Liverpool

I am off to Liverpool in a couple of months and I have looked around the area for places to eat.
What surprised me is the number of high rises, the quality and how many places offer high rise eating with great views.

Cardiff needs this. Capitol tower 25th floor. Fine dining with a view

Ive been to Panoramic 34 which I think is the highest restaurant in Liverpool. The restaurant is pretty good but I wasn't particular impressed with the building itself which is a pretty bog-standard apartment building. There are a few others though so 'high-rise dining' seems to be a thing in Liverpool. I'm a sucker for a restaurant or bar with an elevated view and Cardiff is very disappointing in that respect.

I think Cardiff could learn a lot from Liverpool to be honest. Both are maritime cities, but Liverpool sees to have really got its act together. Our last visit was in October half term a year ago and I was impressed by the River of Light - a dozen or more light installations that were each better than the one recently installed at Cardiff's canal quarter. The waterfront and city centre was full of families well into the evening - not something you expect to see in Cardiff city centre, although the bay is slowing getting there, particular when there are big shows on at WMC.

One big advantage that Liverpool seems to have is that the waterfront isn't separated from the the city centre like it is in Cardiff. One of the core objectives of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment was to 'reunite the city with its waterfront' but that seems its most obvious failure. Lloyd George avenue was supposed to be to Cardiff what La Ramblas is to Barcelona, but we ended up with something that was altogether more Soviet in its aethetics.

I was looking at Panoramic 34.

Liverpool does seem well put together and does seem to have a bigger central area.

Looking forward to investigating and checking out their high rises vs Cardiffs.

Just need to find the right place to eat without being ripped off

Liverpool is a fantastic city with an architectural heritage and cultural depth Cardiff could only dream of. It also has a much more diverse maritime and industrial history, and a history of importance in global trade that goes way beyond the narrow focus of Cardiff during the coal years. It's also much, much bigger than Cardiff in terms of urban core and true metro area, even if Liverpool city itself has an artificially constrained population. A bit like Manchester in this regard.

Forget modern high rises, the Liver Building and Anglican Cathedral alone are both taller than anything in Cardiff. I would say the modern stuff isn't THAT great, there are a few stand outs and the modern high rises are better quality, but still fairly underwhelming for me.

Also, there are areas of major deprivation, and even in the central area some places which feel very run down and in need of attention. Overall I think it suffers in Manchester's shadow and it's still recovering from many years of mismanagement by various dodgy local councils.

Overall though, it's in a different urban league to Cardiff even if it's not quite fulfilling its potential.

Liverpool is a fantastic city with an architectural heritage and cultural depth Cardiff could only dream of. It also has a much more diverse maritime and industrial history, and a history of importance in global trade that goes way beyond the narrow focus of Cardiff during the coal years. It's also much, much bigger than Cardiff in terms of urban core and true metro area, even if Liverpool city itself has an artificially constrained population. A bit like Manchester in this regard.

Forget modern high rises, the Liver Building and Anglican Cathedral alone are both taller than anything in Cardiff. I would say the modern stuff isn't THAT great, there are a few stand outs and the modern high rises are better quality, but still fairly underwhelming for me.

Also, there are areas of major deprivation, and even in the central area some places which feel very run down and in need of attention. Overall I think it suffers in Manchester's shadow and it's still recovering from many years of mismanagement by various dodgy local councils.

Overall though, it's in a different urban league to Cardiff even if it's not quite fulfilling its potential.

Interesting, look forward to exploring