The Beatles at The Iron Door Club

Here I am on Temple Street in central Liverpool where the lads played a few times. For many years it had been a butter packing factory but on Saturday 9th April 1960 it opened as a club to host music venues.

While strolling the city I just had to go and have a look. It’s a five minute walk from The Cavern club and as I turned off the bustling Dale Street the volume dropped immediately. I didn’t see anyone as I strolled around Temple Square and sat on a bench. There was nobody around. The buildings looking down on me all seemed to be office blocks or legal chambers. I cast a glance at the spot where The Iron Door Club was but it looked nothing like the black-and-white photos I had of it. It was demolished and is now offices.

I got up to read the plaque on the wall which salutes the place’s former use. In 1961 it was a venue for jazz venues. The relatively unknown Beatles played cover songs here five times in March 1961. In 1962 it was renamed the Storyville Jazz Club and the lads played another three gigs in March that year. The two rashes of gigs they did show how their luck was changing. When they played here in 1961 The Beatles were only known across Merseyside. When they visited again in 1962 Brian Epstein had signed them up and was trying to find a record contract for them. Months later they got a record deal and released Love Me Do. Suddenly they were too popular to play at small venues like The Iron Door Club.

I was hoping the builders had kept the original iron door to the place (or even put a weatherproofed photo of it on the wall outside) but they didn’t. The place is sleek and shiny. The surrounding buildings being commercial offices explained why it seemed so quiet that Sunday afternoon. How things have changed. When the club first opened it held 1650 people but purchase of the adjacent warehouse meant the basement and the ground floors could be opened up to accommodate many more. The photos I had of the place showed a tired old dump of a place. The Searchers played here regularly but unfairly people generally associate it with The Beatles. After the club closed in 1964 it became the Pyramid Club.

Time to go. I took a few photos up and down the street and caught someone watching me from a window opposite (a bored security guard?) It’s difficult to imagine the lads appeared here as unknowns. They were still experimenting with their name and even appeared as “The Silver Beetles”. They did an afternoon performance with Cass and the Casanovas for a pittance (were probably paid in beer.) In disguise have Paul Mac or Ringo walked up this street and felt the tickle of nostalgia? Probably not. I did a salute and left.