On this day in a warehouse basement in Mathew Street, Liverpool, The Cavern Club opened its doors to the general public for the first time. Initially intended as a jazz club, it soon became associated with Merseybeat and today is famous as the venue where The Beatles made their rise to stardom, performing there 292 times between their return from Hamburg in 1961 and their signing to EMI’s Parlophone label in 1963. The original club closed on 28 May 1973 after British Rail made a compulsory purchase of the warehouse in order to build a ventilation shaft for the new Merseyrail underground railway. The building, however, was never carried out and the area eventually became a car park.
