12 people making exciting things happen in Merseyside's pubs, bars and restaurants

Liverpool is famous for its hospitality and our city is blessed with many great pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés.

Having made the most of that offering as a customer, I've enjoyed meeting the people behind these venues through this job. For most of this year, I have written a weekly profile or review on a hospitality venue in our region.

Speaking to the people behind our favourite spots, I've been impressed by their resilience, creativity and commitment amid an economic climate which is far from favourable. The industry is facing unprecedented challenges, with spiralling inflation and the cost of living crisis arriving hot on the heels of the pandemic.

Try Liverpool Echo Premium for 99p with no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features

Can you recognise all of these Liverpool nightclubs?

Running costs are rising for venues while people have less money to spend on going out - it's a perfect storm. As leading North West chef Gary Usher said on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday: "Some serious soul searching for restaurant/pub operators right now. There’s no money to be made anymore. The government has made hospitality a pretty unviable business opportunity in the UK."

However, such an unfavourable environment does not seem to have deterred many people from giving it a go and following their passions. Celebrating that, here are five groups of people that I've spoken to this year who are making things happen in our region's hospitality industry.

Ansil Kharel and Dhanpati Kharel from Momo's

Ansil Kharel and Dhanpati Kharel opened Momo's - found above Liverpool Brewing Company's Taproom on Lime Street -in 2022. Ansil is the son of Netra Kharel, who owns Nepalese restaurant Da Gurkha in Waterloo and Dhanpati is Netra's