\n But for any fan in Cumbria that doesn’t fancy making the trip to the roof at 3 Saville Row, there is a spot far closer to home that holds a particular resonance.\n<\/p>\n
\n Back in November 1963, The Beatles were playing support for 17-year-old Helen Shapiro in Carlisle, who had the hit Walkin’ Back to Happiness out at the time.\n<\/p>\n
\n They were performing in The ABC Cinema, later known as The Lonsdale Cinema, a building which no longer exists.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is now a car park, if you want to revisit with Spotify.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Fab Four were so little known that they were reportedly asked to leave a golf club dance at a nearby hotel for being inappropriately dressed, or as the old legend goes, too ‘rock n roll’.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Did you know? The Beatles were once refused entry to a hotel function in Carlisle because of their leather jackets! \ud83d\ude2e\ud83e\udde5 #TheBeatles<\/a> #FashionFauxPas<\/a> #1960s<\/a> ” pic.twitter.com\/66f20Pzcki<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n \u2014 Beatlemania (@BeatlemaniaUK) April 26, 2026<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Andy Park, a 21-year-old at the time working as a pop reporter for the Carlisle Journal, shared vivid memories of that historic night in 1963.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n “It’s a funny thing in music, three months is an eternity,” he said.\n<\/p>\n \n “Helen Shapiro would have been massive when the package was put together but meanwhile, The Beatles came along it was a phenomenon.\n<\/p>\n \n “It was just incredible. Ticket\u00a0queues were around the block for the show.\n<\/p>\n \n “The ABC was a nightmare; you couldn’t write anything over the screams.”\n<\/p>\n \n Following the show, the Fab Four would be stopping off at Carlisle’s Crown and Mitre Hotel.\n<\/p>\n \n “When they arrived at the Crown and Mitre, Carlisle Golf Club was having a presentation night.\n<\/p>\n \n “We’re talking sixty years ago, golf was a completely different ball game.\n<\/p>\n \n “The people who played then were solicitors and bank managers, and a golf club presentation would be\u00a0full of people in suits and ball gowns.\n<\/p>\n \n “One of the guys recognised Helen Shapiro, so they invited her in along with The Beatles.\n<\/p>\n \n “They must have stood out like a sore thumb; they lasted five minutes before being asked to leave,” Andy recalled.\n<\/p>\n \n Old Brown Shoe – The Beatles The “Ballad of John and Yoko” cover mirrors “Hey Jude”: J&Y on statues, the band behind; on “Hey Jude” all 4 stand by statues, one wearing Yoko’s hat.#Beatles<\/a> #TheBeatles<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ImBiKjnBHO<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n \u2014 Beatlemania (@BeatlemaniaUK) May 14, 2026<\/a>\n <\/p>\n When the Beatles returned to Carlisle<\/p>\n
Recorded: 16 & 18 April 1969<\/p>\n