Cavern Mecca

{{Short description|Former museum in Liverpool, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}

File:Rainford Square and Mathew Street, Liverpool.JPG

File:Cavern Mecca Beatles Museum relief (front), Cavern Club 2010.jpg

The Cavern Mecca was a Beatles museum in Liverpool. Founded in 1981 and named for the Cavern Club, it was instrumental in the birth of Beatles fan-based tourism in Liverpool.{{cite web |title=Cavern Mecca, Beatles fan club |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F223176 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=4 October 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Prangnell |first1=Glenn |title=Cavern Mecca: Photographs and Souvenirs |date=20 February 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qjcEVsRwX4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/9qjcEVsRwX4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|via=YouTube |access-date=4 October 2018}}{{cbignore}} It was located on the corner of Rainford Square and Mathew Street.

{{cite book |author=Scott Wheeler |title=Charlie Lennon: Uncle to a Beatle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKN80jpaKBUC&q=%22Cavern+Mecca%22&pg=PA144 |publisher=Outskirts Press, Inc |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-59800-009-2 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CKN80jpaKBUC&pg=PA144&q=%22Cavern%20Mecca%22 144], [https://books.google.com/books?id=CKN80jpaKBUC&pg=PA413&q=%22Cavern%20Mecca%22 413] |quote="In December 1981, four months after the MerseyBeatle Extravaganza, BBCTV broadcast a news segment on Cavern Mecca.", "Jim Hughes: My wife Liz and I organized the Beatles conventions in Liverpool from 1981 to 1984. ... We had to give up the centre in December 1984 because my wife became ill and was told she could no longer work. Liz passed away}}{{cite book |author=June Skinner Sawyers |title=Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YslbXfDi7kwC&q=%22Cavern+Mecca%22&pg=PT23 |publisher=Penguin |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-4406-4925-7 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YslbXfDi7kwC&pg=PT23&q=%22Cavern%20Mecca%22 23] |quote="December 1984 The Cavern Mecca, a Liverpool museum and information center, closes."}}

The museum was founded and run by Liz and Jim Hughes, who "single-handedly jump-started" what became the annual Beatles Convention in Liverpool,{{cite web |last1=Sudbury |first1=Julie |title=Liverpool's first Beatles museum – The Cavern Mecca |url=http://musicheritageuk.tumblr.com/post/69400944278/liverpools-first-beatles-museum-the-cavern |publisher=tumblr |access-date=4 October 2018}} now part of the Beatles Week festival.{{cite web |title=international Beatle Week |url=https://www.cavernclub.org/beatleweek/ |publisher=Cavern Club |access-date=4 October 2018}} When the museum and fan club were founded, the Beatles had been out of fashion and little acknowledged in Liverpool. The Cavern Club itself, where the Beatles had frequently played in their early years after returning from Hamburg, was closed in 1973 and later filled in as part of construction of the Merseyrail underground rail loop. In the same year as the opening of the Cavern Mecca, plans were announced to excavate and reopen the Cavern Club. The Cavern Club, complete with excavation of the original club, remained open from 1984 to 1989 before again closing, only to re-open again in 1991 as both a club and museum.{{cite web |title=The Cavern Club: History |url=https://www.cavernclub.org/history/ |publisher=The Cavern Club |access-date=4 October 2018}} The Cavern Mecca closed in December 1984 when founder Liz Hughes fell ill. Co-founder Jim Hughes died in 2018.{{cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Richard |title=Jim Hughes, the Founder of Cavern Mecca Passes Away |url=https://blog.beatlesinlondon.com/jim-hughes/ |website=blog.beatlesinlondon.com/ |date=11 January 2018 |publisher=London Beatles Walks |access-date=4 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://philipbattle.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/breakout-6-jan-1982/|title=interview with Jim Hughes (Manager of the Cavern Mecca and organiser of John Lennon Statue Appeal Fund) BREAKOUT Issue 6. Jan. 1982|date=21 May 2010}} In 2003, a signed copy of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, together with an official souvenir programme from the fourth annual Beatles Convention of Cavern Mecca, sold for $290,000 at auction, breaking the record at the time for the price of a signed Beatles album cover.{{cite news |title=Signed Beatles album Sgt. Pepper sells for $290,000 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-21993483 |access-date=4 October 2018 |agency=BBC News |date=1 April 2013}}