The Beatles at The Plaza Ballrooms, St Helens

Here I am outside the former Plaza Ballrooms in St Helens where the lads played a total of five times. They played their first gig here in June 1962 for £25. Their last gig was nine months for £100. This was the first time they’d gotten a payment in three figures. Peter Best was the drummer for the first four gigs but he was sacked and Ringo replaced him.

When the lads first played here they hadn't penned any hits and were loud, lively sweaty shows peppered with banter. Their bassist Stuart Sutcliffe had only died a couple of months earlier but as they weren't famous it went mostly unnoticed. They were a jobbing band, playing most nights and still going to Hamburg to play at the Star-Club (they had a 48-night contract.) When the lads played their last gig they were getting too big for the place. They'd released Love Me Do and Please Please Me and their fame spread across the country (and John had got married.)

I took a few photographs and was thankful most weren't ruined by traffic. A couple rushed into the Lloyd chemist and I wondered if they'd perhaps sunk a naff curry the night before and needed something to slow things down. That Sunday I had a lot to see across Lancashire and as I'd set of early the streets were quiet. On Youtube there's a lady filming her dad singing outside the place but you can barely hear him due to the traffic - they should have filmed it at 9:30 on a Sunday morning. If you want to see him the link is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WozDYL98yqw