Threat to Close the Cavern (1965)

 

Threat to Close the Cavern:  Little We Can Do Says Beatles

No Writer Listed

Liverpool Echo and Evening Express

December 6, 1965

    Teenage girls last night presented the Beatles with a letter asking them to save the Cavern from closure. The famous beat center based in a Liverpool warehouse cellar is threatened with shut down by the city council because owner, Mr. Ray McFall cannot afford the new £3000 drainage system the council says must be installed.

     Before the Beatles, who started their climb to stardom at the Cavern, went on stage at the city's Empire Theater yesterday, 15-year-old Josephine McQuaid of College Road, Crosby, and Susan Hall of nearby Myers Road West, were allowed to see them.

     After receiving the letter, the Beatles held an impromptu press conference backstage and said they were all sorry to hear of the threat to close the Cavern, but there was little they could do. Paul McCartney said, "If the city council looked upon it as a tourist attraction instead of just an old warehouse, I'm sure that something could be done about it. It could be developed by the council into something like a coffee bar, which would be a great attraction to visitors."

     Said Ringo Starr, "I think the ball is in Ray McFall's court. In a way, I'll be sorry if the Cavern goes, because for two years or more, it was the greatest club in whole of Britain."

     John Lennon added, "We don't feel we owe the Cavern anything physical. All we owe it is allegiance."

     And George Harrison observed, "We don't want to commit ourselves too much."

     The Beatles today continue the British tour. This year, they'll be spending their first Christmas at home for five years.