By: Steve Marinucci AXS Contributor Jun 9, 2018
The Grapes, a venerable Liverpool tavern that was at one time a hangout for The Beatles in their early days, may have closed for the last time, the local newspaper the Liverpool Echo reported June 8. The paper reported The Grapes' owners confirmed to them it had closed, but they would not say whether it would remain shuttered permanently.
“The Grapes is a Liverpool institution, originally servicing the workers around the warehouses in Mathew Street,” Beatles historian and expert Spencer Leigh, author of The Beatles In Liverpool and several other books on the group told AXS.com. “It found a new clientele in the 1950s. As the Cavern was dry, musicians would cross the street to the Grapes for refreshment, in many instances smuggling booze into the Cavern for their next set.”
“The Grapes was the pub all the musicians that played at the Cavern went to – as the Cavern didn’t have a license to serve alcohol. The Beatles were certainly regulars,” said tour guide Richard Porter, who leads walking tours of Beatles sites from The Beatles in London website.
Leigh says the venue had changed little since the days that the Fab Four hung out there. “There was a wonderful photo of The Beatles sitting 'round a table in The Grapes and as little had changed, you could recreate the pose on the same benches.” He said he didn't think it was a lack of clientele that caused it to close. “Mathew Street is always busy and especially so on the weekends. Indeed, I steer clear of Mathew Street on Friday and Saturday nights as it is so rowdy and unpleasant.”
Howard A. DeWitt, who wrote about his visit to The Grapes in his book The Beatles: Untold Tales, said being there was like being in a time machine. “When I visited the Grapes in the 1970s, it was like being back in 1963,” he told AXS.com. “Bob Wooler and Clive Epstein took me around and we met Brian Kelly. And then in 1983, I went back to write The Beatles Untold Tales. The Grapes was filled with stories and surprisingly they were true.” He called it “a wonderful spot for a relaxing drink and some tall tales that have truth."
Donna Jackson, from St Peter’s Church, Woolton, where the historic July 6, 1957, meeting between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, took place, and who is also a senior lecturer in modern history at the University of Chester, told AXS.com she hopes the closure is not permanent. “The general impression that I get is that it’s only a temporary thing. I hope so anyway. It’s definitely an important place in Beatles history. If you remember, the Jacaranda (another pub frequented by the Beatles when they were still in Liverpool) closed down very suddenly a few years ago, but then it reopened and now it’s better than ever.”
Spencer Leigh said his favorite memory of The Grapes took place in 2002. “Allan Williams, the Beatles first manager, had had a bit too much to drink and he was mourning the loss of his close friend, the Cavern DJ Bob Wooler. 'I have the ultimate Beatles possession for sale,' he shouted, 'Bob Wooler’s ashes .' The patrons laughed but the sad thing about this story is that the person who would laugh the most – Bob Wooler -- wasn’t able to
.”
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