"Everything on the wall has a story to us. And if it doesn't I just make one up," laughs Tristan Brady-Jacobs, owner of Hobo Kiosk, the Baltic Triangle's most unique pub.
It's around 5pm on a Thursday, just minutes before the pub is due to open. Tristan sits on a bench in the back corner of the micro bar, dressed in a pinstriped blazer and bowler hat, sipping occasionally from a flask.
His wife, Delia, wearing a mustard-coloured beret, sits on a bar stool next to him, rising every so often to carry out a task behind the eccentrically decorated bar. The pub, found down in the basement of a surviving brick warehouse on the corner of Jamaica Street, first opened to punters four-and-a-half years ago after enjoying a previous life as a bazaar.
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But Hobo Kiosk isn't your typical 'boozer' complete with lager, generic chart music and bouncers at the door. Instead, the pub is policed by the husband and wife team behind the bar, the beers predominantly come from local independent breweries, and the music has a heavy jazz focus.
And above all else, the pub's main drawing point is the personal experience you have with Tristan and Delia, and the other customers. "We see it as a safe space," Tristan explains. "It's somewhere where you're going to be safe and comfortable and able to have conversations with people sitting around you.
"When you first come in you're met by either Delia or myself and we'll ask you how you are. We encourage people to sit and talk. But we also respect it if someone wants to come and sit in the corner with a book." How would the pair describe the pub? "Totally weird, totally welcoming," smiles Tristan.
Inclusivity is important for the couple, but they also want a space where people can make memories. The space itself is instantly memorable. A small doorway, flanked by colourful murals, leads down to an eclectic treasure trove of 'things'.
Upcycled furniture makes up the pub's seating, while the walls are adorned with lamps, paintings, mugs and signed posters from musicians who have graced local venues like 24 Kitchen Street. But again it's the opportunity to engage in a new conversation with both locals and city visitors alike that remains the most memorable thing about a night in Hobo Kiosk.
Tristan says: "When you come here you become part of a play. We want to create theatre pieces as everyone has a story to tell. One day you may be the star of the show, but the next you can be an extra.
"We get a mix of people coming in that you don't get in the city centre. It means you get people bumping into each other with different worldviews, different points of views and different ideas."
This stance on encouraging a range of people to come together over good beer appears to be a winning combination. The doors have barely been open a minute before a number of people are seated in the pub.
Delia greets each person by name and knows their order before they even need to ask. "The Thursday crew," explains Tristan. It might seem like the pair had a carefully set out plan to crafting this type of pub, but Delia admits "we actually just fell into it".
The couple, who met at the Everyman Bistro in the early 80s after Tristan moved to Liverpool, both worked in community art for 40 years. It was these experiences that they claim helped with the pub. "We developed a whole range of skills and the know how of how to use them, working in community art," Tristan explains.
"Although we're reasonably new to this game, we're very good at spotting an audience and being able to control the group and take them through the course of their night. We don't see it just as a pub, we see it as a community space."
And it's this community focus that Delia and Tristan keep returning to throughout the conversation. "When we met in the Everyman Bistro it was the place where poets, politicians, world travellers and the crazy, wild-eyed ranters could collide," says Tristan.
"It's an incredible culture we're in danger of losing. Liverpool is a great party city and a great place to come and visit to party, but you have to have other things in your life, such as proper, ongoing community and culture.
"We're very idealistic about our city. We love Liverpool and we're very committed to it. We see Liverpool as the Berlin or Paris of Britain - a place where Bohemia flourishes, where art, culture and good company are cherished and visitors are welcomed with open arms."
Despite its successes, the pub has not been without its struggles as well. When it first opened its doors four-and-a-half years ago, Delia and Tristan could hardly have predicted they would have to close them two years later.
And now the hospitality industry could be facing its hardest challenge yet, with energy bills expected to soar over the winter months. "We're lucky it's just us who work here," says Delia. "We don't have to pay staff wages and we're only open five days a week. We just have to manage to pay our bills. We're lucky because of our size - we hope we won't be affected massively by it."
But despite all this, they are hopeful for the future and want to pledge their commitment to Liverpool even further. "We'd love a Hobo Kiosk two," says Tristan. "I don't know where or what it would be like, but we'd like to try and build some sort of community space."
Businesses like Hobo Kiosk, who want nothing more than to help their community, deserve the support of those around them. And what's not to love? As Tristan explains, "We're like Narnia down a flight of stairs, just with beer".
He adds: "You don't have to live in our world. But it's a wonderful place to come and visit."
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