Bath’s Beatlemania! 62 years of the Beatles in Bath

­­This month marks 62 years since The Beatles came to Bath. Just as Beatlemania was reaching its peak, John, Paul, George and Ringo came to the city for one night and one night only. The concert at The Pavilion in June 1963 marked a turning point for youth culture in the city, and the gig continues to be considered a major event in the Bath’s history. Simon Hurford tells the story…

In the 1960s, rock music was breaking out all over the UK, with clubs opening and new groups forming to cash in on the boom. American artists had been bossing the pop charts, but now the Brits were fighting back!

The beginning of 1963 saw John Paul, George and Ringo performing up in Glasgow for only £42 a night…

And on 10 June 1963, The Pavilion music booker Freddy Bannister presented for one night, and one night only, From Liverpool: The Beatles!

The capacity for a concert at the Bath Pavilion was about 1400 people, but the total number present on that hot June night was way in excess…

I remember walking down North Parade Road that night, and there must have been a thousand fans outside that venue, just trying to earn the bragging rights to say ‘I was there’.

Everyone was just listening to the sheer noise coming form the stage – it could be heard all the way from Bog Island on the Parade, and as you got nearer it got louder and louder, like a plane taking off.

The show was a triumph, and a major event in the history of the city.

After the concert finished, fans hung around outside, unwilling to go home. They knew they had witnessed something very special – everyone knew the Beatles would never come to Bath again, as first national fame, and then worldwide fame beckoned.

The Fab Four stayed overnight at the Francis Hotel on Queen Square. They left the hotel the following morning by getting into a police van which took them to Monmouth Street where they transferred to their own van. Beatlemania was beginning!

Freddy Bannister went on to promote shows by other top Sixties acts including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Ike and Tina Turner, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, and hundreds of others. You could watch Top of the Pops on a Thursday night on your television, and then see the same artists live on stage on a Monday night in Bath. Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it?