The Quarrymen played at the launch of The Casbah here on 29 August 1959.

Mona Best opened the club, which operated from 1959 to 1962, at the home that she bought for her and her family with money she had won on a horse race.

Mona, an interesting character to put it mildly, came up with the idea of opening a club in the basement after watching a TV report about The 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho where several singers had been discovered. She planned it as a members-only club for her sons Pete and Rory and their friends ""to meet and listen to the popular music of the day"".

The Quarrymen, initially consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ken Brown, went to the club to arrange their first booking, filling in for the Les Stuart Quartet at the last minute. Mona agreed, but said she needed to finish painting the club first. All four took up brushes and helped Mona to finish painting the walls with spiders, dragons, rainbows and stars.

The Quarrymen (with Pete Best taking the place of Ken Brown) soon became the house band, packing out the cellar either side of their time in Hamburg, before moving on to The Cavern Club when their popularity out grew the limited space of The Casbah.

In addition to the four boys' artistic contributions, Cynthia Powell, later to become Cynthia Lennon, painted a silhouette of John on the wall, which can still be seen today.

This is also where the Beatles, wih Pete, first signed their management contract with Brian Epstein on 16 August 1962.

In 2006, Culture Minister David Lammy announced that the Bests' ex-coal cellar was to be given Grade II listed building status and a blue plaque.

You can book a tour on Pete Best's official site and @singingstreets7579cannot recommend it highly enough.

https://www.petebest.com/
www.singingstreets.com