LIVERPOOL
A house in Liverpool famous for hosting some of The Beatles’ first concerts in its basement has been given new life on Airbnb.
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Mona Best, the party-loving mother of the band’s original drummer Pete Best, opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the suburb of West Derby in 1959, shortly before the group’s formation.
The band performed over 40 times in the basement of the building on a leafy residential street, after 13 concerts by John Lennon’s first band, The Quarrymen, had also taken place there.
The Casbah began with Saturday night performances, but soon opened Friday to Sunday. It closed three years later, but remained a tourist attraction for Beatles fans from around the world.
The property has since been converted into suites named after members of the Fab Four, although one of them is named after Best rather than Ringo Starr, who became the Beatles’ drummer in 1962.
Stuart Sutcliffe, the band’s original bass guitarist, also gets a room named after him.
“The Beatles played here, the Beatles partied here and the Beatles slept here,” Pete Best told the British news agency Press Association (PA), which first reported on the change to a holiday rental offer.
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The 82-year-old added that it was intended as a “lasting tribute” to the most famous band in the world.
Since 2020, he has been working with his younger brother Roag, 62, the son of Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall, to convert the house into a rental apartment.
The rooms were decorated with a “touch” of the Beatles, including photos of the band members, posters and guitars on the wall.
The famous basement remains from its 1960s heyday. Drum kits are still on display and the words “John, I’m back” are carved into the ceiling above the stage area.
The five suites mentioned above have been available for booking since the beginning of August and are already being visited by guests from various parts of the UK and the USA. They have not yet submitted any reviews.
Under the Airbnb heading “What makes my home unique?” the brothers jokingly wrote: “The Beatles played and stayed here.”
Prices for the next month started at around £125 ($163) per night.
