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timeBritish cities offer the best value for money. “That’s it liverpool Profiled after being named one of the best places to live under 35 the times. “Well, obviously,” I thought as I read about this particular honor. Liverpool fans tend to deflect praise with well-timed jokes, but they always put self-deprecation aside and agree that their city deserves any hype.
There’s a lot of that now. the times” The list ranks Liverpool’s Fabric district as the second best place to live in the UK for young people (beaten only by Leeds city centre). Days later, the same newspaper named the city’s central L1 area one of the coolest postcodes of 2026, praising its energy and food scene. telegraphIt has also just been named the UK’s best big city, while Tripadvisor is celebrating it in its annual ‘Best of the Best’ list. It seems the rest of the country is waking up to the charms of the Mersey Riviera. For those of us who have been debating this for years, this is a real tell-you moment.
I grew up across the river on the Wirral Peninsula. This meant that I would never be a true Scouser, just a “wool”, a vaguely derogatory catch-all term for those who came from the surrounding areas of the city but were not entirely part of the city (the age-old sign of a true Scouser was having a purple wheelie bin, a mix of Liverpool red and Everton blue, or so the legend goes).
But Liverpool was always the backdrop of my adolescence. Although I moved to university and followed the trend of graduates to London who barely looked back, as I got older I found myself being pushed back home. Whenever I catch the train back to Euston after a weekend at home, I start to get a knotty feeling in my stomach (and not just because that journey involves an Avanti service).
The looming prospect of unmanageable rent increases in London, combined with the existential pain of a 30th birthday and general post-pandemic malaise, has me heading back north in 2022. After spending time at my parents’ house, I’ve been living outside the city center for the past two and a half years, within walking distance of both the Albert Dock and the Baltic Triangle, a former industrial area of once-derelict warehouses that is now one of the city’s creative hubs.
I will always remember the confused look on a former colleague’s face when I told her about my plans. “But what will you do? Do? ” This was a question she asked directly, as if I had announced my intention to live off-grid in a forest commune. I am still often asked if I miss the capital. My honest answer? Not at all.
Liverpool is a city that punches well above its weight in almost every possible way, from culture to food to nights out. Combined with the fact that rents remain relatively affordable – the average private monthly rent in November 2025 was £878, compared with £933 in the North West and £1,366 in the rest of the UK – its appeal to Millennials and Gen Z is clear.
Frankly, renting alone is pretty unfeasible around Manchester, where house prices have soared since the pandemic. It would be completely impossible to do this in London. Here, while it’s still a bit difficult financially, it’s manageable. A city is only truly liveable if you can actually afford to get out and enjoy it – exercise classes, hobbies, eating out – and Liverpool ticks that boxes.
I can’t say I’ve heard many people mention “Fabric District”; the times‘ Preferred area, by this special nickname. It’s just five minutes or so from Lime Street train station and is usually bundled with Islington, a student area just off London Road, once a bustling shopping street home to the grand old TJ Hughes department store. But it’s just one of the city’s many enclaves with their own unique personalities, falling under the city’s overarching umbrella.
Where to start? The leafy, quiet Georgian Quarter is dotted with well-preserved old townhouses, making Liverpool a perennial filming location for historical dramas, as well as being home to Paul Askew’s wonderful art school and high-end restaurants such as London’s Carriage Factory.
Heading south out of the city, you’ll reach Sefton Park (home of Palm House, which now seems to be the preferred filming location for Harlan Coben’s Netflix series) and Lark Lane. The latter is filled with independent shops and restaurants; it’s also one of the best places for people-watching (as well as puppy-watching). The Saturday afternoon crowds are pure glamor (so the puppies are often as perfectly coiffed as their owners).
Meanwhile, the Baltics are perhaps less cool than they were a decade ago (we now have a box park, and, to my eternal shame, Peaky Blinders– themed bar), but it’s still the perfect blend of artsy and party (I loved leaving my weekend painting class to the sound of hundreds of students singing along to “Break Free”) high school musical in the event space Camp + Furnace). Heading north along the river you’ll find another regeneration project underway around the huge new Everton stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.
A-listers love the city, too. Taylor Swift has chosen another of our football stadiums, Anfield, to host three nights of the 2024 Eras Tour (Manchester). Three of the four boys featured in the Beatles biopic, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Harris Dickinson, were spotted eating at Marley’s Boulder Street outpost last year (good call, folks—it’s my favorite restaurant).
This March, the city’s best-loved daughter Jodie Comer finally delivers an Olivier Award-winning first face to the Playhouse Theatre. I can attest that the demand is absolutely insane. It feels like the entire city area is clamoring for a spot in this intimate auditorium (Judy, if you’re reading this, can you find a girl?)
It has become a truism that the north of England is friendlier than the south. All I can say is that from my experience I find community much easier than in the capital.
It’s not perfect. Transport connections can be a bit spotty (although they are improving and trains are slowly moving into the contactless era). There seems to be an influx of luxury apartments popping up in areas that are in high demand, which makes me a little concerned that our city is about to go the way of Manchester.
However. As I work at the kitchen table, I enjoy hearing snippets of Beatles songs every now and then as the open-top tour bus ambles toward the Albert Dock. Watch the fireworks as a new cruise ship departs from the pier head. Look at how the rays hit the waterfront as the sun goes down. I love how something said in a Scottish accent sounds like both a joke and a mean insult.
Liverpool is an easy place to become obsessed with – I hope I can still be here long after the ‘best of’ lists have turned their attention elsewhere.