Britannia Adelphi Hotel

When it opened, it was considered the world’s most palatial hotel and, although standards have dropped, the 402-room hotel remains the city’s largest. In its heyday, it was a popular spot for wealthy people arriving and departing on ocean liners and the hotel basement originally contained a set of tanks holding live turtles destined for turtle soup that was popular at the time.

It is said that the hotel’s Sefton Suite is an exact replica of the first-class smoking lounge on the RMS Titanic, however, this is not actually the case and the hotel suite actually bears very little resemblance to the lounge on board the Titanic.

During its heyday, the hotel attracted many famous guests including Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Judy Garland and Bob Dylan. The hotel has featured in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as well as several television series including Brideshead Revisited (1981), the Lakes (1997) and Hotel (1997).

The hotel is now run by the Britannia hotel group, which has a reputation for buying up grand hotels and then neglecting them and running them into the ground.

Rooms are simple with a bed, a television, a few chairs and a small writing desk plus tea and coffee making facilities and a large en suite bathroom.

Like many older hotels, the rooms vary a lot from one room to another, although overall the decor feels tired and it appears that the furnishings and carpets have not been updated since the 1970s. It is not particularly well maintained either, with cracked plaster and peeling paint in many of the rooms and windows so filthy that you can hardly see out of them.

Although the standard of accommodation inside the rooms is well below average, some of the common areas of the hotel retain the grandeur of its heyday and the opulent public areas have high ceilings, chandeliers and enough marble to build a Greek temple.

The hotel has a restaurant and bar but neither of them are particularly charming. The restaurant, Jenny’s Carvery, is simply too big to have much character and the menu seems to have changed little since the 1970s. The adjoining Crompton’s bar is just as depressing as the restaurant.

Wi-Fi wireless internet access is free in public areas and in the rooms you get two 20-minute free Wi-Fi sessions per day, or you can pay £7 for 24 hours unlimited access.

The hotel is located at the eastern end of the city centre, around midway between Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations, which are both no more than a five-minute walk away. The city centre location ensures that there are plenty of things to see and do within walking distance of the hotel including Liverpool Central Library, St George’s Hall, the Walker Art Gallery and the World Museum, which are all an eight-minute walk away and the Cavern Club and the Magical Beatles Museum on Mathew Street are an 11-minute walk from the hotel. The attractions near Pier Head (the Royal Liver Building, the British Music Experience and the Museum of Liverpool) and Albert Dock (the Beatles Story, Merseyside Maritime Museum and Tate Liverpool) are all around a 20-minute walk from the hotel.

Car parking is available nearby and costs £13 for 24 hours.

If you enjoy staying in hotels that have a faded elegance that reflects a bygone era, then the Britannia Adelphi is worth a look. However, the hotel is a bit rough around the edges and it would be much better if it was sold to a company that cared enough to restore it to its former glory.