Free things to do in Liverpool

Museums – Maritime & Slavery Museum

Liverpool’s proud maritime history is celebrated in this must-see voyage into the past, aptly located on the docks. Housed in the museum are many collections associated with nautical archeology and the history of one of the world’s oldest ports. The real highlight is located within the same building, the Slavery Museum, which is an eye-opening delve into the details of atrocities suffered by so many slaves brought over from Africa and their quest for freedom. Video, objects and exhibitions bring to life the real horror that surrounds slavery, one of the western world’s most shameful chapters in recent history. All museums are free in Liverpool, including the World Museum and the National Conservation Centre, which both have collections worth seeing, perfect money saving, not-to-mention, educational days out. Follow the link below for details on all of Liverpool’s museums.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Galleries – Tate Gallery

The Tate Gallery is the country’s largest art gallery outside of London and houses the best collections the region has to offer. Over 6 million visitors have passed through the doors since it opened over a decade ago and the gallery hosts a formidable collection of modern and contemporary art, recently hosting the Picasso: Peace and Freedom exhibition, which only served to enhance its reputation. The first 3 floors are free to visitors, with only the odd major exhibition costing an extra fee. 

http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/

Gigs

Liverpool’s bustling unsigned band scene may be something you’ll want to immerse yourself upon arriving here, and the good news is, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to see the city’s next big thing. Many regular band nights are free to enter and have club nights to follow, meaning you can dance the night away and only worry about your beer money. Two particular free entry highlights is Claude@Studio 2: a monthly club night on the last Friday of every month at Parr Street’s Studio 2 and the brainchild of local promoting guru, Lazy Genius and band, We Walk in Straight Lines. The music policy is the very freshest cuts of indie/alternative/electro/Americana and it’s all overseen/curated by a morbidly obese cat (yes, really!). Expect to hear the likes of The National/The Walkmen/Pavement/Band of Horses/Broken Social Scene on the playlist, as well as some of the country’s most hotly tipped bands playing live sets.

Formby

OK, not strictly free, but for just the small matter of a return train ticket there’s a whole day to be spent in the very beautiful Formby. It takes around 30 minutes to reach Freshfields, where you will, after a short walk, find yourself in a red squirrel sanctuary in the pine woods.

After you’ve observed these rare animals first-hand, you’ll be upon sand dunes and miles upon miles of unspoiled Merseyside coastline. Recently erosion has thrown up deer tracks said to date back 5,000 years, so it’s definitely worth taking a picnic down to see if you can spot some them for yourself.

A short way from Freshfield is “Another Place” in Crosby where there are sculptures by Antony Gormley on the beach. “Another Place” consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.