Utility is where Liverpool’s edgiest inhabitants source their homewares. With two city-centre shops, the stalwart retail emporium celebrated its 25th birthday in 2020. Quirky gifts sit alongside mid-century chair design, so you can pick up a novelty purple wheelie bin pencil holder (the distinctive colour of Scouse rubbish receptacles) at the same time as a sharply cut forest green Hay dining chair. If you’re keen to distil a touch of Scouse style – with typical humour – in your home, this is the place to do it.

Liverpool’s history has played out to the beat of myriad music genres, from indie and pop to punk and psych, and many of the vinyl sellers who sold the city its soundtrack are still trading today. Drop into Probe Records, now in its 40th year, and located under the historic Bluecoat building, to pick up reggae, jazz and rock from the hole-in-the-wall store. If you’re seeking techno and wax, meanwhile, head over 3B Records on Slater Street.

exquisitely curated lifestyle store pairs playful homeware from across Europe with work from home-grown Liverpool design talent. The duo left life in the fashion industry to open the shop, and spend their days sourcing quirky anthropomorphic plant pots, Picasso-inspired tableware and elegant notebooks covered with desert-toned terrazzo patterns, making A Slower Space a unique souvenir store to pop into on your magical mystery tour of Liverpool’s Fab Four-related sights.