Six of the Best Gay Bars

The Lisbon is a hidden gem basement pub, with ornate ceilings, wood panelled walls and Grade II listed status. It’s a chilled gay and lesbian drinking spot, in the heart of the Stanley Street Quarter. The Lisbon’s relaxed, sociable atmosphere makes a pleasant change from the more loud and lively clubs in the quarter.

One of the Gay Quarter’s swankier outlets, The Navy Bar is a funky bar – big, bold and loud, with a split level seating area and dance floor. You’ll get a largely diverse crowd here, from the usual hen parties to young couples, but moreover the clientele are fun and friendly. The emphasis here is on high energy partying with swirling disco lighting and pumping house music definitely appealing to the clubbing crowd.

If you’re ever passing Superstar Boudoir, expect to be tempted inside by the drag hostesses at the door. The DJ is a flamboyant drag queen, whose deliberately cheesy music attracts not only Liverpool’s gay community, but also hordes of local girls with boyfriends in tow.

Garlands is Liverpool’s most outrageous and wild party. Each weekend their flamboyant family welcomes you for a journey through four rooms of hedonistic abandon, with pumping weekend anthems the scintillating soundtrack. Every Thursday as well they create one of Liverpool’s biggest student nights in the shape of Gossip Liverpool.

A longstanding favourite, Masquerade is the perfect place to start an evening of fun and frolics. DJs and drag hostesses will do their very best to help your evening go off with a bang, and it’s definitely the sort of place that will appeal if you like a down-to-earth bar with friendly staff and fantastic banter.

G-Bar, on Eberle St in the hub of Liverpool city centre, has been a mainstay of the Liverpool club scene for over a decade and is one of the city’s most famed and celebrated venues. The club’s massive success is largely due to being such a diverse venue which transforms from being the city’s leading gay venue (bar hours) into the North West’s leading underground after-hours clubbing venue (club hours). The building has three unique rooms: the famous ‘Church Room’, complete with altars and decadent decor, the ‘Bassment’ which is an underground haven for true clubbers with thunderous bass-bins and the ‘Boosh Room’ which adds a quirky, left-field addition to the venue. Open 4 nights a week Thursday to Sunday.