Riverside ward was an electoral division of Liverpool City Council covering the southern city centre, the Dingle, and parts of Toxteth.

A review by the Boundary Committee for England recommended that the council was formed of a reduced number of 90 members elected from 30 wards.

[1] The ward was part of the Liverpool Riverside Parliamentary constituency.

[3] Following a 2022 review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England which decided that the existing 30 wards each represented by three Councillors should be replaced by 64 wards represented by 85 councillors, the ward was split up into the new City Centre South, Dingle, Festival Gardens, and Waterfront South wards, and small parts of the new Canning, City Centre North, Toxteth wards.

After the boundary change of 2004 the whole of Liverpool City Council faced election.