The Best family collection
Pete Best's Hamburg drum and Lennon's «Sgt. Pepper» medals among some three hundred original pieces.
Rodhullandemu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · MatthewHoobin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · MatthewHoobin — CC BY-SA 4.0
The man behind this museum is Roag Best, half-brother of Pete Best, the original drummer sacked just before the band became the most famous on earth, and son of Neil Aspinall, who drove the Beatles' van and ended up running their company. That family tree explains what you find inside: not replicas or wall panels, but objects that sat in the Best household for decades. Pete Best's Premier drum from the Hamburg days, George Harrison's Futurama guitar, the medals John Lennon wore on the «Sgt. Pepper» cover, the white cello from «Magical Mystery Tour». Around three hundred pieces are on show at any time, with some 1,200 more in storage that rotate through. It opened in July 2018 as the Magical Beatles Museum before settling on its current name, and it occupies a listed early-nineteenth-century warehouse at 23 Mathew Street, across the road from the Cavern Club where the band played hundreds of nights. The layout is strictly chronological: one floor for the beginnings, 1959-1962, one for the mania years, 1963-1966, and one for the end, 1967-1970. The letters and unpublished photographs are what set it apart. If you know the story you will linger; if you do not, you will walk past a great deal without grasping why it matters. The practical warning first: the building is old and there is no lift, and the display runs across four floors joined by three staircases. Anyone who struggles with stairs or is pushing a buggy will find it hard going, and small children tire quickly of glass cases and paperwork. Teenagers who have just discovered the Beatles, on the other hand, will get real value from it. Adults pay £20, students and over-60s £15, children aged 5 to 16 £8.50, and a family ticket for two adults and two children is £50. You can walk in without booking, though buying online saves the queue in the summer weeks. Do not confuse it with The Beatles Story at the Royal Albert Dock, a fifteen-minute walk away: that one is bigger and more theatrical for the casual visitor, this one is more precise and more authentic for the genuine fan. Mathew Street itself is a narrow lane lined with bars that turns into a loud nightlife strip after dark, so come in the morning or early afternoon when it is quiet and the photographs with the Beatles wall statue actually work. The nearest station is Moorfields, three minutes away; Lime Street, the main terminus, is a ten-minute walk.
Pete Best's Hamburg drum and Lennon's «Sgt. Pepper» medals among some three hundred original pieces.
From Hamburg in 1959 to the split in 1970, one floor per era, with unpublished letters as the heart of it.
On Mathew Street itself, so it rounds off the Cavern Club, the wall of fame and the statues in one morning walk.
23 Mathew Street, Liverpool L2 6RE
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Mostly not. There is no lift and three staircases link four floors, and the exhibits are documents and instruments behind glass that young children tire of quickly. Under-5s enter free, but the visit really pays off for teenagers and adults.