Liverpool Independents Christmas Gift Guide
Christmas can on one hand the most joyous and fun-filled holiday of the year – and for others perhaps the most stressful! Allow Liverpool Noise to give you all you need it this time of happiness…or if like us, semi-panic.
This Christmas, support your local businesses and discover unique, high-quality gifts while adding a personal touch to your festive shopping. Here’s our 2024 Liverpool Independents Christmas Gift Guide!
Quick & Easy Gifts
Are you caught short for time? Need something that will support local businesses and also ensures a great present? Look no further than some of the best online vouchers you can grab today.
Theatre & Concert Tickets
We’re very lucky to have an array of incredible theatres and music venues here in Liverpool. You can choose from Liverpool Empire, The Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, The Royal Court, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall or further afield to the award-winning The Shakespeare North Playhouse or to the Storyhouse in Chester or Floral Pavilion in New Brighton. For bigger gigs and events you can always see what’s on at M&S Bank Arena too.
Experiences & Tours
Experiences & Tours are such a good idea for those looking to ditch those last-minute presents and give something more experiential. Liverpool has been a hub of food, drink, film and music for a long time now, and it’s about time it solidifies its place in UK as a major tour destination!
Liverpool Wine Tours is your way to experience some amazing wine, some beautiful venues and learn a little bit about that grape juice along the way. It’ll take 3-4 hours and you’ll get to sample some tasty vinos with your own sommelier guide! If you like that too, they also have a Liverpool Food Tour which, as you can guess, is an ideal gift for the foodies out there and a great way to support a few local businesses in one fell swoop.
Reel Tours offer film and tv location tours around Liverpool city centre with a wonderful tour guide and host, Gary. Gary works at the Everyman and Playhouse theatres and his film and tv knowledge is second to none. If there’s a film or tv buff in your life then this is a great gift for them.
Tickets for The Reader’s Winter 2025 programme are on sale, so you can simply treat the cultural connoisseur in your life to an extra special event. Highlights include an indulgent three-course Burns Night dinner paired with hand-selected whiskeys in the Grade II listed Mansion House. For keen beginner gardeners there is a 10-week Gardening Design Course with experts at Estuary Botanics starting on 27 February, where they will learn how to create a stunning garden that thrives all year round.
There are events to suit all budgets and all ages. Buying a ticket is also a great way to support The Reader as all proceeds go towards its vital charity work.
You could also treat someone to the new 12-month Calderstones Membership, where they can enjoy exclusive benefits at The Reader for a year with a new Calderstones Membership for £25 and help fund the charity’s work. It includes 10% discount off food and drinks at the cafes, event tickets, Storybarn events, the Ice Cream Parlour and books at The Reader Bookshop, as well as exclusive priority booking for selected events.
Flight Club Liverpool is the latest of the flight club franchise based right on Chavasse Park. You’ll have an absolute ball with their private booths for you and your family or friends where you can attempt to beat each other at some hilarious mini-games. Best part? No counting necessary – it’s all done for you!
Food & Drink Gifts
Foodie Gifts
Lunya on Hanover Street are well known for their 99% Spanish product deli. (1% is an amazing Welsh cheese so we’ll let it slide!) Over the festive holidays, expect to see some beautiful goodies from our amigos and amigas including some lovely award-winning cheeses, membrillos and cakes.
Delifonseca have such a huge selection of food and drink from around the world, along with some lovely treats for that Christmas hamper if you have someone in mind who loves their food. Make sure to pick up a loyalty card to gain some points for next year too!
Toxteth Chocolate is a Liverpool-based artisan chocolate business founded by Rebecca Birtwistle, offering the most delightful and innovative range of luxury chocolates, infused with vibrant colours and rich flavours. Her artistic, contemporary packaging and fun designs are ‘inspired by the chaos and colour of Toxteth,’ and makes the perfect gift for family and friends with a sweet tooth.
