I grew up with The Beatles.

Er, with their music, I mean. I obviously wasn’t raised with the Fab Four, which is a shame really, because this would’ve been a much more interesting post if I had been, wouldn’t it?

But anyway!

As I was saying, I grew up listening to The Beatles: my parents were both teenagers in the 60s, which meant they got to witness Beatlemania in real time – a fact I will be forever jealous of – and, of course, had all of their records, most of which I knew off by heart by the time I was old enough to even know who the band were. (I do remember looking at their photos and thinking Paul McCartney was the most handsome man who’d ever lived, though…)

Once I started getting ‘properly’ into music in my teens, though, I did a deep-dive into all of the albums, and, because I was completely incapable of being ‘normal’ about the things I liked, I also read up on the band obsessively, watched all of the movies and documentaries I could find, and generally immersed myself in all things Beatles.

I had a print of the Revolver album cover on the wall in my university halls of residence. A photo of John Lennon playing Imagine on his white piano (an original from inside the album) hung above my bed. I was a full-fan, in other words. And so, when my extremely generous parents announced they’d booked us all a mini-break to Liverpool to celebrate my birthday this year, it was like a dream come true.

We had two-and-a-half days in the city, which isn’t nearly long enough to see absolutely everything, unfortunately, but here’s my quick guide to what we did see on our Beatles tour of Liverpool…

Day 1: Mathew Street, The Cavern Club, and the Beatles Statues

We left Scotland at around 10:30am, having had to watch Max’s school Easter show first (A combination of The Masked Singer and the Easter story – the crossover you didn’t know you needed!), and were at our hotel just in time to check in at 3pm.

We stayed at the Maldron Hotel in the city centre. I’ll try to do a separate review post soon, but, for now, all I’ll say is that I’d definitely recommend it: not only was it a lovely hotel in general, it’s also right next to the Albert Dock (Where you’ll find attractions like The Beatles Story Museum and Beatles statues), and within easy walking distance of Mathew Street (home of the Cavern Club), plus lots of shops and restaurants.

That ‘easy walking distance’ bit was, of course, a big selling point, so, as soon as we’d checked in and taken our bags to our room, we headed right back out again for the short walk to…

Mathew Street

Mathew Street is, of course, the home of the Cavern Club, but it’s so much more than that. Just outside the entrance to the street you’ll find this stature of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, whose NEMS record store was nearby:

Then you turn the corner and find yourself in the famous street itself:

Now, as well as the Cavern Club, there’s a lot to see on Mathew Street: so much so that I haven’t listed or photographed every single thing – my advice is to take your time, wander around, and just soak up the atmosphere.

The street is pedestrianized, and is packed with pubs and live music venues, many of which have connections to The Beatles. The Grapes Pub, for instance, is where the band would drink before sets (the Cavern being alcohol-free at the time), while the White Star is where they’d go to be paid for their gigs at the Cavern, in a back room which you can still visit:

Even if you don’t go into any of these venues, however, the atmosphere on the street is buzzing, with music pouring out of various venues, and tons of Beatles references, like this statute of John Lennon:

Amazing as it was to see all of this, though, there was one venue I was most excited to see, and it is, of course…

The Cavern Club

The history of the Cavern Club can be a little bit confusing. The original club was located at 10 Mathew Street, and opened in 1957. This is where The Beatles played all those shows you’ve heard about it, and this was the original entrance:

Although the club’s address is still 10 Mathew Street, the current entrance – the one you’ll use if you visit it – is just a little further along the street, and the reason for this is that the club was closed in 1973, having been compulsory purchased in order to build a new ventilation shaft for a proposed underground railway. This didn’t go ahead, however, and the club was demolished (a fact that will never fail to amaze me – imagine just demolishing such an important piece of musical history!), and relocated across the street.

But! There’s good news too!

In the 1980s, plans were made to excavate the site of the original Cavern Club, and it was meticulously rebuilt, using around 5,000 of the original stones. The Cavern you see now is not, therefore ‘original’  – it sits at a 90-degree angle to the Cavern of the 50s and 60s and covers 70% of the footprint — however, it’s as close as it could possibly be to it, with the stage located very close to the one The Beatles would’ve played on, and exactly replicated:

I can’t even tell you how amazing it was to see this: I think most Beatles fans would feel the same.  Although we were there in the afternoon, the club was absolutely packed, with live musicians playing, and it was very easy to image what it must’ve been like back in the days when The Beatles played here.

Fortunately for us, the walls weren’t running with condensation, as they apparently used to during The Beatles sets, but the noise levels were so high my Apple Watch gave me a decibel warning, and my husband had to take our 8-year-old back outside once they’d looked around, as he was finding it a bit too noisy/clastrophobic.

