool World Shop. One street over is the Foundation for the Art and Creative Technology, the FACT, a multi sensory mind trip of a theatre which runs blockbusters along side more artsyfartsy cinema and exhibits artistic work in the areas of film, video and anything else that incorporates sophisticated media equipment. You can also get loaded up on caffeine, pastries, booze or pop corn depending on what floor you’re on. One street east of Bold you’ll stumble across the building that has become home to the evicted Quiggins folks. Its pseudo gaudy décor owes itself to the Barcelona Spanish restaurant that used to occupy the ground floor of this space. Most of what Quiggins was is still here, and if you’re looking for goth wear, tarot cards or just an antique pipe to smoke then it’s all on display here. Beyond Bold Street and within the old warehouse region there is a growing number of bottom up businesses and galleries gaining ground on the edge of gentrification central. There you’ll find the Mello Mello coffee house and all around funky hanging out lounge type area with equally funky type beautiful folk serving fair-trade coffee and other tasty beverages. There’s a living market every Sunday and the first time I showed up there were an assortment of local artists, photographers, clothes designers and ice cream makers. Next door and all around are concrete floor and exposed rebar style art spaces that are worth a few moments of your life. The place isn’t overflowing with warm bodies, but after trudging through the mindless mass of consumers on the high street or the new shopping complex it’s not so bad to have a whole gallery to yourself.