Standing in the most sensitive terrain of the space where he lived, Pete Best looks at a series of framed photographs.
Now 82, he remembers a younger version of himself. One of them, with black hair and wearing a leather jacket, is sitting in front of a drum kit.
The three men next to him are easy to recognize: his former bandmates, George Harrison, Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
They would become part of the most outstanding quartet in music.
Although Best left the lineup and was replaced by Ringo Starr, six decades later, he says he had time to think about one of the biggest “what ifs” in pop history.
“I had a wonderful 60 years like Pete and Beatle. Es part of your life, it’s great to be connected to it, but life goes on,” he said.
“At the beginning there are many economic difficulties and shame, but life makes up for it. Maybe it’s my karma, maybe it wasn’t meant to happen. “
In addition to taking time to think, Best imagined business projects about his connection to the group.
The latter, presented through Best and his younger brother Roag, offers the public the chance to stay in their former home.
It is also one of the places where the Beatles began to take their first steps in the industry.
The Casbah Club is a Grade II indexed Victorian mansion, purchased through Best’s mother, Mona, who came up with the idea of a members-only club for her children and their friends to meet and listen to music.
The footprints of the Beatles, then The Quarrymen, are all over the basement where they are said to have played.
The band helped decorate the area and you can still see where John Lennon carved his call on the walls with a razor. On sweaty nights, many other people flocked to attend his concerts.
Today, there were dozens of people downstairs and more people in the rooms upstairs, which visitors can now book.
The suites are named after Paul, John, George, Peter and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe (also Ringo).
“The Beatles played here, the Beatles partied here and the Beatles slept here,” Best said, adding that the accommodation is a “projection” of his mother’s dream.
This moment reminds us that after Beatlemania came a nostalgia that still seduces and still sells.
Evelyn and Andy were the first to arrive at a room, coming from Glasgow.
In Paul McCartney’s suite, dotted with photographs of the boy after whom it is named, as well as a reproduction of his guitar, Evelyn described the Beatles as “almost like friends” to her. He added that he does his best to attend Beatles-themed events and venues as he can.
But in addition to being a business opportunity, the space now used as a bed and breakfast reflects how close Best has come to Beatlemania.
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Debbie Greenberg, who ran the Cavern Club, another Liverpool venue known to be associated with the band, still remembers the moment she left the team.
“Pete was a very handsome guy and he had a lot of followers. A rumor spread that he had been replaced by Ringo and we all started chanting,” Greenberg recalled.
“We were all doing a song ‘Pete Forever, Ringo Never. ‘To be replaced suddenly, when they were on the verge of something great, must have been very destructive to his soul, so you know he deserves everything he has today. “