By Ade Blackburn
Bluecoat Liverpool is the city’s oldest building and one of its most impressive creative hubs. Sitting right in the heart of the city centre, this Grade I listed arts space blends history, creativity, and community — offering exhibitions, performances, workshops, and a peaceful hidden garden that’s open all year round.
They’re also home to several independent retailers and creative businesses, including Bluecoat Display Centre, who specialise in unique, hand-crafted work by independent artists.
Bluecoat’s History
Bluecoat’s striking building is the oldest in Liverpool city centre. Built over 300 years ago as a charity school for poor children, it has been an arts centre for the past century, continually evolving while retaining its historic charm.
A beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture (though built during George I’s reign), its distinctive features include Liverpool’s earliest Liver Birds, a one-handed clock, cherubs’ heads above the windows, and elegant oval windows overlooking the cobbled courtyard.
In 1907, the Sandon Studios Society — a group of pioneering young artists — moved into the disused school, securing the building’s future. They established the UK’s first arts centre in 1927, under the custodianship of Bluecoat Society of Arts creating spaces for exhibitions, performances and studios. Over the years, Bluecoat welcomed cultural greats including Stravinsky, George Bernard Shaw and dancers from the Ballets Russes.
During the Liverpool Blitz in 1941, the building suffered severe bomb damage, losing its South Wing and grand concert hall. Restored in the 1950s, Bluecoat continued to thrive, and by 2008 a new contemporary arts wing and landscaped garden were unveiled — reopening just in time for Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture.
Events and Exhibitions
Bluecoat is a space where creativity and community come together. The team works closely with artists over many years, nurturing their practice and helping them to develop their careers.
Over the decades, Bluecoat has showcased acclaimed artists including Sumuyya Khader, sculptors Henry Moore and Marion Coutts, and the legendary musician and artist Captain Beefheart. Artist Emily Motto was the first recipient of Bluecoat’s Studio Bursary, developed in partnership with New Contemporaries, offering a year-long residency with a free studio, mentorship and tailored support.
The venue has also hosted some unforgettable live performances, from Rhys Chatham and Sun Ra’s Cosmic Love Arkestra to poet Levi Tafari and Liverpool experimental collective a.P.A.t.T.
Projects
Over the years, Bluecoat has delivered a wide range of inspiring and socially engaged projects. Blue Room Moves is their inclusive dance initiative, supporting learning-disabled and neurodivergent adults to explore movement, performance and self-expression.
Echoes and Origins delved into Bluecoat’s mercantile and maritime history, working with young people to examine Liverpool’s colonial legacies, while Where The Arts Belong brought creative experiences into specialist dementia care villages across the North West — a truly ground-breaking project in arts and wellbeing.
Since 2009, Bluecoat has also celebrated the life and work of Wirral-born author Malcolm Lowry, creator of the modernist classic Under the Volcano, through exhibitions, performances, commissions, and community events.
You can also explore a range of inspiring Digital Projects online, offering fresh ways to engage with Bluecoat’s creative work wherever you are.
Workshops
From artist talks and creative sessions to the popular Baby Book Club led by artist Roger Hill, Bluecoat’s workshops offer something for every age and interest.
Previous sessions have included family screen printing, filmmaking for creatives, and Birds, Bugs & Botanicals of the Bluecoat: A Nature Spotter Challenge, where artists explored the rich biodiversity of Bluecoat’s city-centre garden — a true hidden oasis.
Bluecoat also collaborates with local and national arts organisations, hosting workshops with dot-art, DaDa, and the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, creating opportunities for people to learn, connect and be inspired.
Bluecoat Garden
Tucked away behind Bluecoat’s historic façade lies a leafy, enclosed quadrangle that has evolved many times over the past three centuries. It has served as everything from a forecourt opening onto College Lane and a school playground to a herb garden and, in the early 20th century, an open-air venue for the lively parties of the Sandon Studios Society — the artistic community at the heart of Bluecoat’s story.
During one of these gatherings, the group even built a makeshift pond. Later, during the Second World War, the space housed air raid shelters and later became a working yard for the sculptors based in the surrounding studios.
The garden’s modern incarnation began when sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith began to landscape it, earning the affectionate nickname “Capability Smith.” Today, it’s a tranquil spot to unwind, host performances and workshops, or simply enjoy outdoor sculpture in one of Liverpool’s most peaceful hidden corners.
Independent retailers at Bluecoat
Bluecoat is also home to a vibrant community of independent retailers, offering a diverse mix of beautifully crafted, handmade and one-of-a-kind products.
Among them is the Bluecoat Display Centre, a contemporary craft gallery recognised nationally and internationally as one of the UK’s leading spaces for contemporary applied arts.
You’ll also find the legendary Probe Records, the distinctive Aldous Books, and Root Houseplants, specialists in exotic and unusual greenery — making Bluecoat a must-visit destination for anyone who loves creativity, design and local independents.
To find out currently What’s On at Bluecoat, visit thebluecoat.org.uk/whatson.