Visiting Liverpool: Beatles places | Page 9 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

An interesting article from Time Out magazine…

Is Liverpool getting fed up with Beatles tourism?

Some further thoughts sb. If you’re planning a longer trip in the future, I wouldn’t necessarily bother with a Beatles-themed bus tour in the afternoon.

Firstly, I would be surprised if your “historic Liverpool” tour in the morning ignores The Beatles, so you might just find yourself driving past some of the same places in the morning and afternoon, as well as the time traveling out to the suburbs for drive-by glimpses of places could be better spent around central Liverpool exploring the sites there.

I’d save The Beatles Story for your next trip as, while a good walkthrough of the history, it is a bit like a theme park exhibition, and doesn’t have as many genuine artifacts as you’d hope.

The Liverpool Beatles Museum (which is what the Magical Beatles Museum is now known as) on Mathew Street would be the better choice in my opinion, with around 1000 items from Roag’s collection on display across three floors, and regularly rotated so you’d likely see different things there on your next trip.

You also have a John statue on the street, the “Four Lads Who Shook The World” plaque, the Cavern wall of fame on the outside of the Cavern Pub (which is roughly where the original Cavern was), The Grapes, the new Cavern Club, and just around the corner another pub they used, The White Star. Both the Grapes and WS mark their Beatles associations.

Then there’s a short walk to the statue of Brian AG paid for before going down to the Pier Head. The distances aren’t large. I remember AG being surprised that Liverpool, at least the city centre, is quite compact.

Down at the Pier Head you’ve got The Beatles statue, the Liverpool Museum (which, like many UK state museums, is free entry — though to see the St. Peter’s stage you have to see a short animated film which I can’t recall if there was a charge for, AG would be able to tell you as she did our iterinery a little like a military man ). You might also want to take a ferry ‘cross the Mersey and back on ferry’s I believe still have Peter Blake dazzle ship paint designs on them.

Then you could take a cab up to the top of the city centre to avoid the uphill walk, maybe to Ye Cracke, the art school pub which has The Dissenters plaque (John’s other group). You also have the art school up that way, the Liverpool Institute — now the Paul backed LIPA, Gambier Terrace where Stuart and John lived (though don’t ask AG where as she’d have you sitting outside the wrong one insisting she was right because she’d checked her guide book and me, of all people, had the address wrong — which I didn’t!)

Plenty of other places up that way or on the walk back down the hill, including the Jacuranda and the Philharmonic (where Paul did his James Corden performance).

Then maybe end up back on Mathew Street, maybe a meal at the Cavern Pub, and an evening at the Cavern Club.

Just how I’d do with an afternoon and evening to play with.