Couple Sarah Cavanagh and Yalcin Kizilkaya embarked on opening Liverpool’s best rooftop bar and indoor club back in 2021, creating Sensation that is located on the city’s bustling Seel Street.
Over the last four years, the couple, who have been together for 10 years, have built Sensation to become a thriving venue with weekly DJs and club nights, a fully heated and covered outdoor rooftop bar and exciting key calendar events including their huge £1k Countdown NYE party.
For 2025 though, Sarah, 32 from Wirral and Yalcin, 40, who is originally from Turkey but relocated to the UK in 2011, want to take the bar to the next level. Investing over £28k, the couple have created a new DJ booth, completely transformed the interior with new VIP booth access, additional booths and a design overhaul with a new colour palette, and given the rooftop a makeover.
Yalcin, has been in the tourism industry for 20 years and co-owns several successful hospitality businesses in Turkey including Sensation in Altinkum, Bodrum’s largest open air nightclub and also has a beach club during the day, Sensation Istanbul and Şahane Cabaret, a live cabaret show, and has a passion to bring this exceptional hospitality and atmosphere of Turkish nightlife to Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s background includes a Law degree and a masters in Management which she gained at the University of Liverpool. Here she developed a strong interest in the hospitality sector, particularly focusing on customer experience and operational management. This, combined with her love for the nightlife in Liverpool, led to her decision to co-found Sensation in Liverpool alongside Yalcin.
Sensation, which has a capacity of 450 guests, hosted a magical Winter Wonderland on the rooftop throughout December and is looking forward to hosting more outdoor events surrounding Aintree Races, Easter and the May Bank Holidays.
Sarah explained: “When we first opened Sensation, we wanted to capture the feeling of being abroad on holiday – a mix of great service, warm hospitality, and fun, memorable nights out. Over the past three years, we’ve evolved based on customer feedback, tweaking our layout and music offering to appeal to Liverpool locals and visitors from out of town.”
Yalcin added: “Our goal moving forward is to continue building our local base, becoming a central name in Liverpool’s nightlife scene, while carrying the same level of recognition here as Sensation has in Turkey. Liverpool was a natural choice for us. Altinkum, where Yalcin’s Sensation Didim is based, is very popular with Scousers, so we knew there was a shared love for Turkish culture and hospitality.”
Having grown up in Liverpool, the nightlife in Liverpool has always been special to her and she remains committed to adding to the city’s ever-growing offering which has been the catalyst for the venue’s new updates and improvements.
Sarah continued: “We’ve just added traditional Turkish shisha to our menu which is available throughout the day. All of the shisha ingredients are imported directly from Turkey to ensure an authentic experience. We’ve also updated the venue layout and colour scheme to create a fresh, inviting atmosphere and can’t wait to welcome our regular guests and some new faces to Sensation throughout 2025 and beyond.”
Follow @sensationliverpool on Instagram for updates.
