Travel | Postcards From Here and There

Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church

St Luke’s Church, known locally as The Bombed Out Church, stands on the corner of Leece Street and Berry Street. The tower is easily seen as you walk from the city centre up Bold Street. Few people ever call it by its true name. When I first visited the city it featured in many directions to places given to me by locals, “go past the bombed out church”, “oh that’s near the bombed out church”, but sadly no map referred to it as such! It is much a part of the city as the Mersey Ferry or The Liver Building. It is a Liverpool icon.

The church was built between 1811 and 1832. Designed by father and son John Foster and John Foster junior in the gothic style, it is built from sandstone. In its early years it was also a concert hall until the building of the nearby Philharmonic Hall in the late 1840s. Around this time it was locally called The Doctors Church as it was the place of worship closest to Rodney Street, the home of many of the cities private doctors.

During these second World War Liverpool was bombed heavily as it was the major port on the west coast and vital for supplies coming across the Atlantic from America. Bombing of the city began in August 1940 and went on until January 1942 though it reached its peak in May 1941. The church was hit by a fire bomb on 6th May 1941 and the much of the building was destroyed, only the walls remained.

In total 4000 people died in the bombings of the Liverpool area and it was decided to leave the church standing as a memorial to them. It is now a managed ruin and in recent years opened for the first time since the bombing. It has hosted events including weddings, markets and even hosted a cinema. The gardens are open to wander around and it is a popular lunchtime spot in the summer for students and local workers.

In December 2014 the installation ‘All Together Now’ by sculptor Andy Edwards was placed in the garden to mark the football match that took place at Christmas 1914 between British and German troops in no mans land between trenches. Although only a temporary exhibit it returned in 2018 to commemorate the end of the first World War.

A Day in Sauternes

Sauternes is located about an hours drive south of the great wine city of Bordeaux and makes for a good day trip if you are visiting the region. The wine growing region is made up of five communes; Sauternes, Barsac, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac. Growers in Barsac have the choice of labelling their wines as either Sauternes or Barsac. It is a region that doesn’t get a lot of tourists. The village of Sauternes is one of those sleepy French villages where time seems to pass at a gentle pace. There are couple of restaurants but not much else for the passing tourist and this adds to its charm. It is nothing like the wine town of Saint Emilion, with thousands of visitors each day, though both are surrounded by vines. It is quiet and tranquil and well worth a stop on a visit to the area.

Although relatively close to the great vineyards of the Médoc the wines here couldn’t be more different. Sauternes is the home of sweet white wine. The grapes grown here are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and, to a lesser extent, Muscadelle.

Early autumn vines post harvest at Chateau Guiraud

The area is close to the Garonne and Céron rivers and this is key to the development of the noble rot fungus (Botrytis cinerea). The Céron is a cold water river and The Garonne is a warm water river. Where they meet fog/mist forms in the morning where it sits over the vineyards until the sun burns it away to leave warm afternoons. This creates the humidity that the noble rot requires. The fungus enters the vine at flowering but doesn’t develop until the mists of and fogs of late summer, early autumn. If the conditions are right then fungus grows and dehydrates the grape berries, concentrating the sugar inside them.

Its a risky business making Sauternes. In some years the fungus doesn’t develop properly, the grapes do not shrivel and concentrate sugar, in such a case only a dry white wine can be made. The harvest is late, growers need to wait to get maximum concentration in the grapes, leaving them at the risk to autumn rains. Only the most rotten grapes are selected and this means that pickers have to pass through the vineyards several times. As a rough rule of thumb a grapevine can produce enough grapes for a bottle of wine but in Sauternes it is closer to a glass. It is not surprising that it isn’t cheap wine.

Despite the fact that Sauternes is one of the worlds greatest wines they are not currently very fashionable in the UK. This is impart due to the fact that many people only associate them with the dessert course and this is not where they show themselves at their best. As an alternative try them with whole range of foods including savoury dishes and of course they can be a superb match with cheese. Try them young when they have lovely freshness or keep them and let them mature to show lovely honey, caramel, orange and nutty flavours.

5 Alternative Reasons to Visit Liverpool

In an earlier post I looked at the 5 Reasons to Visit Liverpool . These were the the things that should be done on a first time trip to the city. If you have more time available you may want to dig a little deeper into the city and explore some of the other reasons that make Liverpool such an excellent destination for a weekend or short break.

Bold Street. Bold Street has had something of a resurgence in recent years and has become a hub for independent retailers, restaurants and cafés. It runs from Hanover Street in the city to join Renshaw Street opposite Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church. At the city end is The Lyceum.

Built in 1802 it has been through a number of incarnations including a gentleman club, a library, a cafe and a post office. It was saved from demolition in the early 1970s but sadly the building is currently vacant.

Heading up from The Lyceum the lower part of the street is a fairly traditional shopping street but one past the junction with Concert Street it reveals its independent heart. Some retailers have been on the street for years, both Mattas and News From Nowhere are Bold Street institutions.

They have been joined by a host of others. Leaf is perfect for tea and the Artisane bakery across the street has lovely coffee, bread and patisserie. If you fancy something a little more substantial then Mowgli and Maray are good options but there are plenty of others.

The Baltic Triangle. An up and coming area just outside the city centre. Home to tech start ups, cafés, restaurants and bars it is very much a happening area. The area is also well known as a centre of street art and I have covered this in a previous post (here) .

For coffee try The Baltic Bakehouse, which also has some amazing sourdough bread, on Bridgewater Street or Baltic Creative on Jamaica Street. If you have an hour or so to spare try a game of Ghetto Golf. Grab a drink at the Baltic Social or Gibberish Tap Room (do check opening times as it does seem to change). If you are there at the weekend try the Baltic Market in the old Cain’s Brewery for some excellent street food.

Street Art. If a visit to the Baltic Triangle has whet your appetite there is plenty more to see and the beauty is it is always changing. There are a lot of pieces in Oldham Place and you can even take a graffiti class at Zap Graffiti on Saturday afternoons.

Church of St Luke. The Bombed Out Church

Located close to the Bombed Out Church on Leece Street why not combine the two combine the two. Entry to the gardens around the church is free. For the more adventurous there is more art to be seen in the streets around London Road .

Craft Beer. The rise in the popularity of craft beer has been as big as that for artisan gin. As a result there are some good options in the city. The Dead Crafty Beer Company on Dale Street has 19 taps which change frequently and they hold regular tap takeovers. Across the road is a beer drinking institution, The Ship and Mitre. A pub for real ale aficionados but also with good selection of craft beers. Heading out of town towards the Baltic Triangle is The Baltic Fleet. In the Triangle itself there is The Baltic Social and Gibberish Taproom.

Natural Wine. Paralleling the growth of the craft beer and gin markets has been the interest in natural/biodynamically produced wines. R & H Fine Wines is a wine merchant hidden away on Queen Street, a small alley off Castle street, close to the Town Hall. They have a great selection of interesting wines from around the world and is well worth searching out. Bunch Wine Bar on Berry Street has an ever changing selection of wines available by the glass or bottle. Hidden away in a small courtyard off Hardman Street is the Buyers Club. There is something for everyone here, eight craft beer taps, natural wines, cocktails and food. Its a relaxing chilled out place to spend an hour or two, especially early evening.