Call this “Let It AirBnb”: Original drummer Pete Best and his younger brother Roag have converted one of the earliest venues where the Beatles performed into a short-term rental property.
The Casbah Coffee Club hosted the early Beatles nearly 40 times, after John Lennon’s previous Quarrymen band played there on seven nights. The venue at 8 Haymans Green in Liverpool opened in 1956 in the basement of Best’s family home and was run by his mother Mona.
She’d initially tried to book a residency with the Les Stewart Quartet, which featured a young George Harrison, but they suddenly split up before opening night. “George basically turned ’round and said: ‘I happen to know a couple of guys who aren’t doing anything,'” Pete Best tells The Guardian. “They turned out to be John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”
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There are now five AirBnB units above the club, each named after the original members of the Beatles – Lennon, Best, McCartney, Harrison and doomed founding bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. Roag Best, later revealed to be the son of Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall, has been renovating the property with his sibling for more than three years.
How Much Is the Casbah Club AirBnB?
Rooms are roughly $200 a night and each has been decorated with exclusive Beatles memorabilia, including band photos, classic posters and old instruments. Bookings have already drawn people from throughout the U.K., as well as Scotland, Canada and the U.S.
There’s no suite devoted to Ringo Starr, who later replaced Pete Best as the Beatles were nailing down a final take on their debut single “Love Me Do.” “Everything we do is about being authentic and the Beatles that performed and partied here were John, Paul, George, Pete and Stuart,” Roag Best told The Guardian. “Ringo was never a member when he was here.”
Pete Best has said he remains unsure why producer George Martin made the lineup change but holds no hard feelings. “I still don’t know the reason today, but it doesn’t worry me one iota,” Best said. “As far as I’m concerned, it happened 60-odd years ago, and I’ve lived my life. I’ve had a great life It did cause me initial heartache and resentment, but that’s show business.”
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