April 26^th 1984 was heralded as a new beginning with the opening of a new Cavern Club. Over 15,000 of the old Cavern bricks had been saved and treated. The old bricks were used to reconstruct the arches and the vaults to more or less the same dimensions as the original club. there are however a number of significant differences between the original Club and new floor plan.

       
Pictures from the first night at the 'new' Cavern
Mojo Filter - Jimmy Tarbock - Billy J Kramer

• The Club today only occupies 75% of the original site.
• The reconstructed club is deeper than the original. Between 1957 and 1973 you would have descended 18 stairs. Today you will walk down 30 steps.
• The entrance to the Club today is 15 yards nearer to North John Street than the original club. Ironically the main fire escape onto Mathew Street from the new Club is the exact site of the original doorway. Why they didn’t put the reconstructed entrance in the same place remains a mystery - the present day entrance could have been the fire escape.
• The original archways and vaults were at 90° to Mathew Street, not parallel as they are today. In fact the stage Paul McCartney performed on 14^th December 1999, is only feet away from the original Cavern Stage.

   
The Merseybeats - The Swinging Blue Jeans

The excitement generated by the new development has been somewhat premature. Between 1984 and 1989 the Cavern had four different owners and went into receivership twice. The Club was closed by Merseyside Police in December 1989 however it had started to re-establish itself as one of Liverpool’s principle night-spots.

In early 1991 Cavern City Tours put a proposal to Royal Life, the owners of the development. The royal accepted and on the 12^th July 1991 the Cavern re-opened to the Public.