This is how I show my friends around. We start at the Beatles Story at the Albert Dock. It is a few minutes walk from James St. station, or catch Number 1,bus from the city centre.

Now catch the No. 1 Bus to the Catholic Cathedral

From there the rest of our route is on foot, returning us to the city centre.The café here, The Piazza is good value. If you stand with the Piazza on your right and look across the road you will see some modern student flats. Cross to them and go along Cambridge St. You will find an older building, the former Maternity Hospital where John Lennon was born. Return to the main road, and turn left, then left again past the Everyman Theatre on Hope St. By the traffic lights is the Philharmonic pub, of which John Lennon said:
          “The trouble with fame is not being able to just have a pint at the Phil."           

The pub, and its famous Gents toilets are tourist attractions in their own right.
Continue along Hope St., past the Philharmonic Hall, and turn left onto Falkner St. At the end, next to the Blackburne Arms pub (also recommended), at Number 36 is the flat that newlyweds John and Cynthia Lennon shared in 1962. It was owned by Brian Epstein.
Return to Hope Street and cross to Rice Street to Ye Cracke pub. John Lennon romanced Cynthia in here and the other Beatles also visited.
Return to Hope Street passing on your right the award winning restaurant “60 Hope Street” with its bistro area underneath. Further along Hope Street is the “Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts” (LIPA for short). This used to be the “Liverpool Institute” for boys and was the school Paul and George attended.

On the corner outside LIPA you can see what looks like a collection of abandoned suitcases. This is a “Case History” by John King. You are invited to find the cases belonging to twenty seven people who have some local connection - from the Beatles to Charles Dickens.
Continue along Hope Street to the row of houses set back from the Street at Gambier Terrace. John and Stuart shared a first floor flat at Number 3.
Return along Hope Street turn left down past the Cathedral and cross at the lights to enter Rodney Street. At the far end is Number 4, the birthplace of Brian Epstein. Turn left down Mount Pleasant. Number 64 was the Registry Office where John and Cynthia married in August 1962.Their wedding photos were taken at the Roscoe Memorial Gardens, on your left.
Cut through a small side street, Benson Street and turn left towards the bombed structure of St. Luke’s Church. Turn right here onto Berry Street. Near the corner of Berry and Seel Streets you will find the Blue Angel Club. This was owned by Alan Williams the Beatles manager - "the man who gave the Beatles away”- and was where the Silver Beatles auditioned for Larry Parnes, leading to a national tour as a support act.
Carry on down Seel Street, turning left onto Slater Street.

On your left is the Jacaranda pub which was also owned by Alan Williams. Pop in - on the wall to your left is a large school photo featuring Paul and George. The Beatles played about a dozen times in the cellar club here in 1960. You can judge for yourself if the licensees’ claim to serve the best pint of Guinness in the area is valid, and it might help you deal with the surreal murals created by John and Stuart in the cellar, which is normally only open after 8 p.m.
Return along Slater Street and turn left onto Bold St., and go to the end.  At the raised platform area turn left into Parker Street. On your left is a TK Maxx store. This is where the Reece’s café was where John and Cynthia Lennon held their wedding reception with guests Paul and George. If you continue up the steps you come to a building with a JD Wetherspoons and a variety of other bars. These are housed in the former Blackler’s store where George Harrison served as an apprentice electrician. He was dismissed when he took three days off to record “Love Me Do.”

 Return to Church Street, and turn left onto Church Alley. At the end is Bluecoat Chambers , where Yoko Ono held a “happening” in 1967.
When you have finished in the Bluecoat come back onto Church Street. Directly opposite is Marks and Spencer’s where Julia Lennon, John’s mum worked. Continue across Whitechapel into Lord St. The Abrams’ Bros., tailors of the first Beatles suits, had their shop here. Turn right at Boodles the jeweller,onto North John Street.
 On your right is "The Hard Day's Night Hotel", which is of course Beatle-themed, from the individual statues on the outside, to the internal decor, bars and restaurants . I particularly like the  world's coolest jukebox, with its Yellow Submarine theme.

The original artwork is  by Paul Ygartua who attended Liverpool Art College with John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia. The  paintings  show each of The Beatles with their favourite instruments.Well worth a visit.