My parents and I stayed for a while longer, though, to wander around and take in all of the memorabilia hanging on the walls. It’s amazing to see how many bands and musicians have played here, or just visited; it’s one of the most famous music venues in the world, and it still blows my mind that we got to see it.

After a good look around, we headed back outside and wandered down to the nearby Pier Head, where you’ll find…

The Beatles Statues

You’ll find quite a few Beatles-related statues dotted around Liverpool, but this one, which was unveiled in 2015, is one of the best known, and a must-see photo spot.

Unfortunately for us, it was starting to rain by the time we got here, and we were all absolutely freezing (which is why Max is wearing his dad’s jacket in this photo – we were a little too optimistic about the weather when we left the hotel!), so we decided to call it a day at this point, and headed back to the hotel via the Albert Dock, which has been completely revitalized and is now home to lots of shops and restaurants.

We were all quite hungry after our long day of travel and exploring, so we ducked into one of the first restaurants we found, which was Panam, where I had a very nice chicken ceasar salad and a welcome glass of wine.

And so ended day one.

Day 2: Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, George and Ringo’s Houses & The Beatles Story Museum

On day 2 of our stay we were up early, and, after breakfast in the hotel, we jumped into the car and drove to 93 High Park Street in Toxteth, where you’ll find…

The Empress Pub

… or the building that used to be The Empress pub, anyway. This was Ringo Starr’s local, and it appears on the cover of his solo album, Sentimental Journey. There’s now a fabulous mural painted on the side of the building, which is just a stone’s throw from…

Ringo Starr’s childhood home

I say ‘childhood’ home – Ringo was in his 20s when he moved out of 10 Admiral Grove, and it was amazing to me that we were able to just walk up to it and take a photo. Because it was still fairly early in the day, we had the street almost entirely to ourselves, until a private tour guide appeared with another couple (We would continue bumping into this group for the rest of the day at various other Beatles sites!). This wasn’t the case at any of the other Beatles homes, where there are tour buses and private tours arriving all the time, so if you want to avoid the crowds, an early start is a good idea!

From here, we got back into the car and headed to…

Penny Lane

We put the song on in the car as we drove down the street, and when I tell you I got *all* the feels. We happened to reach the famous ‘shelter in the middle of the roundabout’ at the exact moment it’s mentioned in the song, and… yes. Can highly recommend playing the music as you visit these sights, especially if you’re prone to getting a little bit emotional, like me.

There’s lots to see in Penny Lane, of course; the barber’s shop is still there, as the shelter, and there’s also lots of other little touches nearby, like the John Lennon statue opposite the roundabout, and this mural, which I just had to pose next to.

Next up:

George Harrison’s birthplace

George was born and spent the first few years of his life at 12 Arnold Grove, however there’s now a chain across the entrance to the street to prevent people walking up to the house, so this is the only photo I got: we happened to arrive at the same time as a bus tour, and we didn’t want to annoy the residents of the street, so we just stayed for a couple of minutes before moving on to…

Strawberry Field

The site of the former orphanage which John Lennon used to sneak into, and later memorialized in the song of the same name. It wasn’t until the next day, when we visited John’s childhood home, that we realized just how close it was – it’s literally just over the fence!

The building which housed the orphanage is no longer there, but the grounds are beautiful (although Max was disappointed not to find actual strawberry fields there…), and there’s a small museum and cafe, as well as a wonderful Beatles-themed bandstand in the grounds. We spent quite a bit of time here, but I seem to have taken video rather than photos, so the shot above is all I have to show you, unfortunately!

As I said, Strawberry Field is very close to John’s Aunt Mimi’s house, Mendips, but we had a tour of that booked for the next day, so instead we went to…

George Harrison’s childhood home

After leaving Arnold Grove, the Harrisons moved to 25 Upton Green in Speke, which is where George lived until The Beatles became famous. This house is actually now an AirBnB, so you can rent it out and sleep in George’s old room. We had to settle for taking some photos outside – again, this was quite emotional, especially for my mum, as George was her favourite Beatle.

(Side note: when we left Upton Green we drove down, but didn’t photograph, Dungeon Lane, which is close by, and provides the title of Paul McCartney’s new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. There’s really not much to see here, and the road sign had already been stolen by the time we got there even though the album had literally just been announced, but it was still cool to see it!)