Boozy Gifts
Gin: We’re lucky to have some amazing local gin distillers in the city including Liverpool Gin and Mother Gin.
Beer: Check out Black Lodge Brewery, Neptune Brewery and Glen Affric.
Wine: R&H Fine Wines, an independent Wine Merchant in Liverpool with a gentle lean towards the hand made, old world, organic and biodynamic.
Indie Shops for Inspiration
You’ll be hard pressed to walk out empty handed at some of our local picks:
Take a walk up and down Bold Street and you’ll find the likes of Grin, Cow and Resurrection which have been a staple on the street for a long time and have some amazing clothing bargains to get your hands on.
The Art Quarter began as a popup shop in 2018 and has now established itself in Liverpool Metquarter. Showcasing 13 current and local artists, The Art Quarter supplies unique and high-quality pieces. This little fraction of the city is a prime spot for all mediums of art- from glasswork to oil pastel, and even textile collages- it truly is a gallery of talent.
Scene Here Liverpool is an ambitious new mapping project that Baltic Triangle based design studio Dorothy have been compiling with the help of customers from the new Rough Trade store on Liverpool’s Hanover Street. This is such a lovely gift for music fans! Plus, check out Dorothy’s impressive collection of beautifully-design prints, you’re sure to find something amazing.
Head to Liverpool Tea Warehouse who are on hand if you’re looking for something unique. Debbie is stocked up with over 250 different types of teas from black, green, yellow and even a ceremonial grade Japanese tea if you’re feeling fancy. Many of these teas have been blended in store to find that perfect flavour. Keep an eye out for Liverpool Breakfast Tea for a lovely stocking filler.
Utility is a showcase of the most fun and quirky furniture and decor. Keep an eye out for homeware gems that will bring pops of colour to your contemporary home designs. For those in your life that are renovating or redecorating, a gift from Utility is malleable to all tastes and budgets. They also have an amazing selection of cards.
Situated in Albert Dock, The Nest hosts an array of handmade gifts created by local creators in Liverpool. Come and browse the stunning photography, one-of-a-kind jewellery, and brilliant ceramics, amidst a plethora of independent designs. The Nest is home to many hidden gems in the world of independent businesses and has brought a new lease of life into Albert Docks since its opening in 2018.
Vinyl & Books
There’s some fantastic Independent record shops in Liverpool including Dig Vinyl, 81 Renshaw, The Musical Box (West Derby) & Dead Air Records. The Musical Box in particular deserves a lot of love and is a Liverpool gem.
Books are always a good choice to go for and News from Nowhere on Bold Street is guaranteed to expand your reading list, then for more 2nd hand books there’s Henry Bohn Books and Reid of Liverpool which have such amazing interiors! Dead Ink Books is a unique independent bookshop in Liverpool that champions bold new voices in literature. They offer a carefully curated selection of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and graphic novels, perfect for bookworms of all ages.
The Reader Bookshop is located onsite at Calderstones Park and is one of the charity’s social enterprises. It has a wide range of literature for adults and children, Christmas cards and locally produced gifts by independent makers. Every book sold is for a good cause – with profits gifted to the charity’s Shared Reading projects across the UK.
Plants
Root Houseplants began as an online venture in 2017 and transcended into a market stall only a year later. Now boasting two sites across Liverpool and West Kirby, this family-run business has been promoted by that of The Times, Independent Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. Home to over 200 plant varieties, Root Houseplants stocks everything from orchids and philodendron to mounted and trailing plants, and even pet-friendly plants!
Leaf on Bold Street also have a little plant pop up at the moment too,, it’s a good excuse to pop in for a tea too!
Health & Wellbeing
If it’s a relax you’re after then you’d be hard-pressed to find somewhere that also gives you a little health kick to boot. Wyld Sauna have set up their floating sauna in the docks and it’s such an amazing experience moving from the heat, to the cold plunge and straight back to the heat.
Have we missed some amazing local businesses off our Liverpool Independents Christmas Gift Guide? Let us know in the comments below.
