Ad Lib: Leicester Place - 1964 & 2009.

A fascinating black and white image showing Leicester Place, home of the Ad Lib club, as the Beatles et al would have known it in 1964, and the same vantage point, virtually unchanged in 2009. The club was housed on the top floor of the building on the right at the end of the street - home also to the Prince Charles Theatre (as it was in '64 - now the Prince Charles Cinema).
The sterling research of Julian Carr has shown that there were clubs under various guises located in the same space right up until the end of the 1970s. Still no picture of the interior, however, though the fact of subsequent incarnations make it much more likely that photos exist somewhere, of one era or another.
According to contemporary newspaper reports concerning complaints by local residents about noise, the walls of the Ad Lib were "fur lined". (Good God!) Several books have Ad Lib anecdotes about John, the general theme, pre-dentist, being muchos scotch and coke, followed by a spot of snarling at people. Traditional fun, in other words.
Many thanks to Julian for the new information and the 2009 pic. The 1964 image is reproduced by kind permission of the City of London: London Metropolitan Archives.