The Bierkeller Liverpool

You'll hear the accordion music before you even hit the bottom of the stairs – this cavernous basement does German drinking culture properly, complete with long wooden benches where you'll inevitably end up chatting to strangers over massive steins of Erdinger. The weekly oompah bands aren't kitsch for the sake of it; they're genuinely good fun, especially when half the room's swaying along to 'Ein Prosit'. Sure, it's touristy, but locals pack in here too because the beer selection goes way beyond the obvious German suspects – there's a decent range of real ales and international bottles. The pretzels are enormous and actually taste like they should, and those sharing platters of sausages and cheese work brilliantly when you're three pints deep. It gets properly raucous on weekends, so come prepared to sing along whether you know the words or not.