Mr & Mrs Smith

All the staff were so helpful and friendly - nothing was too much trouble. Fantastic room - large and extremely comfortable. Good food.

Pillows were a little hard and lumpy for my liking but perhaps that's a personal taste.

We have just come back from a great one-night stay at Hope Street Hotel. The hotel staff were lovely to us and the little extras they added made it all the more special. Our room was light and spacious, with a huge comfy bed and a skyline view.

The ceiling in the bathroom was a little stained and our ice bucket a bit mouldy in the bottom! It would also be good if breakfast were included in the price.

There are so many wonderful things to do in Liverpool, but here are a few of the essentials: for art, a trip to the Tate (Albert Dock, L3 4BB (0151 702 7400)) and the Walker (William Brown Street, L3 8EL (0151 478 4199)) galleries; for views and awe inspiring architecture a trip up to the top of the Anglican Cathedral tower (St James Mount, L1 7AZ); for fabulous food, Host, across the road from the hotel (31 Hope Street, L1 9XH (0151 708 5831)); and for a drink in the most ornate surroundings, the Philharmonic Dining Rooms (36 Hope Street, L1 9BX (0151 707 2837)).

We treated two friends to a night here, to see the puppets. They both loved the hotel and were very happy with their room and dinner. We were very relieved because we enjoy staying here too.

This hotel is OK rather than great. Overall it's not up to the normal Mr &  Mrs Smith standards. The good points: big room (the Deluxe room). Great location. Central but quiet. The food in the restaurant is great. You'll need to book as it's really popular at weekends. Bad points: service is haphazard. We didn't get the members' extra item despite it being offered. The rooms are looking a bit tired with worn furniture and fittings. The service in the restaurant was very slow on the night we tried it.

Mr. Smith chanced upon the Pilgrim Pub, a scant four-minute meander around the corner on, of course, Pilgrim Street. When in need of a roaring crowd, cave-like protection, and an affordable quaff, beat a path to the Pilgrim Pub immediately after checking in at the Hope Street Hotel. Smokin'!

I'd recommend Alma de Cuba restaurant in Liverpool. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was too! Scantily clad Cuban style dancers and a fun Carnival feel.
Great cocktails and friendly staff.

A literal stones throw from the Hope Street Hotel is 59 Rodney Street - the home of portrait photographer E. Chambré Hardman and his wife Margaret. This Georgian property is now owned by the National Trust and guided tours run throughout the day. The guides themselves are as charming as the property itself. A fascinating insight into 1950s Liverpool which will inspire you to get out and about this fabulous city with your camera – or simply set your camera and tripod up in your Hope Street Hotel room if you’ve managed to bag a room with a view.

I normally make it a rule never to eat anywhere that has a menu displaying photographs of the food. However, I made an exception for the Maharaja Kerala restaurant on London Road, Liverpool (www.maharajaliverpool.co.uk), and am glad that I did – it is excellent.

The food at the Hope Street Hotel restaurant (known as The London Carriage Works) is great but Delifonseca (+44 (0)151 255 0808) on Stanley Street is well worth a visit at any time of day. It's a proper delicatessen downstairs, with a comfortable dining area upstairs (open all day Monday–Saturday).

This was our fifth year at the Hope Street Hotel. I cannot think of going to the Aintree Festival and not staying there! We're always welcomed by Tracy at reception  and she says that she knows that the Festival has started when we arrive. A great place to stay and yes, we'll be back next year!

This hotel has everything you need on a business trip…a quiet room, good room-service food and parking.

For a first time visit to Liverpool, Hope Street is the perfect location to stay and enjoy a weekend packed with shopping (the re-generation of the city has provided big-name shops alongside quirky boutiques and record stores), relaxing (thanks to the amazing bathroom and generous REN products at the hotel), eating (a fantastic dinner in a lively atmosphere at The Living Room), drinking (the Carriage Works hotel bar does a 'knock your socks off' mojhito) and dancing (around the hotel room, courtesy of the borrowed Michael Jackson CD!). My main tip is to pick up a fresh green apple from the huge platter at the hotel reception and walk everywhere – the city is small enough to walk around in a day, from the hotel down past the cathedrals and china town to the familiar sights of the docks, taking in the fantastic mixture of architecture and various art works around the city. Turning right onto Hope Street out of the hotel we found a wonderful organic farmers market which provided us with tasty croissants for breakfast, and then stumbled across a sculpture with suitcases and guitar cases of famous Liverpudlians – John Lennon and Paul McCartney included. My final suggestion is to try to fit in time to visit Crosby beach on the way home for a bracing walk to see Antony Gormley's statues... in the winter sunshine, this was the perfect end to a perfect stay.

Liverpool is certainly up and coming, no doubt about that, what with the city centre re-development and the waterfront with the Tate etc, but it lacks good places to eat for a major city. If you are staying in the Hope Street Hotel, which I highly recommend, you need to book in advance as the few good restaurants tend to be busy at the weekends. The London Carriage Works restaurant is attached to the Hotel and is definitely worth considering. The food is prepared to an excellent standard and is not overpriced, but when I was in Liverpool the menu lacked excitement – the usual steak and fish option.

Another excellant restaurant is 60 Hope Street, just down the road from the hotel. Again, booking is essential; you are sometimes competing with Liverpool football players for a table! The menu changes reguarly and is a lot more interesting for about the same price as the London Carriage Works. If you want a pre-meal drink I can recommend the Philharmonic Dining Rooms – a large heritage pub in Hope Street. This is a gem of a Victorian pub, not quite in the gin palace mode but very interesting inside. The gents' toilets are a wonder to behold; they are exactly like they were when first installed.

I went to the Bar and Grill in Bold Street for a evening meal, (having failed to get into 60 Hope Street). It used to be a Halifax branch and on a Saturday night is bustling with all age groups.Tthe centrepiece of the building is a cocktail bar, square-shaped so you can stand there and watch the bar staff making cocktails. I had an excellent Bloody Mary. My partner had a martini and that too was made to perfection. The meal was very enjoyable and there was a good choice on the menu and the waiting staff were friendly and efficient. The whole meal cost £100, including two cocktails, two starters, two mains, six lovely truffles and a bottle of wine – excellent value.