The Beatles In Liverpool
No Liverpool band is ever likely to eclipse The Beatles . Mathew Street, ten minutes' walk west of Lime Street station, is where The Cavern used to be - once the womb of Merseybeat, it's become a little enclave of Beatles nostalgia, most of it bogus and typified by the Cavern Walks Shopping Centre , with an awful bronze statue of the boys in the atrium. The Cavern itself was where the band was first spotted by Brian Epstein; the club was partly demolished in 1973, though a latterday successor, the Cavern Club at 10 Mathew St ( ), complete with souvenir shop, was rebuilt on half of the original site, using, it's claimed, the original bricks. The Cavern Pub , immediately across the way, boasts a coiffed Lennon lounging against the wall and an exterior "Wall of Fame", highlighting both the names of all the bands who appeared at the club between 1957 and 1973 (etched into the bricks) and brass discs commemorating every Liverpool No. 1 chart-topper since 1952. At the Albert Dock, The Beatles Story in the Britannia Vaults (daily: April-Sept 10am-6pm; Oct-March 10am-5pm; GBP7.95) traces The Beatles' rise from the early days at The Cavern to their disparate solo careers. Dedicated pilgrims will get more from the two-hour Magical Mystery Tour (daily tours; book through Cavern City Tours, tel 0151/236 9091, or Mersey Tourism, tel 0151/709 3285; GBP10.95; GBP15 with The Beatles Story), which leaves Albert Dock, visiting Strawberry Fields (a Salvation Army home), Penny Lane (an ordinary suburban street) and the terraced houses where the lads grew up. One of these, 20 Forthlin Rd , home of the McCartney family from 1955-1964, has been preserved by the National Trust and is open to visitors who duly tramp round the 1950s terraced house where John and Paul wrote songs and where Paul's mother Mary died. The house is only accessible on a pre-booked minibus tour (June-Oct Wed-Sat; GBP5.50; NT), which leaves six times daily from Speke Hall and the Albert Dock - the price includes the tour, the minibus to Forthlin Road and free access to Speke Hall grounds. Beatlemania is wholeheartedly celebrated on August Bank Holiday Monday (the last Monday of the month) at the culmination of the annual International Beatles Week and Mathew Street Festival , filling the town centre with wannabe moptops.
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