The Beatles at The Grafton Ballroom, West Derby, Liverpool

The Grafton was a large and popular entertainment venue in Liverpool that opened in February 1924. It was pretty capacious - the purpose-built dance hall could accommodate 1,200 dancers. Some big names played here (Victor Silvester and Duke Ellington) including The Beatles. One Sunday afternoon I went to have a look at it. One century on the Victorian building still looks pretty good. It closed its doors as a dance venue in 2008 and it reopened briefly as a comedy club.

The boys performed here four times before their popularity meant they outgrew Merseyside. The first concert was in August 1962 and a hundred tickets were stolen before the show but were numbered and so could be declared invalid. The fourth and final show was a year later. They topped the bill playing after a few other bands. The doors opened at 7.30pm to 12.30am and advance tickets cost 7 shillings 6 pence.

For the last show Brian Epstein negotiated £100 for The Beatles to perform. This was cheap - by the time the date came around they could command much higher fees. They honoured the booking regardless. A few photos exist of the concerts.

These Victorian buildings are too good to be demolished and I hope to drive by in a few years and see it in merry use. Trees seemed to be growing on the roof. I'm surprised developers haven't demolished it and built a few soulless houses. I did a salute and left.

The Olympia was next door...

Here they are on 2nd August 1963. The next day they played at The Cavern for the last time...

The Beatles performed in Liverpool on this evening for the first time in 1963, with a show at the Grafton Rooms, West Derby Road.

It was the group’s second engagement at the venue. The concert garnered record-breaking attendance figures, with a large turnout for the group following their Scottish tour.

According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, 100 tickets were stolen before the show, but were numbered and so could be declared invalid.