Liverpool Audio Tours

Liverpool built its wealth on trade, which in the 18th century meant slavery, and the city has been working through how to reckon with that honestly since at least the opening of the International Slavery Museum in 2007. The Albert Dock complex, the finest ensemble of dock architecture in Britain, contains the museum alongside Tate Liverpool, the Beatles Story exhibition, and a ring of bars and restaurants that have given the waterfront a second life. The Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building, and the Port of Liverpool Building, collectively known as the Three Graces, face the Mersey with the self-assurance of an institution that knew it was being looked at.

The Beatles require no introduction but do require some navigation.

The Cavern Club on Mathew Street, where the band played 292 times between 1961 and 1963, was demolished in 1973 and rebuilt two metres from the original site in 1984. The reconstruction is honest about what it is, and it is still a working music venue. The real sites of interest are more dispersed: Strawberry Field, the Salvation Army children's home on Beaconsfield Road that inspired the song, is now open to visitors. Penny Lane on the south side of the city is a real road with a real red pillar box. The childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney are National Trust properties with guided entry.