Artist-run bar and creative hub on Hope Street with a nightly grassroots live-music programme, weekly open mic, five hireable dance and rehearsal studios and two small performance spaces.
Arts Bar was founded in 2019 by four friends, all artists themselves, to support grassroots creativity in Liverpool. The Hope Street site is its original venue, occupying part of the building at 22 Hope Street: a bar serving coffee, cocktails, beer, wine and spirits on the ground floor, with studios, rehearsal rooms and a gallery above and below it. Its own page says the venue hosts live music each night, featuring local grassroots artists, alongside art classes, open mic nights, film screenings and exhibitions. The bar is open daily from 10am.
Two rooms are let as performance spaces. Studio 3, on the third floor, is a 60-seat fringe theatre used for theatre productions, stand-up comedy, exhibitions, private parties and intimate music showcases; Studio 4, in the basement, is a 30-seat black box space aimed at spoken word, poetry, comedy and experimental work. The Hope Street Main Stage in the bar itself is let for acoustic sets, single launches and showcases, but the operator publishes no capacity for it, so it is not listed here as a bookable space.
Five studios are hired by the hour for dance, theatre and rehearsal: Studio 1 (11m x 7m, semi-sprung wood), Studio 2 (9m x 7m, sprung vinyl), Studio 3 (21m x 9m), Studio 4 (7m x 6m, black box) and Studio 5 (6m x 4m). All have mirrors and a sound system, and hire is subsidised for community groups, creative companies and artists. Longer-term monthly rentals are also available.
On access, the operator is explicit: there are two steps at the entrance, for which a portable ramp is provided, and eight further steps into the main venue, with a permanent solution still being worked on with the landlords and heritage officers. Once inside, all spaces are step-free and there is a lift and an accessible ground-floor toilet. The same operator runs a second site, Arts Bar Baltic, at 27 Parliament Street.
Fringe theatre studio
Third-floor studio, 21m x 9m, with a semi-sprung wooden floor, mirrors and a sound system. Let as a 60-seat fringe theatre for theatre productions, stand-up comedy, art exhibitions, private parties and intimate music showcases.
60-seater, from the operator's event-hire page; no standing figure is published.
Black box studio
Basement black box performance space, 7m x 6m, with a semi-sprung wooden floor, mirrors and a sound system. Let as a 30-seat room for spoken word, poetry readings, stand-up comedy and experimental performance.
30-seater, from the operator's event-hire page; no standing figure is published.
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