Beatle bike tour of Liverpool

Being somewhat of a Beatle geek I had always meant to get around to riding one of the Beatle tour buses that take tourists to key locations in Liverpool.

However being a northerner who was born in Liverpool and grew up in the area there was no way I was going to be that uncool and besides I could walk to most of these places for free.

Except I never did walk to some of those places, or even drive.

But…

My record collecting had started proper on Matthew Street aged fifteen. Not at the much cooler and more well known Probe Records but the one next door called Backtrax. Their stock of obscure sixties and seventies soul was amazing. I’m pretty certain my Uncle Mike who’d taken me there had taken me to Probe not Backtrax.

Years later I’d often find myself driving down Penny Lane on my back from work. This was not the quickest route home but hey it’s Penny Lane.

Far too may weekends started at The Jacaranda which always gave me a thrill just being there, standing there. Performing poetry in the Philharmonic pub (the Phil), The Everyman & Paddy’s Wigwam.

Work nights out always seemed to start on Matthew Street which being honest I never much liked. Too crowded and most of the music played was far too poppy for my tastes. Inevitably a few beers later and I’m badly dancing and crying out for more. I’m seriously cringing at the memories of being drunk on Matthew Street.

Introduction

My first bike trip to Liverpool from Warrington was a one way trip, rode there and then through the city to the Pier Head to see the new Beatles statue.

It got me thinking that I could link all these locations and add in the more obscure ones to make a bike route. This was a far easier thought than it was actually mapping it out.

From my home in Warrington this was a fifty mile round trip, I could have taken the train and started in the city centre but there was far less of a challenge doing that and I was also working on my cycling stats so fifty miles would be a nice addition to my distance for the year.

The List

• L21 9HB Litherland Town Hall
• L12 7JG The Casbah
• L7 8XB 38 Kensington Road (Phillips Record Studio)
• L36 4JJ 72 Western Avenue
• L1 1JA Ma Egerton’s
• L1 1JE Liverpool Empire Theatre
• L1 6AA Four lads who shook the world
• L2 6PT The White Star
• L2 6RE The Cavern & Matthew Street
• L2 6RR A Hard Days Night Hotel
• L2 3SW Liverpool Town Hall
• L3 1DP Pier Head
• L3 4AA Yellow Submarine
• L3 4AD The Beatles Story Museum
• L3 4FN Lennon monument
• L1 7BL Gambier Terrace
• L1 9HF LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts)
• L1 9BB Ye Olde Cracke
• L1 4BL The Blue Angel
• L1 4BW The Jacaranda
• L1 2TZ Rodney Street
• L1 9BX The Philharmonic
• L8 8BH 37 Admiral Grove
• L17 1AJ Sefton Park
• L18 1JX Dovedale Infant School
• L18 1DE Penny Lane / Sgt Pepper Bistro
• L15 9HP 9 Newcastle Road
• L15 8HP12 Arnold Grove
• L16 5EY Childwall Abbey Hotel
• L25 6EJ Strawberry Field
• L25 7SA Mendips – 251 Menlove Avenue
• L18 9TN 20 Forthlin Road
• L25 7RH 120a Allerton Road
• L24 1YD John Lennon Airport
• L24 2UL 25 Upton Green
• L24 2UA 12 Ardwick Road

Getting there

The first ten miles through Sankey Valley park are fairly gentle and follows the Sankey / St Helen’s Canal, it’s a route I’ve done many times. This route starts at Spike Island in Widnes and would originally have been used in our industrial past. I was hoping to rejoin the route at Spike Island if I could navigate my way out of Liverpool.

The route ends at Carr Mill Dam and from here it’s an 8.5 mile ride down the East Lancs road until reaching Norris Green & Croxteth. There’s a cycle path all the way with some gradual but still grinding hills. It’s quiet as well despite the odd car thundering past at 60 miles an hour. Lockdown has ended but I’m still furloughed and it would seem traffic is sparse.

Soon you pass through Anfield although you don’t see the stadium but you do pass Everton’s football ground, Goodison and then it’s down through Everton valley towards the city centre. As I reach Lime Street I’m now on 25 miles in total and halfway through the trip.

The Casbah

A club owned by Mona Best (Pete’s mum) and the first venue The Beatles performed at. I left this venue out of the trip as it was a long hike out to West Derby to see what is an unremarkable house. Although I did visit on a previous attempt at this trip.

