House Used for Early Beatles Gigs Becomes Holiday Rental

A statue of The Beatles, featuring (L-R) musicians Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon, created by sculptur Chris Butler, in their native Liverpool. PAUL ELLIS / AFP
A statue of The Beatles, featuring (L-R) musicians Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon, created by sculptur Chris Butler, in their native Liverpool. PAUL ELLIS / AFP
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House Used for Early Beatles Gigs Becomes Holiday Rental

A statue of The Beatles, featuring (L-R) musicians Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon, created by sculptur Chris Butler, in their native Liverpool. PAUL ELLIS / AFP
A statue of The Beatles, featuring (L-R) musicians Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon, created by sculptur Chris Butler, in their native Liverpool. PAUL ELLIS / AFP

A Liverpool house famous for hosting some of The Beatles' first gigs in the basement has been given a new lease of life listed on Airbnb.
Mona Best, the party-loving mother of the band's original drummer Pete Best, opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the city's West Derby suburb in 1959, just before the group formed, AFP said.
The band went on to perform more than 40 times in the basement of the property, on a leafy residential street, after it had also hosted 13 gigs by John Lennon's first band The Quarrymen.
The Casbah started with Saturday night gigs, but soon opened Friday to Sunday. It closed three years later but has remained a tourist attraction for Beatles fans from around the world.
Now the property has been transformed into suites named after members of the Fab Four -- though one is named for Best rather than Ringo Starr, who became The Beatles' drummer in 1962.
Stuart Sutcliffe, the band's original bass guitarist, also gets a room named in his honor.
"The Beatles played here, The Beatles partied here and The Beatles slept here," Pete Best told Britain's Press Association (PA) news agency, which first reported on the change to a holiday rental listing.
The 82-year-old added it was intended as a "lasting tribute" to the world's most famous band.
He has been working on converting the house into rental accommodation since 2020, along with younger brother Roag, 62 -- the son of The Beatles' road manager Neil Aspinall.
'Unique'
The rooms have been decorated with a "sprinkling" of The Beatles, including photos of band members, posters and guitars on the wall.
The famous basement has been preserved from its 1960s heyday, with drum kits still on display and "John I'm back" scratched into the ceiling above the stage area.
The five suites above have been available to book since early August, with guests from different parts of Britain and the United States already staying over.
They are yet to post any reviews.
Under Airbnb's "what makes my home unique" section, the brothers have playfully entered: "The Beatles played and stayed here".
Prices for next month were starting at around £125 ($163) per night.
Roag revealed to PA that he was actually born in what is now the McCartney suite while most of the band were downstairs.
"So upon being born I was basically presented to The Beatles," he said.
He grew up in the property and moved out aged 24.
Roag noted McCartney has previously said he loved playing in the Casbah because "it was like playing a big house party" and "it felt like a safe place" to try new things.
Explaining the lack of a Starr suite, he added it was "about being authentic".
"The Beatles that performed and partied here were John, Paul, George, Pete and Stuart."



Netflix Upfront Ad Commitments Surge as NFL Games, Squid Game Boost Appeal

 Lily Collins attends the Premiere for Netflix's "Emily In Paris" Season 4 at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, August 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Lily Collins attends the Premiere for Netflix's "Emily In Paris" Season 4 at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, August 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Netflix Upfront Ad Commitments Surge as NFL Games, Squid Game Boost Appeal

 Lily Collins attends the Premiere for Netflix's "Emily In Paris" Season 4 at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, August 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Lily Collins attends the Premiere for Netflix's "Emily In Paris" Season 4 at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, August 14, 2024. (Reuters)

Netflix saw a more than 150% surge in upfront ad commitments for this year, the streaming giant said on Tuesday, thanks in part to the National Football League (NFL) games coming to the platform on Christmas Day.

In its second year of upfront negotiations — where networks and media companies aim to secure ad commitments for upcoming shows — Netflix successfully closed advertising deals with all major holding companies and independent agencies.

The California-based company secured partnerships for several high-profile properties, including the popular series "Squid Game" and "Wednesday," as well as the upcoming movie "Happy Gilmore 2."

It also closed deals for live events, including WWE Raw and the Christmas Day NFL games.

As competition intensifies in the streaming space, major players like Warner Bros Discovery's Max and Walt Disney's Disney+ have also turned to ad-supported plans and streaming bundles to boost growth.

Streaming services are also increasingly investing in sports content to attract a larger, younger audience and more advertisers willing to pay for premium live sports content.

Facing saturation in subscriber growth in the United States, Netflix has been beefing up its advertising business, although the business is not expected to become a primary driver of revenue growth until at least 2026.

The company last month reported its ad tier membership grew 34% sequentially in the second quarter.

Netflix introduced an ad-supported tier of the service in November 2022 as it tried to offset escalating costs of creating original content and licensing deals to keep viewers on the platform.

The cheaper, ad-supported plan hit 40 million global monthly active users in May.