![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Beatles-Hamburg-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy \/ Wikimedia)<\/p>\n
Sun 26 April 2026 0:00, UK <\/p>\n
\u2018The fifth Beatle\u2019 is a title that is contested by a vast array of different people, spanning the spectrum from Billy Preston to George Martin, and even including the various members of The Beatles<\/a> that came and went from the line-up in its early incarnation. One of the earliest and most underappreciated claimants to that title, however, is Allan Williams.\u00a0<\/p>\n A key architect in the Merseybeat explosion of the early 1960s, Liverpool native Williams was once a budding vocalist in his own right, but he soon made the switch to being a promoter, booker, and businessman. Perhaps his greatest contribution to the cultural fabric of Liverpool arrived in 1958, when he opened The Jacaranda coffee bar, which soon became the city\u2019s premier hangout for young beatniks, artists, and hopeful young musicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n You can probably have a good guess of where the story goes from there, but for posterity: one such regular at the Jacaranda was John Lennon, and original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe even painted the murals that adorned the walls of the building\u2019s basement. In essence, then, the coffee bar became the home base of The Beatles during their early days, being frequented by all members at one point or another.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before too long, the young band began to pester Williams for opportunities to showcase their music, and he soon became their first proper manager. Although it was a far cry from selling out Shea Stadium, Williams did manage to sort the band a ramshackle tour of Scotland, as well as a gig backing up a stripper<\/a>. Most importantly, though, it was Williams who convinced the band to head for Hamburg in 1960, where they would carve out the basis for their entire future.<\/p>\n Instead of the private jets and luxury accommodations that they would soon become familiar with, though, that first trip to Hamburg wasn\u2019t exactly a glamorous affair. Nevertheless, the future kings of Liverpool hauled themselves into the back of Williams\u2019 Morris J2 van \u2013 which, for the classic car obsessives among you, had only a 1400cc engine \u2013 and set off for the long, tiresome journey to Germany<\/a>. <\/p>\n Exactly how long the journey took is a fact only known by those who were cooped up in that little van, but a modern-day equivalent journey would be expected to last for at least 14 hours, with Williams behind the wheel. Luckily, that gruelling journey ended up being worthwhile, as Hamburg was the setting for the true beginning of The Beatles\u2019 careers, ushering in their first recording sessions with Tony Sheridan and allowing them to carve out a particularly electric live show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hamburg also provided Williams with a lot of unwanted grief as the band\u2019s manager, including being tasked with appealing against the deportation orders served to both Paul McCartney and Pete Best. With the band returning to the German city multiple times over the next few years, it didn\u2019t take very long for the relationship with Allan Williams to sour. <\/p>\n In the end, money caused the relationship to fall apart, with The Beatles unhappy with how much of their earnings they were expected to hand over to Williams. Severing ties, the manager even threatened legal action against the band, but it never amounted to much, and he soon washed his hands of them entirely. <\/p>\n \u201cBrian, don\u2019t touch them with a fucking bargepole,\u201d he is reported to have told Brian Epstein upon learning of the band\u2019s new manager. The rest, as they say, is history, with The Beatles becoming the biggest band on the face of the Earth, and Epstein lauded among the greatest band managers of all time. <\/p>\n In later years, the group managed to reconcile with their first manager, a man who \u2013 if only for the amount of time he spent ferrying them to Hamburg \u2013 is certainly deserving of a claim to the \u2018fifth Beatle\u2019 title. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
<\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n