The Cavern, Liverpool

Here I am on Mathew Street in Liverpool - home to some pubs and The Cavern. The Beatles played here 292 times before getting too popular. The original club was demolished but thousands of bricks were saved and it was rebuilt and reopened in 1984. It’s eclipses about 70% of its original site and the entrance you can see on these photographs is exactly the same spot. I’ve never seen this narrow street empty before but I went one Sunday when the country was under the first lockdown. Liverpool city was eerily hushed as though a deadly gas had wiped out most of the population.

Bands performing in small smelly sweaty airless cellars - really? The club was opened by Alan Sytner who was inspired by a jazz clubs in Paris which performed in cellars. When he bought the place was a fruit warehouse (it was an air raid shelter in World War II) but he turned added a stage, a bar and cloak room. It opened in 1957 for jazz bands but slowly it succumbed to skiffle groups.

The Quarrymen performed here (before Paul joined) on Wednesday 7th August 1957 after two jazz bands but it went badly when John Lennon tried to play Elvis stuff. In 1959 the club changed owners and more blues and beat bands played here. The Beatles did their first performance in February 1961 but they weren't popular. People shouted for a Chuck Berry or a Little Richard song and when Paul said, "We're gonna do one of our songs now," the audience groaned. The lads were quite raw - they'd smoke on stage, wore leather and looked scruffy. Pete Best was considered the most attractive and girls got to the front to gawp at him. Nine months after their first performance their future manager Brian Epstein came to see them. Everyone in Liverpool knew Brian him as he ran the biggest record shop in the city. He was impressed. The Beatles were used to playing live after playing in two clubs in Hamburg and although they were raw they were tight and focussed. As the band gained a following their performances they appeared most weeks - sometimes through the day. The Cavern was the only club in Liverpool that did midway shows and people visited to pass their dinner hour. Under The Cavern's vaulted ceiling people stood hemmed in like cattle. The room was smoky and humid and condensation ran down the walls. There was a fruit market opposite and the smell of oranges often mingled with the smell of Dettol used to clean the toilets.

Within two years of their first gig The Beatles had outgrown the place. Their last ever concert was on in August 1963 a few months after they’d written She Loves You and within six months they’d be off to America. After Beatlemania only theatres and stadiums could satisfy audience demand. The Cavern closed in March 1973 and was demolished. British Rail purchased the warehouses to build a ventilation shaft but the job was cancelled and the land was a car park for many years. In 1981 plans were afoot to redevelopment the site (£7 million) and dig out the rubble but the arches of the old cellar had been too badly damaged. The club you can see here sits at a 90 degree angle to the original and but the stage is not far from the original location. These days it’s a well-known for its live bands and it’s a secret warm-up place for famous singers before they go on tours. Without much warning small intimate concerts have been put on by folk like Adele, Oasis and The Arctic Monkeys, etc.

I had a stroll up and down Mathew Street and thought how far the lads exploded across the globe from this sweaty cellar. It was tough at first though - their equipment was cheap and George and Paul shared a microphone as they couldn't afford another one. Once I brought a Japanese friend Mamiko here and we went downstairs for a drink. We both went to the toilets simultaneously and upon her return she looked a little wide-eyed. "A man and a woman make the sex in the toilets," she said. I gulped my glass of Snowball unsure how to reply.

Outside I had a last look at the statue of Cilla Black. Her real name was Cilla White and she had a part-time job in The Cavern as a cloakroom attendant. She was determined to be an entertainer and did a few impromptu performances that impressed the Beatles and the audiences. A Liverpool promoter encouraged her (she was "Swinging Cilla" then) and she soon became a guest singer with the three Merseybeat bands. She appeared in the local music newspaper Mersey Beat as "Cilla Black" and the name stuck. I said, "Bye Cilla," out loud, saluted and left.

The Cavern buried under a car park...

August 1981

The Grapes...