Former site of Beatles concert, Scarborough

Here I am by the former site of The Futurist theatre in Scarborough where The Beatles played. As Beatlemania ramped up they performed two concerts on Saturday 14^th December 1963 and two concerts on Sunday 9^th August 1964. The theatre sat just across the road from the beach on the south bay but it was demolished in 2018 after serving the town for 97 years. There's currently a nice patch of grass and a broad footpath awaiting development (something called Flamingo Land is planned - sounds dreadful.)

Fans queued for 30 hours to buy tickets. On the day of each concert the lads were smuggled (unsuccessfully) in through the stage door at the back whilst police staged a diversion at the front of the building. All four had to appear at a glass window at the front to prove to sways of fans below they were inside. The concerts were not successful for The Beatles as the music was drowned out by screaming fans. Between songs John and Paul tried to speak to the crowd but it was impossible to hear their banter. About 20 girls actually passed out briefly after becoming overcome by the continuous screaming and crying. At the end of the second show in 1963 the 600 fans surged forward and it was only a police cordon that prevented people getting onto the stage. Fans who couldn't get tickets had to make do with the Beatles debut film A Hard Day’s Night which was in its third week at the Odeon cinema.

In recent years I've taken some photographs of the theatre as it was being demolished and then as the rubble was cleared away. The remaining space has been tidied up and come summertime a wheel is erected for holidaymakers. I didn't know The Beatles had played here until I went through a list of every concert venue (no doubt I'll be boring you with photos of these buildings in the future.) The Futurist was the smallest venue the band played on the tours and they were so popular they could have missed it out for bigger venues. They stayed a few miles up the road at The Hylands Hotel in Filey (now apartments.) As a lad I can remember my mum watching The Black And White Minstrel Show on television and lots of episodes were filmed at The Futurist.

Nowadays when I walk passed the former site of theatre I think of The Beatles. I wonder what songs they performed - probably not many well-known ones as even by the second visit in 1964 they'd only released four albums (George was only 20 years old on the first visit.) They hadn't even written lots of big whoppers like Help! Ticket To Ride, Yesterday, In My Life, Norwegian Wood, etc. If you're in Scarborough and walk on the front please do a salute for me.

The demolition starts...

Ringo...

Paul...

Ringo...