The Casbah

Further out still is Litherland Town Hall – Site of their ‘Welcome Home’ show following their first trip to Hamburg, The Beatles’ 27 December 1960 performance at Litherland Town Hall was a breakthrough show.

I think I saw the town hall mentioned in Phillip Normans Shout, it stuck in my mind and took on weird legendary status. The town hall is now a medical centre so not much point visiting that one either.

Liverpool Empire

The Beatles played The Empire many times, their last hometown gig was here on Dec. 5, 1965. I remember my Aunt Susan taking me here some time in the mid seventies for a pantomime.

This is where the tour of the city centre starts. Many of the locations are within a few square miles. It is however difficult navigating in a busy city centre and I know some of the route will be challenging. It isn’t as busy and feels more like a Sunday in the Pool.

Ma Egerton’s

Opposite Lime Street Station, itself mentioned in the reworking of Maggie Mae on the Let It Be album is Ma Egerton’s, a Beatle hang out and on the same block as the Liverpool Empire, apparently Sinatra drank a pint of Guinness here.
I saw Amy Winehouse at the nearby 051 club as Back to Black was released.

Matthew Street

Leaving Lime Street was difficult due to road works and one way systems, I turned right near the Adelphi and got down to the main shopping area which is all paved and leads on to Matthew Street.

For a long time the only recognition there was of The Beatles was the ‘Four lads who shook the world’ statue by Arthur Dooley which was erected in 1974.
I do find it hard to believe the conspiracy theory I’ve read about this:

Beatle conspiracy number 9, number 9

Is it a little odd that the sculptor would say that Paul was depicted as a cherub “for obvious reasons?”
Or does that just sound odd in 2020 having had a bizarre Paul is dead theory rumble on for 50 years?
Paul probably was still thought of that way in 1974, the pretty Beatle.
As much as the notion of Faul McCartney makes me laugh I’ve never bought it.

The cherub was stolen in 1975 & returned 30 years later with an anonymous phone apology, apparently a prank gone wrong.
The caller left it in a carrier bag outside The Cavern.

The conspiracy theory wonders how someone could climb up and steal the cherub without being noticed.

The North West of England was tough in the seventies, I was there.
Tin baths, outside bogs (toilets) & buckets on the stairs. It was grime and grit, it was **** Quite literally buckets of **** on the landing (top of the stairs.)

After the pubs closed at 11 it was also dead unless you got a stay behind. There were night clubs, not as many as there are now but even they shut at 2.00 am.
From 3.00 am until the milkman started his milk rounds at 4.30am just nothing. So remarkably easy to nick anything in those days, well those nights.

I’d always liked the equal amount of blue & red which represented the entire city who have always been divided between Liverpool & Everton though none of The Beatles were football fans.

When I watched clips of The Kop in the 1960’s singing “She Loves You” I knew exactly what that felt like being in a tight sea of people watching the match.

It was scary but breathtaking swaying & singing with thousands.

I think once at the Gwladys Street end of Goodison Park was enough for me. It was against Southampton and Everton scored the only goal of the game at the other end, which I couldn’t see because of a light fog that reduced visibility. The lack of sight didn’t stop the entire end moving forward as one and thankfully dispersing moments later. To quote Graham Taylor “Did I not like that”.

I saw Everton one more time in the Milk Cup in 1982 against Aston Villa, their fans in the upper tier threw piss all over us.

Later that evening me & my mates all got bags of chips from the Chinese chippy drenched in soy sauce (it was all the rage in the early eighties, honestly it was) and jumped on the bus back home.

Getting to the end of the bag of chips and I find a yellow pubic hair.

I was pretty sure it had been fried and it didn’t mean that Chinese people had yellow pubic hair and any lingering doubts were soon put to rest when I got heavily into The Beatles and discovered the Two Virgins album. The first two naked people I ever saw, thanks for that John & Yoko.

The Cavern

I was able to slowly ride all the way down to The Cavern, where it all began or at least it began once they’d honed their craft in Hamburg.
Except this isn’t the original Cavern, the original was demolished in 1973 following a compulsory purchase order to build a ventilation shaft for an underground railway that was never built.

Sure the new Cavern was built with the bricks from the original Cavern but it was built on the other side of Matthew Street, directly opposite.