At the far corner of the Hotel at the junction with Mathew Street, is the Hard Days Night shop, which has the world's largest collection of Beatles memorabilia.On a wet Wednesday in November the Cavern Quarter can be relatively quiet. In contrast on a Friday or Saturday evening the whole area can be heaving  with people from all over the world.
When I take visitors around I normally take them twice; once during the day for the shops and sights then either early Friday or Saturday evening so they can gain a feel for the atmosphere before the area becomes too busy.
Let me give you a hint - if the bar name contains the words “McCartney” or “Lennon” or any other reference to the Beatles it means it wasn’t around when the Beatles were. The owners are obviously wishing to exploit an imaginary connection, but in truth these places were warehouses in the 1960’s.
Turn down Mathew Street past the Cavern Pub - it wasn’t a pub in the 60’s, but it does have some Beatles memorabilia including Paul’s autograph and bass guitar.
The Cavern Club on your right, was originally a jazz club. The late George Melly the grand old man of the English jazz scene was still in his native Liverpool in those days and used to play the Cavern. He recalled there were some young men, boys almost, who played for nothing in between the “real” acts that people had paid to see. On one occasion in particular as Melly’s band had barely finished their set one of these youngsters came up to him and said aggressively "When are you old farts going to sod off?" It was John Lennon.
On the wall to the right of the entrance is a dedication to John from Cynthia, an extract from “In My Life”.
          

          "There are places I’ll remember
            All my life, though some have changed
            Some forever, not for better
            All these places have their moments
            With lovers and friends I still can recall
            Some are dead and some are living.

             In my life I’ve loved them all."

If the doors are wide open the Plaque is partially obscured by the door. Entrance is free during the day but there is a charge in the evening when live music is performed. When it is packed you can still get a feeling of how it was: the music, the heat, the crush of bodies and the sweat dripping from the ceilings.

See the statue of John Lennon leaning against the wall which many people use to have their photo taken. The pose was taken from a photo of John in Hamburg by Jurgen Vollmer and was used for the cover of his “Rock ‘n’ Roll” album in 1975. Outside the Cavern you will see two displays on the wall. One is the Cavern Wall of Fame with each brick containing the name of an act that has appeared at the Cavern. You will see all the famous names from the 60’s but may be surprised at some of the ones that have been added recently, e.g.
“Ghost of the Robot”, James Marster’s band (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and movie star Billy Bob Thornton who is also a Liverpool FC fan. Paul McCartney played recently as well.
The discs on the wall represent the No. 1 hits made by artists from Liverpool from the first No. 1 "How much is that doggie in the window" by Lita Rosa in the 1950s right up to date. No other city comes near to Liverpool for No. 1 hits, in fact we are listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records as Pop Capital of the World.
Cavern Walks contains several designer boutiques, the latest being Vivienne Westwood. There is a café inside called “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” where you can rest your feet, have some refreshments and take a look at the various items of memorabilia on display. The statue of the Beatles by John Doubleday is covered in flowers on the anniversaries of John’s & George's deaths. Leave Cavern Walks onto Mathew Street and you will see on the wall opposite a statue of the Beatles by Arthur Dooley called "Four lads who shook the world". View Two Gallery has paintings, mainly by local artists.

If you want to visit a pub the Beatles frequented then pop into The Grapes, a traditional pub. There is a photo in the back bar of the early Beatles enjoying a drink here. The original wallpaper is preserved behind glass above the same seats, where you can

take your photograph.
The large wooden hand on the back wall is the same size as the real hand of the giant 'the Childe of Hale'. John Middleton was born in Hale on the outskirts of Liverpool in 1578. He served as a bodyguard  to Sir Robert Ireland. He was 9 feet 3 inches (2.82 metres) tall.The Grapes does some decent cheap pub grub too.
It was here where Pete Best drowned his sorrows after Brian Epstein dismissed him from the Beatles. I have to admire how he handled being sacked from the world’s biggest band. Years later, I think in the 80’s, he was interviewed on television. The interviewer tried several times to get him to say something bitter but Pete held himself with great dignity. He simply said he had come to terms with it. And happily, as a result of the release of early Beatle recordings he was on, he has reaped some considerable financial rewards. He does still play locally on occasion.
Opposite the Grapes is an electrical installation, with some extras. Look up and you may see some Blue Meanies and other 'Yellow Submarine' characters projected on the buildings.
The “White Star”, further down on your right, is a friendly, traditional pub. The Beatles used to be paid for their Cavern gigs in the back bar here.
One pub you can’t miss is the gaudily painted “Flanagan’s Apple”. This is a genuine Irish pub (as opposed to the national chains of pretend “Irish” pubs. On the wall is a statue of the psychotherapist and philosopher Carl Jung together with an extract from his statement about Liverpool -
                 “Liverpool is the pool of life.”