Rare items from the era of the original Cavern Club go up for sale

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
Rare items from the era of the original Cavern Club go up for sale

by Alan Weston, Liverpool Echo
Sep 12 2012

A SELECTION of items from the glory days of the original Cavern Club is attracting attention from music fans worldwide after being put up for auction.

They include a distinctive Reslo ribbon microphone and a small piece of the original stage, both from the time of the Beatles.

But the pick of the bunch is likely to prove the Compulsory Purchase Order for the Cavern Club from British Rail, which led to the first club’s closure in 1973 and eventual demolition.

BR were developing the Merseyrail underground loop and needed the site of the Cavern to sink a ventilation shaft to bring fresh air into the excavations.

Ironically, the shaft was never built and the Cavern was left filled in with rubble. It remained in an undisturbed state below a makeshift car park until 1982 when redevelopment started, paving the way for a re-built Cavern to open two years later.

The Mathew Street cellar is the ultimate place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans, with the Fab Four making a total of 292 appearances there between February 1961 and August 1963.

The microphone and piece of stage come from the collection of Nigel Greenberg who opened the Cavern Sound recording studio in 1964.

The purchase order is from the collection of Debbie Greenberg whose father, Alf Geoghegan, was the owner of the club at the time the purchase order was issued.

The items are up for sale on the PFC Auctions website, with online bids closing at 7pm on September 27.

Spokesperson Kylie Whitehead said: “The Cavern Club was one of the most iconic venues in popular music history.

“The birthplace of The Beatles, the Cavern was where the band were spotted by Brian Epstein who managed them until his death in 1967. We expect these unique items to draw attention from music fans around the world.”

The Cavern first opened its doors in January 1957 as a jazz club, but became synonymous with the early 1960s Merseybeat explosion.

The original Compulsory Purchase Order for the Cavern Club from British Rail