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| 8 Haymans Green, the former home of the Best family and the Casbah Club |
On Wednesday, 21 August, I was lucky enough to attend the official opening of the Casbah Coffee Club Suites in the company of the Best family - including Pete and his brother Roag – and other invited guests.
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| Pete Best being photographed for the Guardian |
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| With the freedom to explore the Casbah I was able to take plenty of photos without the usual crowds and I’ll share them in a future post. Here's one to whet your appetite. |
Roag worked six days a week for three and a half years to bring their vision to life. “I became not just the supervisor on site,
but part of the workforce,” he told the press. “I’ve gone from plaster in my eyes,
to a nail through my foot, to a scaffold bar hitting me on head – so I’m a
fully fledged builder now.
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| Roag Best |
Those who regularly attend Roag’s reveals at the Liverpool Beatles Museum will know their ethos is to try and keep everything that they do authentic, unique and original, and they can justifiably claim that there is nothing more authentic, unique and original than the Casbah Club. Its the most important of the relatively few buildings with a Beatles connection Liverpool has left which remain practically unchanged from how they looked 60+ years ago.
With regards to the new suites, Roag explained that ‘the Beatles not only formed here, they played here, they ate here, they partied here, and they...’ at this point Pete leapt towards his brother, covering Roag’s mouth and mimed the cutting throat action whilst shaking his head… ‘slept here’ Roag concluded, as Pete feigned relief. As Roag told me later, ‘if these walls could talk, we’d have to tape their mouths up.’
Pete was up next: “Thank you all for coming, it’s a very special day for us. As Roag said, it’s a pipe dream…an extension of our mother Mona’s legacy. We’re very proud of it, and you can see for yourselves why, when we let you meander around the rooms at your leisure. It’s a piece of history, it’s a piece of love, because a lot of emotion has gone into it.”
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After thanking everyone for coming Pete invited us to explore the new suites and “feel free to enjoy the comforts up there” before handing back to Roag, who gave thanks to his wife Leigh for all her support, his extended family, the builders and tradesmen who had worked so hard over the last few years to make their dream a reality and finally us, the fans, without whom, 8 Haymans Green would just be a big old house that bands used to play underneath. Luckily for the Best family, one of those bands happened to become the biggest in musical history.
“And now, in the words of our mother Mo, Come with us to the Casbah”!
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| The entrance hall gives you an idea of just how grand the house is |
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Key
safes for the individual suites named after John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George
Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. |
You may notice that none of the suites are named after Pete’s replacement, Ringo Starr, but as Roag explained to the press, this is not because of any bad feeling.
He said: “It’s nothing to do with Pete and Ringo and what happened. Everything we do is about being authentic and The Beatles that performed and partied here were John, Paul, George, Pete and Stuart. Ringo was never a member when he was here.”
Two of the invited guests explore the Harrison suite. The kitchen / diner area of the Harrison suite has a fine view over the huge back garden and West Derby village beyond. The Sutcliffe Suite, photographed from the bathroom The period staircase leading to the second floor where the Lennon and McCartney suites are situated
The Lennon suite has room for a fab four guests while the McCartney suite is for 'two of us'.
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| Views of the Lennon suite. |
The Lennon suite also has a living room, kitchen and full bathroom.
You’ll notice that the rooms have been decorated with a “sprinkling” of a Beatles theme, including photos of the band members, posters and guitars on the wall, but not overly so.
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| The McCartney Suite bedroom. |
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| The view from the kitchen diner in the McCartney suite. |
Something I discovered reading the press interviews today was that Roag was born in the house: “I was born in the McCartney suite and presented to John, Paul and George, who were here that night, they’d played the Cavern. So some of the first people I ever saw in the world were the Beatles.”
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| In 1959 the Quarry Men (Paul, John and George) were photographed standing by this fireplace. Paul could never have imagined that 65 years later this room would bear his name! |
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A 2024 recreation. The resemblance is truly striking! |
With rooms starting from £150 a night, bookings have already come in from the USA and Canada, England and Scotland. I spoke to Evelyn and Andy, a lovely couple from Glasgow who had made the four hour drive down that morning to be one of the first to stay here. You may have seen them interviewed by Sky News.
Saving the best until last, the best suite in the house is also the Best Suite, encompassing the entire upper floor which I assume from the sloping ceilings was originally the attic space. It’s a huge area which sleeps at least eight.
Pete Best, circa 1962
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| The author, yesterday |
What’s absolutely evident is that the renovation has been a labour of love. Pete and Roag are deservedly delighted to see Mona’s legacy live on.
Pete: “I think she’d be delighted; she had a dream … she brought music to the kids of Merseyside. I think if she’d still been here today – and she’s watching from above, I’ll tell you that now – she’d be very proud of the legacy that’s been left, and the legacy that we’re building.”
Roag: “My mum would be absolutely over the
moon with how this property looks now. So it’s nice to make her proud, you
always want to make your mum proud.”
Links:
Lennon Suite: https://shorturl.at/0qWIK
McCartney Suite: https://shorturl.at/TCZHV
Harrison Suite: https://shorturl.at/T8fe2
I can't find links to the other suites but I'll add them here when I do.
Liverpool Echo report: https://shorturl.at/RshuY
ITV News: https://shorturl.at/OSUjN
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