So this isn’t the Cavern The Beatles played 292 times and this isn’t the Cavern Brian Epstein walked in and saw The Beatles on November 9th, 1961.
Nor is it the Cavern Brian Epstein wrote about in his biography “A cellarfull of noise”, supposedly Lennon said he should have called it “A cellarfull of boys’”

No, because that Cavern was on the other side of the street.

Not that we are splitting hairs.

We are however on Matthew Street

Eleanor Rigby

Most of this area is now pedestrianised I think it’s safe to say we’ve all learned something from the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre. Norwich pedestrianisation

Suffice to say this was the easiest part of the trip and I was knocking of locations at a decent pace.

The Eleanor Rigby sculpture with drunk sleeping guy. From here it’s a quick scoot down Dale Street to reach the town hall. Incidentally Dale Street was where the lead singer of The Zutons almost beat me up for apparently looking shady, thankfully a mutual friend calmed it all down.

Liverpool Town Hall

Liverpool town hall where The Beatles were given a civic reception 10th July 1964

Pier Head

Down Water Street was easy enough but reaching The Strand I decided to stay on the wide pavement until I could cross over towards Pier Head and the Three Graces.

Erected in 2015 & sculpted by Andrew Edwards, officially opened by the Mayor of Liverpool & Julia Baird (John Lennon’s sister.)

Each statue has small personal details. Paul has a camera, John has two acorns in his cupped hand, George’s coat belt has Sanskrit writing and Ringo’s boot has 8 on it which is a nod to L8, the postcode of the area he came from, Dingle.

Albert Dock

A little further on I reach the Dock and am greeted by Billy Fury.

The Beatles aren’t the only statues of Liverpool born entertainers in the city. So far I know about Cilla Black outside The Cavern and one of Ken Dodd in Lime Street station. There’s another one of John Lennon which the last time I checked was in a shopping mall.

I’d recommend this if you haven’t been before, obviously. They do add to the collection and have special exhibits which means I probably need to visit again just not today.

Gambier Terrace

From here it was a ride up Duke Street and the Knowledge Quarter. I lived for a short spell up this end of town and hadn’t even realised LIPA was so close. That one off my list and it was over to Gambier Terrace. Okay this was one of the slightly more obscure locations and I doubt it would be on anyone’s radar but John Lennon lived for a while at number 3 with Stuart Sutcliffe.

The Sunday tabloid The People ran an expose on the “Beatnik horror” Britain was facing on 24th July 1960 which was potentially Lennon’s first time in a national newspaper.

For those reasons I added it. Not sure I still agree with that reasoning. It’s a house. A big house.

The image shows a bearded Allan Williams, first Beatle manager. Stuart Sutcliffe & possibly John Lennon with his back to the camera.

Liverpool Philharmonic

A favourite Lennon hangout, it’s also where McCartney performed a surprise gig on a visit to Liverpool with James Corden in June 2018.

The weird structure at the end of the street is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral otherwise known as Paddy’s Wigwam

Paul McCartney surprise gig

Blue Angel

Pete Best auditioned to join The Beatles here on 12th August 1960.

Bob Dylan & The Rolling Stones played here in the 60’s. Judy Garland was ejected from the club after the local premiere of A Hard Days Night.

I have never seen this club open although I’m assured it is.

Blue Angel

From here it’s a five minute ride down to The Jac.

The Jacaranda

Opened in 1958 by first Beatle manager Alan Williams.
Lennon wrote One After 909 here, it was a key base for them and the location they left Liverpool for Hamburg from driven by Williams and accompanied by Lord Woodbine who some have called the sixth Beatle which I’d probably better than joining the list of fifth Beatles. How many fifth Beatles?

From here it’s a three mile ride to Penny Lane through Liverpool’s semi leafy Georgian Quarter before reaching Toxteth.

When I performed poetry my favourite review of me was I had a style that was “straight off the street and onto the stage.”

Even I lost my street the night my car var broke down in Toxteth. Waiting hours for the mechanic on the coldest night of the year I of course put my hood up as I sat waiting, freezing and steaming the car up. Dozing off someone tapped sharply on the window, hand rolling the window down I saw a copper holding a pepper spray ready to spray.

