Allerton Synagogue,

Booker Avenue

Allerton

Liverpool 18

The former Allerton Synagogue, from Mather Avenue, Liverpool 18

The McCartneys left Speke in April 1956 moving into a council house on the new Mather Avenue estate where Garston meets Allerton. The house in Forthlin Road was built in 1952 and Paul would live there for the next seven years until moving to London. If Speke is where he spent the majority of his childhood, Allerton is where Paul spent his teenage years and it was here that his friendship with John Lennon blossomed.

Shops on Booker Avenue (circa 1955)

Plans for a synagogue in the Allerton area were conceived in 1950 by the Rev. Hyman Goldman. A suitable plot of land was found on the corner of Booker Avenue and Mather Avenue and purchased for the sum of £1,261.00, some of the funds coming from donations from members of the local Jewish community.It was decided to build a function hall first, the idea being to bring in revenue for the funding of the new Synagogue.

Construction work started on the hall in April 1955 and was completed during 1956 as the McCartneys were moving in less than a mile away.

In October 1958 building started on the synagogue, completed in 1959 and formerly opened in January 1960.

The synagogue viewed across the junction of Mather Avenue with Booker Avenue

Shortly after Brian Epstein became the Beatles manager he is rumoured to have used his connections in the Jewish community to  arrange a booking for them in the function hall adjacent to the synagogue. According to those who attended the group performed at a Sunday afternoon dance during December 1961.

Sundays fell on 3rd,10th,17th, 24th, and 31st December 1961. The 10th can be discounted because the Beatles were on their way home from London after a disastrous appearance in Aldershot the night before. They had no bookings on Christmas or New Years Eve so they might be likely dates but the Beatles often performed at two and sometimes three venues a day so December 3rd and 17th cannot be ruled out.

Like every rumoured concert appearance in the Beatles’ story, until a handbill, advertisement or photograph turns up we can’t be 100% sure.

Whatever the date, Paul didn’t have far to walk home.