“The film took all day and finished about 5.30pm. During a break I recall sitting in the stalls with Ringo Starr who admired the theatre and asked how one went about joining the Club. Sadly, he never did!”

They appeared at the Little Theatre, in Hoghton Street, on 27 August 1963 before a private audience for the filming of the BBC documentary ‘The Mersey Sound.’ 

The dates I have for the Beatles playing in Southport are as follows:

The Queens Hotel
Situated on the promenade. It was the venue for one Beatles gig on 6 December 1962, in a section of the hotel on the ground floor called Club Django, which generally featured jazz bands. The hotel fell into disrepair but has recently been renovated by a Housing Association for residential use.

The Cambridge Hall
This was the venue, in Southport’s Lord Street, where the Beatles played on the same bill as Joe Brown on 26 July 1962. The building was completely revamped and is now the Southport Arts Centre. Brown was No. 3 in the charts at the time with ‘A Picture of You’, a number which George Harrison performed with the Beatles.

The Glenpark Club
This was another Southport club and the Beatles appeared here for one gig in November 1961.

The Odeon Cinema
This was demolished some years ago and is now a Sainsbury’s supermarket. The Beatles first appeared here in 1 March 1963. They next appeared here for a week from 26 to 31 August 1963. Their repertoire for the six night season comprised: ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Thank You Girl’, ‘Chains’, ‘A Taste of Honey’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Baby It’s You’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘Boys’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Twist and Shout.’

The Kingsway Club
The Beatles played a series of gigs at this venue which was situated on the promenade. They made their debut there on 22 January 1962 as part of an initial series of three gigs, the others being on 29 January and 5 February. The initial advertisement read: 

THE BEATLES
Come and meet
Pete, Paul, John and George
The Group Everyone has been asking for – Now they’re here at the
KINGSWAY
NEXT MONDAY – only 2/6
Come and hear them play their latest record. It’s Sensational!

(It’s interesting to note that Pete’s name is placed first).

As the premises were licensed the group had to play in an upstairs room which didn’t have a bar in order for under-18s to be able to attend.

They next appeared at the Kingsway on 26 February and 5 March. Other appearances were on 12 March, 19 March and they made their final appearance there on 23 July. They were really at their peak as a rock and roll band and I remember helping Pete Best in with his drums on a couple of occasions. There was also one of these shows where it is believed that Ringo actually stood in for Pete who was not well, but I have not been able to identify which particular date this took place – although I suppose it could be regarded as being of some historical significance as it was the first time that Ringo could be thought of as having been part of the Beatles.

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