The Cavern Club
The most famous cellar in pop history was filled with rubble in 1973. The Cavern Club you can visit today was rebuilt from some of its own bricks.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Mathew Street, Liverpool city centre
- Original opening
- 16 January 1957, founded by Alan Sytner as a jazz club
- Original setting
- Cellars of a Victorian fruit warehouse, with three parallel brick-vaulted tunnels
- Beatles appearances
- Around 292 between 1961 and 1963, ending on 3 August 1963
- Closure of the original
- 1973, when the cellars were filled in
- Rebuilt
- 1984, using thousands of original bricks
- Inspiration
- Le Caveau de la Huchette, a jazz cellar in Paris
- Famous visitors on stage
- The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Paul McCartney's return in 1999
A Paris jazz cellar, transplanted to Liverpool
The Cavern began with jazz, not Merseybeat. Alan Sytner, a Liverpool doctor's son and keen jazz fan, visited the Parisian cellar club Le Caveau de la Huchette and decided Liverpool needed something similar. He found the right place in the basement of a warehouse on Mathew Street, a lane of old commercial buildings near the docks. Three long, narrow, arched tunnels ran side by side, linked by smaller arches. The cellar was damp, cramped and poorly ventilated, which made it atmospheric and also a little alarming. The club opened on 16 January 1957, with jazz on the bill. It was no instant home of rock 'n' roll.
The skiffle band that got told off
Skiffle was the craze that bridged the gap, and on 7 August 1957 a Liverpool group called the Quarrymen played the Cavern. Their leader was a teenage John Lennon. The story goes that the jazz-minded Sytner was unimpressed when they slipped into rock 'n' roll, and sent a note up to the stage asking them to stop. The tale is told so often that it is now part of the building's folklore, and it is a good reminder that the room was never built for the music that made it famous. Ray McFall bought the club in 1959. Under him the Cavern's programme broadened, and the beat groups of Liverpool moved in.
Lunchtime in a sweaty cellar
The Beatles first played the Cavern on 9 February 1961, at a lunchtime session. Over the next two and a half years they returned around 292 times, finishing on 3 August 1963. On 9 November 1961 a local record-shop manager named Brian Epstein came down the steps to see them. He soon became their manager, and the rest of the story is one of the best-known in popular music. The cellar was famously hot. Crowds packed into the vaults, condensation ran down the walls, and the music echoed off the brickwork. Lunchtime sessions let office workers and shop assistants squeeze in a gig on their break. Cilla Black, later a huge star, worked at the club as a cloakroom girl before she became a singer. Other bands came through too, including the Rolling Stones in 1963 and the Who in 1965. The Beatles were the ones who stuck.
The night the cellar was buried
The original Cavern did not fade away so much as get filled in. The club closed in 1973, and the cellars were largely filled with rubble during construction work connected to the Merseyrail underground loop. A ventilation shaft for the railway was planned for the site. It was a dramatic fate for a venue now regarded as a pop shrine. For years afterwards, the old Cavern was effectively a patch of buried history under the street. The replacement came in 1984, rebuilt close to the old spot using thousands of the original bricks. Because of this, you can say with some justice that you are standing in the Cavern, even if it is a careful recreation. It is also a little shorter and tidier than the sweaty original.
What to look for on Mathew Street
Mathew Street has become a pilgrimage route. Outside, look for the Wall of Fame, which carries the names of acts who have played at the Cavern. Nearby, a bronze statue shows John Lennon leaning against a wall in the street where it all began. Inside, the arches are the star. The three barrel-vaulted tunnels give the club its distinctive shape, and the stage still sits at the end of a brick-lined room that feels like a cave. Live music is played there regularly, which is the point of the place. In December 1999, Paul McCartney returned for a gig to promote an album of rock 'n' roll covers, his first time on the Cavern stage in 36 years. The place has been drawing the faithful ever since. Late-summer Beatles celebrations continue through International Beatleweek, including events at the Cavern. The Mathew Street Music Festival ended after its 2012 edition.
Notable people
- Alan Sytner
- Ray McFall
- John Lennon
- Paul McCartney
- George Harrison
- Ringo Starr
- Brian Epstein
- Cilla Black
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