George Harrison once asked a beach cafe waitress in Weston-super-Mare for a date - and she stood him up.
- Dan Heley
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The Beatles went to Fortes, which was on the seafront, for a cuppa ahead of a gig they were playing that evening in town.
And the guitarist took a fancy to one of the staff there.
But incredibly she ended up leaving one of the biggest pop stars in the world hanging.
Former waitress Alethea Willmer, who was working in Fortes in 1963 to earn some cash before she headed off to Bristol to train to be a nurse, now wonders what her life could have been like if she had dated Harrison.
She says: “The Beatles turned up for refreshments in the afternoon. I did not know who they were but the other girls were frantic that they should choose my table to sit at.
"Taking the order, George Harrison asked when I finished work and said he would wait for me at the seawall. Sure enough he was waiting but I left by the back door. Where would my life have been if I had met up with him? I wonder if he remembered being stood up?”
The story is among some of memories from fans in a book about their up-close and personal encounters with The Fab Four when they came to The West Country in 1963.
Beatlemania had just taken the UK by storm and the band were rocketing to the top of the charts with From Me To You, She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
Having mainly played gigs in their native Liverpool (and also Hamburg), they began heading to other towns and cities around the UK.
A new book called There’s A Place looks at how John, Paul, George and Ringo sent fans crazy when they turned up in the West Country.
Author Simon Hurford spent months searching for lasses and lads who had been to the gigs in Salisbury, Bath, Bristol and Weston-super-Mare as excited teenagers and he asked for their stories about their encounters with the band.
He says: “The response was brilliant. Some recall the gig as a highlight of their life. This book catches The Fab Four before they sky rocketed into world beaters and became prisoners of their own fame.”
At the time George was 20, Paul was 21, and John and Ringo were 23.4
Another daring fan called Sandra Woodruff managed to get into The Royal Pier Hotel in Weston with her friends after discovering that The Beatles were staying there.
They actually got into the band’s room and rifled through drawers and came away with a very unusual souvenir.
It was the inlay card for a brand new pair of Wolsey cotton rib pants which she found.
She recalls: “I don’t know how long we were in there. It must have been about five minutes and I rifled through their fresh pair of pants and stole the card.”
Two days later she met the band and presented the card for them to sign and Paul laughed “Oh right. Now we know who was in our bedroom!”
Sandra adds: “I got the card signed by all of the band. I was just mad about them. I never expected we’d get that close to the Beatles.”
That card later sold for £11, 360 at auction.
* There’s A Place: The Beatles In The West Country is written and published by Simon Hurford.