Exploring the Beatles’ Roots in Liverpool

The Beatles were four young lads from Liverpool who revolutionized pop music and changed the world. Fans can explore their roots on a visit to the city, discovering the houses, parks, and streets that inspired the band. This guide highlights must-see sights, including John Lennon’s bedroom, Penny Lane, museums, and tribute bands.

Lennon and McCartney’s Childhood Homes

The National Trust owns two seemingly nondescript houses in the suburbs of south Liverpool where John and Paul grew up. If you only have time for one Beatles experience in Liverpool, make it the trust’s tour of both homes.

Yoko Ono bought Mendips, the elegant 1930s house at 251 Menlove Ave where John Lennon grew up, in 2002 and donated it to the trust. Stepping inside means entering a time capsule, painstakingly recreated from accounts of lodgers who used to live with the family. Here, you’re transported back to John’s childhood with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. The tour guides passionately detail his tumultuous family and school life, after walking you through the back garden door, which was the only way Aunt Mimi allowed scruffy Paul McCartney in.

Don’t miss climbing up the creaking stairs to John’s cramped bedroom where he wrote his first songs or singing at the top of your lungs in the closed-off front porch, where Mimi would relegate the boys to practice.

Paul McCartney’s childhood home, located nearby, is an austere brick-fronted house at 20 Forthlin Rd. It was one of hundreds the local council built after WWII. John and Paul often ended up in the cozy living room when they skipped school to write and rehearse some of their earliest songs.

Taking the 2½-hour National Trust tour is the only way to see inside the two Beatles’ homes, with pick-up and drop-off at Jurys Inn at Albert Dock or at Speke Hall.

Beatles Story Museum

Spread across two sites near the River Mersey, the Beatles Story indulges visitors with a full-on history lesson. John Lennon’s sister Julia narrates the audio guide as you wander through a full-size recreation of the Cavern Club and the Abbey Road studio where the Beatles’ first singles were recorded. The plethora of Beatles memorabilia includes John’s famous round spectacles and George’s first guitar.

Above the Beatles Story’s Pier Head location, grab a quick drink and relax on the sunny roof terrace at Matou, overlooking the river.

Pub Crawl Mathew St and Catch a Band at the Cavern Club

Mathew St is one of the most famous streets in pop music, forming the spine of the Cavern Quarter, a district filled with shops, bars, and pubs that come alive after dark. A statue of John Lennon leans against a wall outside the reconstructed Cavern Club. The Beatles played at the original venue nearly 300 times, but it met its demise in the 1970s to make way for a railway ventilation shaft that was ultimately never built. The still dark and intimate Cavern Club hosts a Beatles tribute band that performs every Saturday night, in addition to a range of local talents.

For a quieter drink, stop at Bar Four, the lounge at the Hard Days Night Hotel just off Mathew St, where you can enjoy Beatles-themed cocktails, such as Daq in the USSR and Honey Can’t Buy Me Love.

Find Ringo Starr in Welsh Streets

Liverpool almost lost a piece of Beatles history when the local council decided to demolish and redevelop an area called Welsh Streets, situated 2 miles southeast of Albert Dock. After public protest, Ringo’s childhood home at 9 Madryn St was spared. However, walking through these eerily quiet streets feels post-apocalyptic, with nearly all the houses abandoned and covered in daunting metal grates. Beatles fans and the graffiti they leave behind are the only signs of life.

Ringo’s house resembles Paul’s, but it’s worth a mere £525 today. The entire derelict Welsh Streets area starkly contrasts the more genteel neighborhoods you’ll experience with the National Trust.

Penny Lane and George Harrison