Thursday’s drive from Wrexham took about an hour, with the Queensway Tunnel carrying us beneath the River Mersey & into the heart of Liverpool.
We left the car in a parking garage & walked a short distance to The Vibe Plant Based Café, where Amanda ordered a hazelnut hot chocolate.
For breakfast she ordered Faux Rocher pancakes, which ended up being too sweet & with tasteless pancakes.
Figuring it was nearly autumn, I skipped the mocha in favor of a pumpkin spiced latte, which was a bit disappointing to be honest.
The saving grace was the tofu egg scramble & whipped avocado on sourdough toast, which were really good. After yesterday’s stellar lunch at Lot 11 in Wrexham, The Vibe was an overall mediocre experience.
The Beatles Statue along the Liverpool Waterfront.
“Roll up, roll up. The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away.” At the nearby Royal Albert Docks we boarded our Magical Mystery Tour bus for the 12:30 tour. (No psychedelics involved!)
From the bus looking down at 9 Madryn St (near the end on the left) where Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) was born in the "Welsh Streets" area of Toxteth/Dingle. The next street to the right is Powis St, which was a major filming location for Peaky Blinders.
Ringo moved about 2 blocks away to 10 Admiral Grove where he lived as a small child until The Beatles found fame. This Ringo Star mural on High Park St sits between his two former houses.
“Penny Lane is in my ears & in my eyes, there beneath the blue suburban skies.”
The OG Penny Lane sign, signed by Paul McCartney during Carpool Karaoke with host James Corden in June 2018 (no longer discernible). (Taken Friday)
The old fire house near Penny Lane has been converted to housing but retains elements of its original purpose.
“Penny Lane, there is a fireman with an hourglass and in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen. He likes to keep his fire engine clean. It's a clean machine.”
The “shelter in the middle of a roundabout.” (Taken Friday)
“Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout, a pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray. And though she feels as if she's in a play, she is anyway.”
“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one..” (Taken Friday)
Our bus stopped next in front of this pub to visit George’s birth home. The tour guide said we could use their loo if needed—the irony was not lost on him! 😂
George Harrison was born on this cul-de-sac in the small two-up two-down Victorian terraced house with the blue plaque at 12 Arnold Grove.
“Let me take down ‘cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.” John Lennon regularly "bunked" over the stone perimeter wall to explore the wild, unmanicured gardens of the Salvation Army children's home (orphanage) at Strawberry Field.
John added an “s” to the song title Strawberry Fields Forever. He used to sit in a particular tree there, thus the lyric, “No one I think is in my tree.”
He lived with his Aunt Mimi at the time & she used to get upset with his visits. He was dismissive, saying no one was going to hang him for it, thus the lyric, “And nothing to get hung about.”
The semi-detached property at 251 Menlove Ave, which belonged to John's Aunt Mimi & her husband George Smith. John moved here at the age of five after his mother was persuaded it would be better for him to live with his aunt. The house was closed for filming. They are currently filming four movies, one about each of the Fab Four. Apparently, the idea is to see all four films & thereby collectively “experience” The Beatles.
Our final stop was here where the McCartney family lived in a modest mid-terraced home at #20.
Paul’s room was above the front door & it was here that he & John wrote & rehearsed many of their early songs.
Paul’s mother was a midwife who was often called Mother Mary, so the lyric is about her rather than the Virgin Mary: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom: let it be.”
Paul McCartney auditioned for the Liverpool Cathedral choir in 1953, when he was 11, and was not accepted. (Taken Friday)
In 1991, nearly four decades after being rejected as a choirboy, McCartney returned to Liverpool Cathedral to premiere his own Liverpool Oratorio with the cathedral choir. (Taken Friday)
Liverpool Cathedral has the distinction of being the longest cathedral in the world, stretching 619 feet from end to end—a breathtaking scale that makes its vast interior feel almost endless.
On our way out of town on Friday, we stopped at St Peter’s Church in Woolton. On July 6, 1957, Paul saw John perform with The Quarrymen at the church’s annual fête (at the church hall across the street at the back of this image). A mutual friend introduced them & Paul then impressed John by playing several rock ’n’ roll songs & demonstrating how to tune a guitar.
Paul & John spent time hanging out & sunbathing near this graveyard as teenagers. It is believed they borrowed the name Eleanor Rigby from this headstone. “Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been; lives in a dream.”
“Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came.”
Paul originally named the character "Father McCartney" in early drafts of the song, basing him on his own father, Jim McCartney. He changed the name to McKenzie because he felt embarrassed using his actual family name in the lyrics. He picked the rhyming, similar-sounding Irish surname to distance his family from the sad story.
Coincidentally? a separate headstone with the name McKenzie is also located a few yards from Eleanor’s. “Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave.”
Our Magical Mystery Bus with driver Dennis & guide Del (our photographer).
Mathew Street—Home of The Cavern & birthplace of The Beatles.
Intending to visit The Cavern, we entered The Cavern Pub instead at 5 Mathew St. It was a happy accident though because both are operated by the same company & the pub had loads of music memorabilia on display—including Amanda’s beloved MJ!
In Sep 1988, at the height of his fame, Michael Jackson came to Liverpool to play at Aintree Racecourse, where he Included a special Beatles Medley in his set. Some 125,000 flocked to see him, then the largest concert ever performed by a solo artist in the UK. Michael donated an official staff Tour Jacket to be raffled off to support Radio City's Cash for Kids charity. The Cavern proudly beat all other bids to be able to exhibit this piece of local musical history.
The Cavern at 8–10 Mathew St is the legendary underground live music venue that originally opened in 1957, where The Beatles played 292 times. If you’re interested, look up more on how they got their start here, it’s truly interesting.
Though the original cellar was filled in during 1973 for a railway project, it was meticulously rebuilt nearby on 70% of its original footprint using original salvaged bricks & reopened in 1984.
The club was built in the basement of a warehouse on Mathew St, where the existing brick-vaulted cellar provided an inexpensive, naturally sound-insulated space for a jazz-turned-rock-and-roll club.
The subterranean setting also helped create the dark, intimate, almost cave-like atmosphere that became part of the Cavern’s identity—and its name. Check out this Local Group!
Today, live music is still performed here every day. It will come as no surprise, though, that during peak tourist hours, playing The Beatles is obligatory.
I think this is meant to look spiritual or inspirational, but it comes off creepy.
We ate dinner at Down the Hatch, an all-vegan restaurant.
Amanda had a Caesar salad, side of baked mac & cheese, & garlic bread.
I had a an Italian herb meatball patty burger. Perhaps our expectations have been raised by all the exceptional food we’ve enjoyed so far, but Down the Hatch earns a decidedly middling B− from us.
After dinner we grabbed limited belongings from our car in the parking garage, walked to the Premier Inn Liverpool City Centre (Lime Street), checked in, dropped our gear, & took a bus to the Philharmonic Dining Rooms.
The magnificent Philharmonic Dining Rooms—“The Phil” to locals—is a Grade I-listed Victorian pub.
Built between 1898-1900 opposite the Philharmonic Hall, this “gin palace” is renowned for its lavish Victorian interior—stained glass, carved mahogany, mosaics, ornate plasterwork, & even its famous pink-marble gentlemen’s toilets.
Paul McCartney performed at the pub as a young musician & returned in 2018 with James Corden, when the pair filmed a surprise performance for Carpool Karaoke.
McCartney’s impromptu appearance with Corden brought the legendary Liverpool pub—and its connection to the Beatles—back into the spotlight.
