TheAd Lib Club was a nightclub on the fourth floor of 7 Leicester Place over thePrince Charles Cinema in London'sSoho district. It opened in February 1964 (or December 1963), and closed in its original location after a fire in November 1966. The owner, Brian Morris, unsuccessfully tried to reopen the club inCovent Garden.[1][2][3] The club was noted for itsR&B andSoul music.[4]
Mark Lewisohn describes the club as the nightclub "most strongly associated with The Beatles".[3]The Beatles ended their evening at the club following the premiere ofA Hard Day's Night in July 1964.[5]Cynthia andJohn Lennon andGeorge Harrison andPattie Boyd thought the lift going up to the club was on fire during their first LSD trip in 1965, an event which Harrison called "The Dental Experience".[6] The Beatles had their own table at the club. It was at the club thatRingo Starr proposed toMaureen Cox in January 1965.[6]
The musician and writerGeorge Melly characterised the relationship between the entertainment and social elite ofSwinging London and the rest of Britain's youth as "feudal" with "edicts handed down from the Ad Lib Club ... to the teeny boppers in the outer darkness".[1]The Ad Lib was supplanted in popularity byThe Scotch of St. James.[2]
51°30′41″N0°07′49″W / 51.5115°N 0.1302°W /51.5115; -0.1302