Once we established that I wasn’t a getaway driver and was in fact starting to become hypothermic I was bundled into their van, warmed up and then treated to a back seat in a car chase. They sorted out a tow truck and when he eventually arrived at 3am he immediately pointed out the women still working on the streets even at 4am, I’m sure that happened in St. Helens too I just never saw things like that, I certainly hadn’t clocked on that’s what they were doing in front of me. The naïveté of my twenties.

Penny Lane

Penny Lane & the “shelter in the middle of the roundabout.” No longer a roundabout.

Dovedale Primary School was Lennon’s first school and right next to Penny Lane. Not really a good idea to be taking pictures of primary schools, so I didn’t even go and I saw this anyway.

Dovedale no cameras

It’s just a school, nothing special nothing sacred.

Strawberry Field

Two miles, one turning and a straight road takes me from Penny Lane past Wavertree to Strawberry Field which is quite easily missed and I somehow managed to pass it twice which was annoying because one of the times was down a steep hill. I got there eventually. I wouldn’t describe myself as feeling underwhelmed, they were smaller than I’d imagined but would have looked imposing yet friendly to a five year old, as would the gardens.

The line “and nothing to get hung about” was a something Lennon would say to his Aunt Mimi when she chastised him for playing in the garden “They can’t hang you for it Mimi”

Billy Shears refers to a character in the imaginary Sgt Pepper band, the conspiracy theory reasons that Billy Shears was in fact a real person who replaced Paul when he supposedly died and that in using the name on Pepper The Beatles were sending out clues.
Paul was introduced as William Shears in the movie Give My Regards To Broad Street.

Menlove Avenue

Down the hill from here and I’m onto Menlove Avenue.

The front porch was used by Lennon & McCartney for practice, the good acoustics mentioned by both.

This was the point I realised I wasn’t going to get anywhere else other than St Peters. Suddenly my pre trip insistence that nothing less than visiting every location would fulfil the purist ideal of the trip didn’t stand up at the 40 mile mark with aching legs and at least ten miles to home. I slightly regretted not going to Forthlin Road but like Mendips I couldn’t go in anyway.

St Peters Church

Seriously the hill up to this church almost finished me off, unbelievably steep. There was a lovely lady who was tending to the graves who instinctively knew I was looking for the Eleanor Rigby grave and pointed it out to me, she kindly took me around at a distance of course. I didn’t expect this as honestly it must get boring dealing with lots of Beatle nuts? Maybe there aren’t as many as I think? Maybe.

This is where John Lennon & Paul McCartney first met on 6th July 1957 at the church fete.

Weirdly there is a gravestone for Eleanor Rigby. It’s also where legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley is buried.

This was the hardest part of the route, traffic had picked up and the area was confusing. A few wrong turns aside I managed the further six miles via Halewood and into Widnes. Suddenly I was at Spike Island scene of the legendary Stone Roses gig, which I didn’t got to. Finally on the Sankey canal cycle route and only five miles from home.

The best things that came out of this trip were I realised how much history I have with Liverpool and how much I love the city.

How I’m an ever bigger Beatle geek than I realised but how I’ve managed to quash any notions of ever getting on a Beatle tour bus.

Locations not visited

• White Star pub – Brian Epstein used to pay The Beatles wages in the back room of this pub.
• Hard Days Night Hotel.
• Yellow Submarine – a rather large model.
• Ye Olde Cracke pub – A favourite Lennon hangout.
• 37 Admiral Grove, Dingle – Ringo’s home of 20 years
• 9 Madryn Street – Ringo was born here and lived here for three months. I had no intention of visiting it although that a government minister would sign off a demolition order on it and then try and go back on the order is just weird. Save Ringos House
• 9 Newcastle Road – Lennon’s first home, lived briefly there until the age of 5 with his mother.
• Childwall Abbey Hotel was a location John, Paul & George first played as a trio under the name The Japage 3 at the wedding of George’s older brother Harry on 20th December 1958. As a location to visit on a bike it doesn’t fit and certainly didn’t allow me to link it to others and create a flowing route.
• 12 Arnold Grove – George Harrison’s home until the age of six.
• 25 Upton Green – George Harrison’s home from the age of six.
• 20 Forthlin Road – McCartney’s childhood home. Operated and owned by the National Trust.
• 12 Ardwick Road, Speke – A former McCartney home.
• 120a Allerton Road, Woolton Also known as Dairy Cottage, was owned by Lennon’s Uncle George.