Ye Crack: Liverpool.

Pubs. A subject close to my heart. It is just about possible to construct a Beatles-related pub crawl in central London: The Devonshire Arms off Manchester Square still exists, and the Beatles drank there on quite a few occasions due to its proximity to the old EMI House. The Shakespeare's Head in Carnaby Street is another - John used to drink in that establishment with Tony Bramwell, and it's still there too. The trouble is, the Beatles didn't go to the pub very often after they moved to London - the prohibitive effects of extreme fame. They did most of their drinking in private clubs - the Ad Lib, The Bag O' Nails, The Scotch of St James, the Speakeasy et al. These premises are now either changed beyond recognition, or else purvey mammary gland centred entertainment. Plus ca change, some might say. Up in Liverpool, however, you can still find no-nonsense pubs where the Fabs used to imbibe - principally the Grapes in Mathew Street (which has a pic of them doing that very thing there on the wall) and, in John's case, the splendidly named Ye Crack. A short stagger from the Art College, John spent a great deal of time here in the late '50s, drinking, arguing, taking the piss, and chatting up Cynthia. The second pic dates from the mid-80s, the last from this year.