Margate is a mop-top capital when it comes to Beatle memories.

Organisers of The Beatles memorabilia roadshow say the nostalgia-fest at the town’s Winter Gardens - where the Fab Four played a week of gigs in July 1963 - is the best they have experienced as they tour the UK and abroad.

Rob Bachelor said: “It was one of the friendliest crowds we have met and it was amazing that so many people who went to the shows still live in the area. More than 20 people were among those who visited us with first-hand memories, and that is our best total.

"It was fabulous reliving those days and it was special being in a building where The Beatles played.

“We were even shown the old smugglers tunnels through which the band was ushered out to avoid hundreds of hysterical fans at the end of the show.

“And proving that you are never too young to be a Beatles fans, two young parents attended the memorabila day with their small children, a four year old boy called Lennon, and a baby girl called Lily-Star, after Ringo."

The organisers are so pleased with the response that they vowed. “We will be back and Margate will be a regular venue for us.”

Journalist Dave Cooper from St Peter’s worked for the Melody Maker at the time and went to the opening night with Reg Foster, showbiz editor of the old East Kent Times local newspaper.

He said: “We were not that impressed. They were four very average young musicians with rhythm seemingly more important than melody. We solemnly concluded that they may carve out a living on the circuit, but could just as easily be five-minute wonders and sink without trace.

"Jack Green, Margate’s outstanding entertainments manager, said how upset he was at missing out on The Beatles for the full summer season 1964 as a day or so earlier they had signed up for Great Yarmouth.

“Jack, who believed they would have broken all box office records, took us to their dressing room after the show. It was rather full and we didn’t stay long, although they were very friendly.

“Jack enthused about their future to such an extent that Reg and I silently queried his normally astute judgement, especially when he claimed they would captivate the country and maybe beyond with their unique appeal.

"No chance whatsoever of that, we thought, but certain things are sometimes best left unsaid and we let him indulge his totally impossible dream.

"What did I know? Nothing!”

For more memories of the Beatles in Thanet, see the Thanet Extra, out now.