The 2i's and the birth of British rock

Part two: Into the 60s By Owen Adams

The Beatles didn’t just owe a musical debt to Lonnie Donegan. If it hadn’t been for a miniscule cellar full of noise in London’s Soho, the Fab Four might never have built up their musical chops in Hamburg, and Beatlemania might never have happened.

The fame of the 2i’s Coffee Bar inspired Mona Best to open her cellar as a venue called The Casbah, where John, Paul, George, Stu and her son Pete got started. They got to Hamburg because Liverpool entrepreneur Allan Williams made the connection at the 2i’s. In Germany, they recorded with 2i’s veteran Tony Sheridan as The Beat Boys. According to some versions of the story, Sheridan then drafted in Ringo from Rory Storm’s Hurricanes to replace Best for a few gigs in Hamburg. Jimmy Nicol, in turn, later deputised for Ringo in Australia, having learnt his craft at the 2i’s, too.

With its Formica finish, there was nothing fancy about the 2i’s. It would contravene all of today’s licensing laws and Health & Safety regulations, not least for cramming 100-plus people into a subterranean space that comfortably held 40.

The …

by Owen Adams
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