It was 50 years ago today

The most famous club in Liverpool’s history (other than Everton) turned 50 today.The Cavern a club made famous with an association with The Beatles, celebrated an anniversary with a series of events.

It is a club that I have a fondness for and not just because of the links with The Beatles, but it was also a place that I spent some of my formative drinking years.

I remember the first time as an underage 15-year-old setting foot down those winding stairs to the dank atmosphere of The Cavern below – this could have been a disappointment to some – but not for me it was magical.

I can even remember what I drank in those days, it would without doubt have been Cider. (That must be the right of passage, as most underage drinkers start on that before ascending or should that be descending to drinking Lager).

At the time I didn’t realise that it was not the original club, but a carbon copy in roughly the same location on Matthew Street. In a typically short-sighted Liverpool City Council decision it was demolished in the 70s to make way for a ventilation shaft for the underground railway system – that ultimately wasn’t required.

It is a club that I suppose I started a relationship with one of my first girlfriends. It was a place that I lapsed from being a vegetarian after almost twelve months of abstinence. After a particularly inebriated night, the waft of the smell of onions from the botulism-burger van on the Matthew Street was too much of a temptation to overcome.

It was also a place where I ruined a pair of white jeans (I think they were just about fashionable at the time) when I decided to take James’ song Sit Down literally and park my arse on the floor amongst the dregs and slops – and no doubt other detritus that accounted for a night out in the Cavern.

I have taken numerous foreign visitors there who have not failed to fall for the charms of the old place.

Happy birthday and here’s to another 50 years in existence and hopefully I can fulfil one of my long held dreams and actually play a gig there.