The Cavern Club, Liverpool (must see)

The Cavern Club opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club, but by the early 1960s it had become one of the centers of Liverpool's growing rock-and-roll scene. It was closely associated with the Merseybeat sound and, most famously, with The Beatles, who played here regularly during their early years.

The Beatles first appeared at the Cavern after returning to Liverpool from Hamburg, Germany, where they had been performing in clubs such as the Indra and Kaiserkeller. Their Cavern debut came in February 1961, and they soon became regular performers at the club's lunchtime "beat sessions," sometimes appearing alongside other popular Liverpool groups such as Gerry and the Pacemakers.

At the time, Mathew Street, on which the Cavern stands, was still a fairly ordinary, narrow cobbled street lined with warehouses. But around lunchtime, it could suddenly come alive. Crowds would begin forming outside the Cavern's small entrance, often stretching along the street as people waited to squeeze into the cellar below. Inside, the atmosphere was simple and informal. There was no elaborate security, and the club didn't serve alcohol - just coffee and soft drinks.

Between 1961 and 1963, The Beatles played at the Cavern 292 times. By the summer of 1963, however, Beatlemania was spreading rapidly across Britain. Their audiences had become much too large for such a small venue, and their final Cavern performance took place on 3 August 1963.

The Beatles were far from the only major names to appear here. Over the following years, the Cavern hosted an impressive range of performers, including The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Kinks, The Who, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Queen, and blues legend John Lee Hooker.

Today, the Cavern remains a live music venue and one of the best-known stops on Liverpool's music trail. Even if you're not a devoted Beatles fan, it's worth heading down the famous staircase into the cellar to experience the atmosphere for yourself. Live bands still play here regularly, so the club feels more like a working music venue than simply a museum to the past.

For millions of visitors, walking down those steps is a chance to experience a small part of the place where Liverpool's 1960s music scene - much as The Beatles' extraordinary story - really began to take off.