A journey with my family through the life of the Beatles!
With my journey coming closer to an end I've finally done the pinnacle of Liverpool tourism: a Beatles tour. There are many ways to experience the Beatles in Liverpool; you can go to The Beatles Story museum, take a bus tour, do a private taxi tour, or guide yourself. With many locations to see and ways to go about it, make sure you know what you want to see when planning your trip. With my family here and a desire to see more of the locations across Liverpool, I booked a taxi tour.
My taxi proceeded to be late, after a call I found they mistakenly wrote the wrong day on their diary and had to wait an hour after the expected start time for our guide to arrive. However, after the bumpy start the day went smoothly. We saw the Beatles statue on Albert Dock, donated by the Cavern Club to start and after traveled to Ringo’s old neighborhood which was undergoing heavy renovations by the city as it’s a lower class area with houses that needed work and Ringo’s childhood home which was part of that.
Next we went to Penny Lane which was probably my favorite part of the tour. They have rebuilt sections of the street to foster more friendly tourism, including a mural and Penny Lane wall you can legally sign. There are, I believe, 5 Penny Lane signs on that road, 4 of which had to be replaced over 400 times as avid fans stole them. The current signs are either painted or bolstered to be thief-proof. The one sign that was never stolen was painted on from the start and is now covered as Paul McCartney signed it during an episode of Carpool Karaoke.
The street also has a bunch of small significant locations mentioned in the song, such as the fish and chips shop and barber. The tours are great because they offer a lyrical breakdown which provides context as to all the locations and stories that are left as breadcrumbs in their music. It also shows how important Liverpool was to their songwriting and experience as the city truly comes to life through their music.
You can go to the church that has both the gravestones of Eleanor Rigby as well as John McKenzie who became father mckenzie in the song “Eleanor Rigby”. This is the church John sang in as a youth, and he used to sneak into that cemetery for a cigarette and hide from the preacher while he was a member of their choir.
Strawberry Fields is also going through heavy renovations. It used to be an orphanage but it was torn down. John Lennon donated millions to Strawberry Fields when it was an orphanage and was outraged when he realized it was destroyed during his global tour. It is currently being rebuilt by the Salvation Army into both a tourist destination and a place where young people can gain skills, those with disabilities can receive help, and people can help find job placements.
Our tour ended in the city centre with the Liverpool Institute of performing arts which Paul invested into and personally goes to to teach 5 master classes a year. He also personally signs every student’s diploma. To end the whole tour our guide took us to the Titanic memorial that was at the Albert Docks after we inquired about the city’s history. The next day we even went to the Maritime museum to learn more of Liverpools connection to the ship and gain more knowledge on it.
The Beatles are an integral part of the city, the heartbeat of their music thrums throughout the city and you’d be at a loss not to experience a piece of them while your here. Besides everything I mentioned, there’s even more to see to experience the city through their eyes.