Unbelievably, however, our day was not yet over, which is amazing to me because I’m tired just writing about it all. But we still had two more stops planned: the first being St. Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton, where you’ll find the grave of ‘Eleanor Rigby’:

Now, Paul McCartney claims he wasn’t aware of the existence of this grave when he wrote the song, saying the name is just a coincidence. The churchyard itself, however, is still a significant piece of Beatles history, as it was here that Paul and John met for the first time, at the St. Peter’s Church Fete, in 1957. You’ll find a lot of information relating to that meeting at our final stop for the day, which was…

The Beatles Story Museum

There are a few museums dedicated to the Beatles in Liverpool; this one is located at the Albert Dock, and literally walks you through the story of the band, from that first meeting in Woolton, until their solo careers. There’s an audio tour to listen to you as you go, and it’s incredibly dense with information and exhibits, so I’d suggest leaving at least a couple of hours for this.

After that it was finally time for dinner for us, with a quick stop en route to see the statue of Eleanor Rigby, which is just around the corner from the Cavern Club, on Stanley Street:

Day 3: Mendips and Forthlin Road

Our last day in Liverpool, and we’d saved the best for last, with guided tours of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes, which my mum had booked in advance through the National Trust, who own both homes.

You’ll find lots of info about the tours themselves on the National Trust website, but the most important thing to note is that this is the only way to actually get inside the houses (as opposed to just seeing them from outside, like we did with George and Ringo’s), and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s not cheap (I was very lucky in that my parents paid as part of my birthday present), but it’s genuinely worth every penny, and something I’d consider an absolute must-do for Beatles fans.

Our tour started at Speke Hall, which is a Tudor mansion house located not far from George Harrison’s childhood home. This is actually worth a post on its own: it doesn’t have a Beatles connection, obviously, but it’s a fascinating historic home, and we were glad we’d arrived early as it meant we were able to have a tour of it, too, before boarding the mini bus to take us to the Beatles homes.

I didn’t get the name of our driver, unfortunately, but he was hilarious, and really added to the atmosphere of this tour. It was just a short drive to our first stop, and it was done to the accompaniment of Beatles music (of course), which played us all the way to …

Mendips

Mendips was, of course, the home of John Lennon and his Aunt Mimi, and I’d seen so many photos of it that I once again felt quite emotional actually stepping inside. The house has been kept/restored almost exactly as it was in John’s time: much of the furniture is original, as all all of the fixtures and fittings, and I couldn’t get over the fact that I was touching doorhandles and windowsills that John would’ve touched too.

This tour falls into two parts: first of all the guide talks you through the various rooms on the ground floor of the house, then you’re given time to wander around by yourself. Our guide was fantastic, and really knew her stuff: she told us a bit about John’s early life in the house, and how he’d take his guitar out to the front porch (which we’re standing in front of in the photo above) to practice as he loved the acoustics there. She encouraged us to try it out for ourselves, so Max, Terry and I had a little sing-song in it later – can confirm that the acoustics were top-notch.

Upstairs, you can see John’s room, with a framed letter from Yoko Ono on the bed, talking about why she bought the house and donated it to the National Trust: allllll the emotions again.

The house is filled with memorabilia relating to John’s life here, including his old school report cards, and tons of photos etc. I could’ve quite easily spent hours wandering around here (and I would probably still never have gotten over the fact that I was in John Lennon’s actual house…), but all too soon it was time to get back onto the bus and head to…

20 Forthlin Road

… a.k.a. Paul McCartney’s childhood home.

This is a very different type of property from the detached, middle-class Mendips, and it has also been meticulously restored by the National Trust. (Side note: we are actually National Trust members anyway, but if we hadn’t been, I’d have signed up on the spot after this trip, because the work they do in preserving historic buildings like these is truly amazing…) Our guide here (and, again, I’m so annoyed I didn’t get his name!) was a former Liverpool journalist, who’d met all of the Beatles except John, and he was an absolute wealth of information and anecdotes.

As with Mendips, we were given a tour of the house (upstairs and downstairs this time), then allowed to wander around ourselves. One of the best things about Forthlin Road for me was all of the photographs on display, taken by Paul’s brother, Mike, and, in many cases, featuring the house itself. (My favourite was a shot of John and Paul writing ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ which is displayed in the exact corner of the house it was taken in). At the end of the tour, we listened to a short audio message recorded by Paul himself (yes, it made me cry), and were invited to play the living room piano, which Paul played when he visited the house as part of Carpool Karaoke a few years ago. (He also owns the original, which used to sit in its spot!)

I found visiting both of these houses hugely emotional, and found myself thinking about them for a long time after we left. As a Beatles fan, it was just amazing to know we were quite literally walking in their footsteps, and it was even better to get to do it with people who were clearly fellow fans.

If I had one complaint about any of it, it would simply be that there wasn’t enough time. There’s just so much to see that we knew we were just scratching the surface a lot of the time, and although we were primarily there for the Beatles stuff, we also really loved Liverpool in general, and know there’s so much more to the city that we didn’t get to see.

Then again, I suppose that’s just an excellent excuse to go back sometime…