Day tripper

Then there is the Baltic Fleet, an airy, curious flat-iron-shaped haven of ultra-fine beers and robust traditional food served in a remarkable Grade Two listed setting.

It is the city's first pub. Not a coaching house, you under-stand, but a genuine, no nonsense pub right down by the docks. It is believed to date back to 1812 and although things have moved on in this beguiling city by the sea, the Baltic Fleet remains in something of a time warp.

For example, it hosts regular Laurel and Hardy nights where punters turn up in full regalia to watch the fabled black and white film classics.

And away from its magnetising ales brewed on the premises, it is home to the city's most famous dish: scouse.

For the uneducated, this is a robust plate of stew, not dissimilar to hot pot, but a million light years away from the Midlands' faggots and peas.

"Scouse here," says a hardy local knowingly, "has been touched by angels. It's the food of the gods"

If its authentic grub you are after - particularly when the icy wind is scything from the River Mersey - then this is the place to sharper your knife and fork.

Or, to be more precise, I should say spoon because that was the only implement to accompany a steaming plate of the city's acclaimed dish.

Today, however, it has been elevated to cult status by new age foodies content to wolf it down with a lump of warm bread and red cabbage, alongside other belt-busting platters.

But it's comforting to know that I am sharing a heritage meal that was established long, long before The Beatles raised their tousled heads to stardom and the Mersey Sound was born.

Yet even today, with the city celebrating its 800th birthday and bracing itself to take on the mantle of European Capital of Culture next year, it seems every scouser over the age of 40 knew George and, of course, John, Paul and Ringo.

In some cases, like one of my fellow diners, they claim they attended school with them too.

The band is still very much part of everyone's family. But they are shared in a celebration of genuine, warm, open-handed public ownership to visitors in this big, breezily beautiful city.

Down at Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds café, Beatles memorabilia still festoons the lattice-worked ceiling. Original autographed record sleeves and old, slightly faded, sepia prints rub velvet-tab collared shoulders with other famous Liverpool bands, including Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and The Merseybeats.

Outside, a very life-like statue of The Beatles welcomes you to the famous Cavern Quarter. Nearby, the From Me To You gift shop is packed with American, Japanese, Scandin-avian - and British tourists.

Take a stroll (the best way to see the sights) around the majestic thoroughfares lined with regal buildings and it's easy to understand why the number of visitors' bed nights increased to record levels in the last 12 months.

The pockets of dowdy, lacklustre buildings, stained with images of the last war, are being swept away by a bright new tide of great value shopping malls, stylish diners and nightclubs.

Once seen as an almost forgotten city at the end of a railway line, even jaundiced scousers (they still go with the territory) grudgingly admit, with half-concealed pride, that Liverpool really is on the move.

I made my base at the newly-opened boutique hotel, 62 Castle Street with splendid, thoughtfully designed bedrooms which made it very hard to drag yourself into the vertical for a bash around the tourist spots.

I would have been equally happy to stay at any of the city's other luxury hotels. The Crowne Plaza (pictured), next to the famous Liver Building at the port's Pier Head and now a dedicated World Heritage Site, has a super harbour club and huge swimming pool. The Malmaison has just opened its doors here too.

Alternatively, budget-con-scious visitors can chill out at the award-winning Express by Holiday Inn, a favourite of TV's Hollyoaks stars, in the heart of clubland at Albert Dock. This tasteful hotel was created from the former studios of Richard and Judy's Good Morning TV programme and is across the road from The Baltic Fleet.

Spend quality time in the polished, regal area near the Anglican Cathedral, exploring the Georgian buildings and great little diners.

Stop for a pint in The Philharmonic pub where the city's proud Blue Badge guides take bemused tourists to see the colourful, stunning mosaics in, of all places, the gent's toilet!

And did you know the clock faces on the famous Liver building are bigger than Big Ben? Or the man who designed the actual Anglican cathedral also designed the old-fashioned red telephone box standing in one of the side passages?

How many cities can boast these quirky curiosities, I wonder?

Or maybe much later, like me, after visiting Lennon's, The Rubber Soul and a host of other music-linked bars, you'll take a nostalgic trip on a real life ferry across the River Mersey and dream of a comforting bowl of scouse at The Baltic Fleet.

Hmm, now that really is scouse in the sky with diamonds.

• Ken Bennett was a guest of 62 Castle Street. Tel: 0151-702-7898, www.62castlest.com For opening times and menus at The Baltic Fleet, 33, Wapping, ten minutes from the Pierhead, call 0151-709-3116.
  
  

Liverpool is staging Summer Pops 2007, with headlining acts including Deacon Blue, Amy Winehouse, McFly, James Morrisey and OMD, at the new 4,500-seater Aintree Pavilion Arena in July. Ticket hotline: 0870 151 4000, www.cmplive.com For more information on Liverpool, log on to www.visitliverpool.com or www.liverpool08.com.