The building where the Cavern Mecca was once located
Beatles relief once exhibited at Cavern Mecca (now exhibited at Cavern Club)

The Cavern Mecca was a Beatles museum in Liverpool. Founded in 1981 and named for the Cavern Club, it was instrumental in the birth of Beatles fan-based tourism in Liverpool.[1][2] It was located on the corner of Rainford Square and Mathew Street. [3][4]

The museum was founded and run by Liz and Jim Hughes, who "single-handedly jump-started" what became the annual Beatles Convention in Liverpool,[5] now part of the Beatles Week festival.[6] When the museum and fan club were founded, the Beatles had been out of fashion and little acknowledged in Liverpool. The Cavern Club itself, where the Beatles had frequently played in their early years after returning from Hamburg, was closed in 1973 and later filled in as part of construction of the Merseyrail underground rail loop. In the same year as the opening of the Cavern Mecca, plans were announced to excavate and reopen the Cavern Club. The Cavern Club, complete with excavation of the original club, remained open from 1984 to 1989 before again closing, only to re-open again in 1991 as both a club and museum.[7] The Cavern Mecca closed in December 1984 when founder Liz Hughes fell ill. Co-founder Jim Hughes died in 2018.[8][9] In 2003, a signed copy of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, together with an official souvenir programme from the fourth annual Beatles Convention of Cavern Mecca, sold for $290,000 at auction, breaking the record at the time for the price of a signed Beatles album cover.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Cavern Mecca, Beatles fan club". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. ^ Prangnell, Glenn. "Cavern Mecca: Photographs and Souvenirs". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2018 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ Scott Wheeler (2005). Charlie Lennon: Uncle to a Beatle. Outskirts Press, Inc. pp. 144, 413. ISBN 978-1-59800-009-2. "In December 1981, four months after the MerseyBeatle Extravaganza, BBCTV broadcast a news segment on Cavern Mecca.", "Jim Hughes: My wife Liz and I organized the Beatles conventions in Liverpool from 1981 to 1984. ... We had to give up the centre in December 1984 because my wife became ill and was told she could no longer work. Liz passed away
  4. ^ June Skinner Sawyers (2006). Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter. Penguin. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-4406-4925-7. December 1984 The Cavern Mecca, a Liverpool museum and information center, closes.
  5. ^ Sudbury, Julie. "Liverpool's first Beatles museum – The Cavern Mecca". tumblr. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  6. ^ "international Beatle Week". Cavern Club. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  7. ^ "The Cavern Club: History". The Cavern Club. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  8. ^ Porter, Richard. "Jim Hughes, the Founder of Cavern Mecca Passes Away". blog.beatlesinlondon.com/. London Beatles Walks. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  9. ^ "interview with Jim Hughes (Manager of the Cavern Mecca and organiser of John Lennon Statue Appeal Fund) BREAKOUT Issue 6. Jan. 1982". 21 May 2010.
  10. ^ "Signed Beatles album Sgt. Pepper sells for $290,000". BBC News. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2018.

Bibliography

External links

Media related to Cavern Mecca at Wikimedia Commons

53°24′22.97″N 2°59′12.49″W / 53.4063806°N 2.9868028°W / 53.4063806; -2.9868028


The Beatles
Categories