23 September 2026

Beer and sandwiches: At the Bridewell in Liverpool

This column is our weekly pub review, written by pintsmen, women and children across the nation. Suggestions to letters@newstatesman.co.uk

By New Statesman

Illustration by Marta Signori

With all those sailors washing up in its port over the years, Liverpool had to find a way of dealing with the ne’er-do-wells. Its answer was the Bridewell, a stone-brick prison a stone’s throw from the River Mersey, built by the Victorians to lock up rogue seamen and other miscreants overnight (the word “bridewell”, common in Victorian times as a byword for prison, came from Bridewell Palace, a London jail in Tudor times). Such was its reputation that Charles Dickens once visited the Bridewell to research his story “The Uncommercial Traveller” and was briefly booked in as a special constable.

The Bridewell clientele

Now instead of imprisoning drunkards, the Bridewell caters to them – ever since its conversion into a pub in 2019. (It fell into disrepair in the late 20th century, then found use as a rehearsal space for local bands such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood, before being adapted for its present use.)

The cells have been repurposed as private drinking booths, though the old wooden cell doors with their peepholes remain, now wedged firmly open so the clientele can come and go as they please. “Just a pub in an old lock-up” is how the place describes itself on social media, underplaying the singularity of the venue.

Prison rations

A range of German lagers, plus Guinness – once the tipple of the police sergeants who kept watch here.

Liverpool is perhaps the last bastion of the “wet-led” pub. But for those who need to line their stomachs, there is a takeaway food arrangement with its neighbour, the Italian restaurant Amalia.

The Bridewell, 1 Campbell Square, Liverpool

[Further reading: Beer and Sandwiches: At Cross Keys Inn in Sedbergh]