In 2000, when the Liverpool Echo launched its “Stop The Rot” campaign to save the city’s dilapidated architectural gems, the Royal Insurance Building – now home to Aloft Liverpool – was identified as one of 16 important at-risk sites. You can see why.
From the beautiful inlaid floor in what is now the reception to the glazed tiles on corridors upstairs, there is gorgeous detail everywhere you look. Be it a stained glass window; the vertigo-inducing, circular stairwells that drop down beneath the building’s famous gilded dome; or its acres of wood panelling and stucco ceilings. Apparently, hundreds of people who once worked here have dropped by since it reopened at the start of November, to see how the building, abandoned in the 1980s, has been returned to its former glory.
The only downside is that to achieve this, Starwood, the international hotels group, has dropped a very safe, corporate take on the hip, urban hotel (think Berlin’s Michelburger had it been conceived by middle-aged men in chinos), into the centre of this grade II-listed stunner. They had the £18m solution to the problem.
Which means all that interior splendour stops at the threshold of the modern bedrooms, and the three I viewed felt gloomy thanks to a bizarre grey colour scheme. But they are functional and well-equipped: the beds are seriously comfy, you get Bliss toiletries and, in my room (if that’s your beanbag), I had a huge orange Fatboy to lounge on. Safe, iPod dock and fridge completed a perfectly adequate weekend break set-up. The staff are friendly, too.
Hang around downstairs, however, and Aloft may begin to give you serious brain-ache. The “W XYZ” bar (it’s a registered trademark) is an open-plan space – “no walls, no limits” – playing loud, bafflingly bad music (Jamiroquai a repeated nadir). As an example of how naff the design is, it has several inlaid, wall-mounted TVs silently relaying sports and news channels, as per any business hotel.
It may have a pool table, dressed-down staff and space for ad hoc acoustic music performances, but W XYZ looks and feels like a dated, mainstream city-centre bar. Edgy it is not.
There is a 24-hour, self-service snack station called Re:fuel By Aloft, a Re:charge gym, five “creative” meeting rooms and a bring-your-pets scheme named Arf (Animals Are Fun – nothing escapes the clunky, “funky” Aloft lingo). I chose to eat in the adjacent NYL restaurant, which is run by the company that manages the hotel, but independently of Starwood. Its smooth, glamorous Manhattan lounge bar interior – all tan leather, comfortable booths and art deco sleekness – is a far better fit with this grand old building.
Sadly, the food was less impressive. My burger was drab: doughy brioche, stingy cheese, overly dense, rather dry patty. The onion rings were thick and bready, the triple-cooked chips a pale shadow of Heston’s originals. A ham hock starter was passably tasty and the mac’n’cheese fine – but how wrong can you go with bechamel sauce, pasta and cheese?
If there is one thing that American hospitality companies know how to do, however, it is breakfast, and next morning, back on Starwood chow, the choice ran from prosecco to prosciutto. Served buffet-style, the full-breakfast items had of course shrivelled under hot lights, but all tasted reasonably good. As for the unnecessary soundtrack (Scandi synth-poppers A-ha, among others), I steadfastly tuned it out.
• Accommodation was provided by Aloft Liverpool (1 North John Street, Liverpool, 0151-294 3970, aloftliverpool.com; doubles from £59 B&B). Train travel between Manchester and Liverpool was provided by First TransPennine Express (tpexpress.co.uk)
Ask a local: Kevin Sampson, author
• Drink and eat
Book-ended by two cathedrals and bejewelled by the Everyman Theatre and the Casa bar (opened by dockers with their redundancy pay), you can’t go wrong on Hope Street. The Clove Hitch does a socking grilled breakfast, great food and ales all day.
• Visit
Liverpool’s museums and galleries are teeming with great exhibitions right now. The Walker has Catherine Opie’s Gangs, the Museum of Liverpool has an April Ashley retrospective among its pop-culture goodies, and the International Slavery Museum is a non-negotiable must.
• Shop
Lunya in Liverpool One for Catalan produce and Delifonseca on Stanley Street for old-fashioned sweeties and a terrific deli. It’s a restaurant, too.
• Tour
Hosted by the irrepressible Peter Carney, the two-hour Soccer In The City tour goes way beyond football.
Kevin Sampson’s latest book is The House On The Hill (Jonathan Cape, £14.99)
