Why is St Patricks Day in Liverpool a Big Deal?

St Patrick’s Day is fast approaching (17th March), and it is now a global celebration of Irish identity and culture, celebrated across the world.

The Irish diaspora is everywhere, and it is thought that if you travelled around the world, you would find an Irish bar and a pint of Guinness in pretty much every country you went to.

The Irish bring people together, having the craic in pubs and bars, drinking, singing, dancing, and generally having a good time, especially on this day or the closest weekend to it.

Liverpool is often referred to as the second capital city of Ireland, and with good reason, but what is the history of the Irish people in Liverpool, and how can you celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool?

The history of Irish people in Liverpool

The impact of Ireland on Liverpool can be seen all over the city. It is the English city with the highest percentage of residents that are either Irish or have Irish ancestry.

There has always been a large community of Irish people, starting from the first waves of Irish immigrants in the 1800s and through the Great Famine in the 1840s, right up to the large student population from Ireland in the modern day.

Liverpool was a staging post for many people on their way to America by boat in the 19th and 20th century, and many ended up staying in the city.

As Dublin and Belfast are both so close to Liverpool, traditionally by boat but these days within 30-45 minutes on a plane, it is easy to see why so many Irish people both visit and come to live in Liverpool.

A community has always been here for students in Liverpool, and for modern students, so many decide to stay on after their studies to live in the city, along with many students from all parts of the UK and the rest of the world.

It is a friendly, welcoming, city, that is always ready to have a laugh and to party. Much of that comes from the Irish parts of the population.

In terms of the direct impact Irish immigrants have had on the city of Liverpool, you just need to look at the docks.

Irish immigrants were heavily involved in the digging of the docks, many Irish people built and funded some of the large and spectacular examples of architecture in the city, such as the Metropolitan Cathedral that is proud at one end of Hope Street, the Catholic cathedral affectionately known as ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’ by locals since it was first opened in the 1970s.

Some even say that the scouse accent is closer to Irish than the Lancastrian nuances that would have played a big part in the accent prior to the influx of immigrants in the 19th century.

St Patrick’s Day traditions

St Patrick’s Day began as a religious feast back in the 17th century but has changed over time to include a wide range of Irish traditions, from Irish food to music and dancing in pubs and on the streets, including traditional Irish folk musicians, and of course Irish pubs serving up plenty of Guinness!

Liverpool might not dye the Mersey River green, as you see in places with huge Irish population such as Chicago, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have a great night out over St Patrick’s Day weekend in Liverpool!

How to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool

If you’re after a party for St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool, you won’t be disappointed.

It can be a messy one with Concert Square and Mathew Street a sea of green face paints, green drinks, and spilled Guinness from 9am onwards, but this is the social side of St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool, celebrated over the course of a few days when the date itself isn’t on a weekend.

This year, that means the St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool celebrations will begin on Friday and run through till the early hours of Tuesday morning.

There will be ‘Paddy’s Day Specials’ in most pubs and bars across town, including student discounts, so keep an eye out for those, and there are so many Irish pubs that you can make a proper crawl of it with your mates.

For an Irish pub crawl in Liverpool, you can take in the traditional Pogue Mahone and Shenanigan’s for the best Guinness in town, GAA on the telly, and regular live music.

For your lively pubs that might have karaoke blasting out of them 24 hours a day, head to the Celtic Corner, the Blarney Stone, Punch Tarmey’s, Dirty O’Shea’s, Lanigan’s, or Flanagan’s Apple. This is just a short list of the Irish pubs in town, so you can see that you really are spoilt for choice.

Once the party weekend is over, the official St Patrick’s Day Parade in Liverpool will take place on the day itself, Monday 17th March 2025.

Asking people to assemble at 2pm on Great Orford Street, the parade will take in Hope Street, Berry Street, Hanover Street Seel Street, and Slater Street from 3pm onwards.

Thousands will join the parade, with flags, plenty of green colour, a brass and reed band, and Liverpool Irish Flute Band providing the music.

Liverpool is primarily famous for The Beatles and two of the biggest football clubs in the world, Liverpool and Everton. There is a lot more to the city than that though.

It is a port city with historical links to the industrial revolution, has always been a centre of art and culture, a forward-thinking place that has mostly left-leaning politics, takes in people from all over the world and makes it their home.

You can see this in the fact that Liverpool’s Chinatown is the oldest in Europe, and with the sheer amount of people who have Irish and other Celtic ancestry that are also scousers.

There’s a reason most people in the city see themselves as Scouse, not English, and part of that is down to the big melting pot of cultures and communities that come together here. The Irish and St Patrick’s Day in Liverpool is part of this rich tapestry. How will you be celebrating St Patrick’s Day this year?

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