Ye Cracke Pub

Here I am outside John Lennon’s favourite pub - a small 19^th century place that he visited regularly while he was a student at art college (about 200m away.) It’s hidden away on a side street so narrow its easily missed. People and geeks seek it out for its links with The Beatles. The landlady who came as I was saluting next to the front door wasn’t enamoured though. “I can’t stand all that Beatles crap,” she said flatly. It probably made her till ring a bit though as it was busy on the afternoon when I visited. “We have people come from Mexico and Argentina,” she continued, “They must be crackers.”

John was about 17 when he came in here while attending art school. He brought his first wife Cynthia here on their first date after they met at a college dance. Inside is the "War Office" - a small room which is the oldest bit of the building and was once used to discuss parts of the Boer War.

It was a busy, crowded affair with drinkers packed in like tinned sardines. One day a drunk John Lennon is supposed to have 'swam' in beer which had spilled on the floor. He came here when he learned his mum had been knocked down and killed near “Mendips” where he lived with this Aunt Mimi. He came regularly with three friends one being Stuart Sutcliffe who’d join The Beatles about two years later.

Then and now...

Taken in 1992...