Best Liverpool Beatles tour?
Feb 4th, 2007, 09:30 PM
#2
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You definitely have to do the Beatles Story. That's a walk-through exhibition, and now they have a audioguide with some interesting stories.
I always do the Magical Mystery Tour, the standard coach tour of the Beatles' Liverpool. By now, I know most of the stories, though, so it's rather mundane for me. You do, however, see the areas of the city that they lived in (homes, schools) plus a stop at Strawberry Field and a drive through Penny Lane roundabout. At the end, they drop you off at Mathew Street, but you can also visit that area on your own.
The National Trust has the Mendips/Forthlin tour, the tour of Paul and John's homes. I really like that one, since the tour group is smaller, and the custodians of the building will give you more details of their lives there. The last time I was in Liverpool, I talked with an original Cavern Club fan during that tour. She still lives in Liverpool and wanted to take the tour!
You might consider taking a tour with a private guide, but I've never done that, so I can't recommend anyone.
Do take the ferry while you''re there. The cruise tour has a recorded commentary on river history. You might also consider taking the city bus tour or the Yellow Duckmarine. Those tours will give you general information on Liverpool.
I've read that Ron Jones has a new edition of his guide book ,The Beatles' Liverpool. You might look for that one.
I always do the Magical Mystery Tour, the standard coach tour of the Beatles' Liverpool. By now, I know most of the stories, though, so it's rather mundane for me. You do, however, see the areas of the city that they lived in (homes, schools) plus a stop at Strawberry Field and a drive through Penny Lane roundabout. At the end, they drop you off at Mathew Street, but you can also visit that area on your own.
The National Trust has the Mendips/Forthlin tour, the tour of Paul and John's homes. I really like that one, since the tour group is smaller, and the custodians of the building will give you more details of their lives there. The last time I was in Liverpool, I talked with an original Cavern Club fan during that tour. She still lives in Liverpool and wanted to take the tour!
You might consider taking a tour with a private guide, but I've never done that, so I can't recommend anyone.
Do take the ferry while you''re there. The cruise tour has a recorded commentary on river history. You might also consider taking the city bus tour or the Yellow Duckmarine. Those tours will give you general information on Liverpool.
I've read that Ron Jones has a new edition of his guide book ,The Beatles' Liverpool. You might look for that one.
Feb 4th, 2007, 10:20 PM
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Thanks for your comments Merseyheart.
I just have a couple of further questions.
You said that the Beatles magical mystery tour ends at Mathew Street and that we can visit that area on our own. Can you tell me what there is to see in this area as I am not familiar with it.
I am curious regarding your comment that you "always" do the Magical Mystery Tour.
Do you enjoy the tour so much that you keep coming back for more? Or is it too much to take in on one trip?
Just curious.
We will be staying in Chester and getting a bus into Liverpool for a day trip.
Could you recomend how we could fill that day, incorporating the Beatles Story and the Magical Mystery Tour.
Thanks again for your advice.
Trip.
I just have a couple of further questions.
You said that the Beatles magical mystery tour ends at Mathew Street and that we can visit that area on our own. Can you tell me what there is to see in this area as I am not familiar with it.
I am curious regarding your comment that you "always" do the Magical Mystery Tour.
Do you enjoy the tour so much that you keep coming back for more? Or is it too much to take in on one trip?
Just curious.
We will be staying in Chester and getting a bus into Liverpool for a day trip.
Could you recomend how we could fill that day, incorporating the Beatles Story and the Magical Mystery Tour.
Thanks again for your advice.
Trip.
Feb 4th, 2007, 10:25 PM
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Mathew Street, is the site of The Cavern Club!!! Do the Beatles Story, The Magical Mystery Tour and then visit the current Cavern Club. You might even find a live band whilst your there. A FAB day out.
Feb 4th, 2007, 11:14 PM
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What's in Mathew Street?
The site of the orginal Cavern, and a nearby reproduction of it (the way the original place stank in the early 60s, it's probably still sealed off as a health hazard).
A few yards NW of the club site, towards Whitechapel, are The Grapes pub, which current orthodoxy claims was where the groups all drank during the Merseybeat boom, and the White Star pub, which is where my memory recalls more scruffy guitar players making a pint of Walker's last longer than their sets.
On Whitechapel, the street that Mathew St runs into, more or less opposite Mathew St is a branch of Anne Summers, a respectable chain of kinky lingerie shops (I think: the building doesn't feature on my shopping trips quite as often as it did 40-odd years ago). This was a record store in the early 60s, managed by Brian Epstein, who claimed to have first heard of the Beatles when Raymond Jones came in and asked for a record by them in November 1961.
The story's nonsensical (NEMS, the store concerned, had been selling Merseybeat, which was perpetually stuffed both with articles about the Beatles and articles written by Epstein, for the previous six months): the likelihood is Epstein had heard about them from one of his staff, but subsequently tried to create a myth he didn't owe an obligation to anyone. However by mid-1963 he'd probably convinced himself of the story and it had become Holy Writ.
