Albert Dock, Liverpool

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Albert Dock is a great reminder of Liverpool's Maritime past. Here you can see lots of different vessels moored up such as tall ships and colourful tug boats. The Dock is one of the great monuments to Victorian engineering and is the largest English Heritage grade I listed structure. Ken Martin, a young college lecturer led the battle to save the dock from demolition in the 1970's when plans were drawn up to bulldoze the whole complex. Thanks to Ken & a 50 million pound conversion the UNESCO World Heritage site has become a vibrant area for waterside eating, shopping and perusing.

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The Albert Dock was opened in 1846 by Prince Albert and was designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick. It was the first dock to be built in stone and had it's own revolutionary world class docking sytem for loading and unloading goods from the shops.

After World War II docking went into decline and the dock was closed in 1972. Following intensive regeneration and redevelopment of the site, the dock was re-opened in 1988. Albert Dock is part of Liverpool's UNESCO designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City and attracts many visitors today.

Albert Dock houses a number of tourist attractions including the Merseyside Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, the Beatles Story, Tate Liverpool alongside hotels, cafes, restaurants and shops.

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There is a comedy club at Baby Blue, which is this classy little bar underground at the Albert Dock. It has all leather chairs and candles, and its underground with arches and brick walls, which creates a really lovely atmosphere. The comedy was great, we had a meal as well and theres a bar so we had more than a few drinks! After the comedy you can stay on for the nightclub, its £5 entry usually but its included in the ticket, so you get classy people. Its stylish and a great night out!

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The Albert Dock is the largest group of Grade I listed buildings in Britain, covering 1.25 million square feet. The Dock was opened in 1846 by Prince Albert and continued to accommodate ships until its closure in 1972. Refurbishment was started in 1983 and the official reopening was done by Prince Charles in 1988.

Today the Albert Dock offers visitors culture, shopping & eateries. Attractions include The Beatles Story, Tate Liverpool, The International Slavery Museum, The Merseyside Maritime Museum and The Bug World Experience. Also here are many shops, bars, cafes & two hotels.

I found the Albert Dock such a visually enjoyable place to walk round. The weather was perfect and the Dock buildings looked impressive in the sunshine & reflecting in the water. The area around Albert Dock has also been restored making it a must visit attraction on any trip to Liverpool.

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Merseyside branch of the London-based British and contemporary art museum, located in the Albert Docks Redevelopment Site. The Tate Liverpool has free exhibits as well as ticketed ones, and also features a convenient bookstore and cafe as well. Kudos to the Tate Administration for making an investment in this northern city - I was very impressed with their facility. I saw a longer-term exhibit about sculpture and 3-D objects in modern/contemporary art, with both famous and not-so-famous objects in a variety of galleries. Very well curated!

I particularly liked the exhibit of traditional figure sculptures on a disco dance floor - and they passed out headsets which played 1970s dance favorites!

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This is really where regeneration started - as I mention in my introduction the city was a delight waiting to be regenerated and the Albert Dock stood empty for years despite the fact it had the largest number of Grade I listed buildings in Britain and was also was the first enclosed, non-combustible dock warehouse system in the world and the first structure in Britain to be built entirely of cast iron, brick and stone. In 1848 the world's first hydraulic warehouse hoists were installed.
Refurbishment began in the 1980s in time for the National Flower Festival in 1984 and our first visit was in 1992 and I saw the potential for this area then - in 2009 it has been completed and I hope the old style born before 1939 city fathers are turning in their graves full of guilt they let this remarkable dock lie empty for so many years. Around four million people visit each year and the Dock is the most visited, multi-user attraction in the UK outside London. Attractions to see are - Tate Liverpool, the Beatles Story, Merseyside Maritime Museum, the International Slavery Museum, Shiverpool Ghost Tours, and The Yellow Duckmarine.
There are 25 retail outlets, over one dozen restaurant and café outlets and over 30 office units. People live here too and there are two hotels within the dock. Cobbled but generally disabled friendly.
Highly recommended .

We didn’t go in here, choosing to visit the Tate instead, but this museum offers a history of the docks. Its exhibits include things about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Emigration, The Merchant Navy, the RMS Titanic and WWII.

Situated in the Albert Dock, much of the Liverpool Tate is what is classed as 'modern art', however there are some classic pieces in here. Not really an art lover myself, we went in simply for something to do and it was a toss up between this and the Maritime Museum (we made the wrong choice). However, some of the pieces in here were very good. However some of the 'modern' pieces were a bit on the pointless side, and some were just atrocious. One is just a large blue canvas...that’s it! And another is just a big square window leaning against the wall. When I was at school one of my teachers used to make us colour in alternate squares on 1mm graph paper as a punishment, well based on one of the exhibits here, which is just circles drawn on graph paper, I think he could have sold them and made billions! Jackson Pollock’s paintings are an eye opener. Imagine throwing paint at a canvas and you have got it!
If you are really stuck for something to do, then I would recommend visiting, you will have a laugh if nothing else, otherwise...just walk past.

Visit www.jacksonpollock.org to have a go at some modern art, but don’t think you can print screen it when you have done it and sell it for millions like he does.