“The place was a claustrophobic hell, but it was a great hell!” - Paul McCartney.
Stuck down a backstreet in an old decrepit warehouse, The Cavern was hot, sweaty and stank of disinfectant. The setting was unpromising but to those who descended the narrow steps into the basement it was the centre of the universe..... For here, a music revolution was taking place.

The Cavern began life as a stronghold for Jazz, some of the artists came from as far away as London. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities to play in city centre locations, Paul McCartney and other local band leaders like Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers would approach the club manager Ray McFall asking for dates to play but they were refused for months! “Can we work here?”, “No, its a jazz club and we don’t want Rock n’ Roll here, its crap” he’d say, but they persisted. Finally he agreed to try Rock n’ Roll at the lunch time sessions, to try and catch the young workers who popped in for a soup, cheese roll and a soft drink.

(Photography by Steve Hale)

The Beatles first played on Tuesday 21st March 1961. The place was packed, it wasn’t long before Ray McFall realised there was a huge following for the pop groups and he put the Beatles on at the night time sessions also. This was the start of the revolution, people flocked to the Cavern but they came for the Rock n’ Roll instead of the Jazz!. The Beatles went on to perform nearly 300 times at the Cavern, their final performance was on the 3rd August 1963.

“We loved the Cavern best of all, it was fantastic. We never lost our identification with the audience.... we were playing to our own fans who were just like us. They would come in at lunchtime to hear us and bring their sandwiches to eat. We would do the same, eating our lunch as we played. It was spontaneous, everything just happened” - George Harrison.

Sam Leach -
The Beatles first promoter in Liverpool presented the Beatles on various stages in Liverpool 49 times, including the famed “Operation big beat 1961”, at which 3000 people paid to see the Beatles perform along with other bands including Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Gerry and the Pacemakers at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton .

Bob Wooler -
The legendary Cavern D.J., who introduced the Beatles on every occasion they played at the club. A compère, stage manager and promoter, Bob was Liverpool's equivalent to Sam Goldwyn when it came to coining phrases which became established among the music fraternity - they were referred to as "Woolerisms". He called the Cavern "The best of the cellars", Brian Epstien was referred to as "The Nemperor" and possibly his most famous was - “turn the hi-fi high and the lights down low and away we go!”

Allan Williams -
Local entrepruneur, his main enterprise was the “Jacaranda” coffee bar and chess club. John, Paul, and George would hang around the club for endless hours making one cup of coffee last all day. The penniless Beatles were offered food in exchange for painting the basement with motifs which they gladly accepted. Examples of the work remain to this day. Allen was instrumental in taking the Beatles to Hamburg where the band learned their trade doing up to 16 hour sets.

The Cavern Club - Fact & Fiction

Myth One - The Cavern was knocked down in 1973 and in its place a car park was built.

The Facts :
The Cavern club was and still is a basement cellar club. The buildings above the Cavern were fruit warehouses. These were knocked down in 1973. The Cavern was below ground level thus it was not knocked down, it was simply filled in.

The Reason for the Myth :
When the fruit warehouses were knocked down, it left an open space within the city centre. This open ground was used by the locals as a car parking space. A car park was never built, as the mythology would have you believe.

Myth Two - The original Cavern was on the opposite side of the road from the Cavern Club today.

The Facts :
The Cavern today occupies 50% of its original site. The address of the Cavern in 1957 when it opened was 10 Mathew Street. The address today is also 10 Mathew Street.

The Reason for the Myth :
The fruit warehouses above the Cavern were demolished in 1973 and the Cavern Club closed down. The Council were planning to use the Cavern basements for improvements to the Merseyside Underground Railway system (which never did materialise). The Cavern Club was filled in and remained intact until 1982.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Cavern, Mr Roy Adams opened a new club opposite the original site calling it the Cavern. He erected a new 30 foot Cavern sign over the new doorway and an accompanying plaque which stated "The Cavern Club today now stands opposite from the original site". In 1973 this sign was relevant and the information on the plaque was correct.

In 1974 the new Cavern Club folded. Roy Adams launched the club again as the Revolution, which also folded. Eventually, success was found on this new site with the launch of yet another venue, Erics, which gained a worldwide reputation during the punk rock revolution. Sadly, when punk died, so did Erics.

However, throughout the Revolution and Erics era, the 30 foot Cavern sign remained, as did the plaque. Indeed, both remained in situ until 1992, when the severe winter gales finally blew the sign down, nearly 20 years after it was originally erected.

In December 1980 John Lennon was murdered. Local architect David Blackhouse won approval fro plans to reopen the original Cavern, which remained intact underground. He envisaged the reopening and redevelopment of the area as a lasting tribute to John. In late 1981 The Cavern was knocked down. The original bricks saved, treated and utilised in the re-building of The Cavern on its original site to its original dimensions. In 1984 The Cavern Club reopened on its original site. The timetable of events is irrefutable, so why is there any confusion? Quite simply, Roy Adams's sign and plaque remained in position from 1973-1992. When The Cavern reopened on its original site, many locals believed the 30 foot sign and plaque on the opposite side of the street were indicators of the site of the original Cavern Club. This is course is absurd. From 1984-1992 this sign was not relevant and the information of the plaque was incorrect.

Myth Three - Next to the Cavern Club is a car park (open space). Below that car park are remains from the original club.

The Facts :
This is indeed a car park next to the Cavern Club now. David Blackhouse can confirm that all this area under the car park was filled in. There are no remains of the original club under the car park.

The Reason for the Myth :
This appears to be a combination of the two myths i.e the club was knocked down for a car park and the site of the original Cavern Club is not the site of the original. The fact remains that the Cavern today occupies 50% of its original site.

Conclusion

There has been a Cavern Club on the site of 10 Mathew Street for 40 years. The Cavern Club closed from 1973-1984. The original club was knocked down in 1982 as the site was excavated and although the club was intact the foundations were unsafe.

The bricks of the Club were saved and treated and used in the building of the Cavern Club, which stands today. The original Cavern plans were used to reconstruct today's Cavern. The arches, dimensions and the floor space in the front of the club are more or less exact to the original club. There are three major differences:

1.The club today only occupies 50% of the original site.

2.The club is in fact deeper than the original club. In 1962 you would have to descend 18 stairs; today you will descend 30 steps.

3.When you entered the Cavern basement the stage was directly in front of you. Today the stage is to the left.

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