Be that as it may, the Cavern, the two pubs and the NEMS site are the only real relics around Mathew St of the Merseybeat area. There are however as many more recently invented "attractions", all listed at sites like www.mathew.st/venues.php. The area, in my view, is now as tawdry as any conventional pilgrimage site.
But walk to the non-Whitechapel end of Mathew St, into Castle St and you're into a the world of the stout, proud and handsome buildings put up by prosperous burghers between the mid-18th century and the early 20th. Walk to the right, towards the city's unusually beautiful Town Hall (Liverpool's about the only one of the big British cities whose Town Hall isn't an immense Victorian Gothic pile), look along Dale St and Water St and wonder that so much survived Hitler and the municipal vandals of the 60s and 70s.
If architecture's not your thing (shame!), the Liverpool War Museum, behind the Town Hall, is where the Battle of the Atlantic was managed from.
The site of the orginal Cavern, and a nearby reproduction of it (the way the original place stank in the early 60s, it's probably still sealed off as a health hazard).
A few yards NW of the club site, towards Whitechapel, are The Grapes pub, which current orthodoxy claims was where the groups all drank during the Merseybeat boom, and the White Star pub, which is where my memory recalls more scruffy guitar players making a pint of Walker's last longer than their sets.
On Whitechapel, the street that Mathew St runs into, more or less opposite Mathew St is a branch of Anne Summers, a respectable chain of kinky lingerie shops (I think: the building doesn't feature on my shopping trips quite as often as it did 40-odd years ago). This was a record store in the early 60s, managed by Brian Epstein, who claimed to have first heard of the Beatles when Raymond Jones came in and asked for a record by them in November 1961.
The story's nonsensical (NEMS, the store concerned, had been selling Merseybeat, which was perpetually stuffed both with articles about the Beatles and articles written by Epstein, for the previous six months): the likelihood is Epstein had heard about them from one of his staff, but subsequently tried to create a myth he didn't owe an obligation to anyone. However by mid-1963 he'd probably convinced himself of the story and it had become Holy Writ.
Be that as it may, the Cavern, the two pubs and the NEMS site are the only real relics around Mathew St of the Merseybeat area. There are however as many more recently invented "attractions", all listed at sites like www.mathew.st/venues.php. The area, in my view, is now as tawdry as any conventional pilgrimage site.
But walk to the non-Whitechapel end of Mathew St, into Castle St and you're into a the world of the stout, proud and handsome buildings put up by prosperous burghers between the mid-18th century and the early 20th. Walk to the right, towards the city's unusually beautiful Town Hall (Liverpool's about the only one of the big British cities whose Town Hall isn't an immense Victorian Gothic pile), look along Dale St and Water St and wonder that so much survived Hitler and the municipal vandals of the 60s and 70s.
If architecture's not your thing (shame!), the Liverpool War Museum, behind the Town Hall, is where the Battle of the Atlantic was managed from.
Feb 4th, 2007, 11:54 PM
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Great info Leigh and flanneruk! And yes I am into architecture as I am a builder so I am sure I will enjoy my time in Liverpool.
I would also be interested in the War Museum.
Would 1 day be enough to do the Beatles Story, Magical Mystery Tour, Walk around Mathew St and the other areas you mentioned around castle, dale, and water st, and also view the war museum?
Thanks again for the great ideas.
Trip
I would also be interested in the War Museum.
Would 1 day be enough to do the Beatles Story, Magical Mystery Tour, Walk around Mathew St and the other areas you mentioned around castle, dale, and water st, and also view the war museum?
Thanks again for the great ideas.
Trip
Feb 5th, 2007, 10:11 AM
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Oh, thank you,flanneruk, for giving us a fine description of what Liverpool has to offer. 
trip 2006, there is *too* much for just one day! I've been there many times, so I always do the coach tour. That's what I meant.
The Beatles Story exhibition is down at Albert Dock, which is a nice place to wander around. They have a martime museum there, as well, that might interest you. The war museum that flanneruk refers to is the Western Approaches, the HQ for the Battle of the Atlantic, now open to visitors.
You can buy tickets for the Beatles coach tour at the tourist information office. One leaves every afternoon at 2 PM.
When I was in Liverpool last fall, I took a day trip to Chester, so I know it's an easy day trip. You can take the train, the local Merseyrail service. You might look into doing that.
http://www.visitliverpool.com
trip 2006, there is *too* much for just one day! I've been there many times, so I always do the coach tour. That's what I meant. The Beatles Story exhibition is down at Albert Dock, which is a nice place to wander around. They have a martime museum there, as well, that might interest you. The war museum that flanneruk refers to is the Western Approaches, the HQ for the Battle of the Atlantic, now open to visitors.
You can buy tickets for the Beatles coach tour at the tourist information office. One leaves every afternoon at 2 PM.
When I was in Liverpool last fall, I took a day trip to Chester, so I know it's an easy day trip. You can take the train, the local Merseyrail service. You might look into doing that.
http://www.visitliverpool.com
