‘It’s an emotional day for Liverpool’: fans gather to buy new Beatles single Now and Then

At HMV Liverpool, Beatles heads – including one called John Lennon – queue up for vinyl copies of what is billed as the final Beatles song

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It almost resembles 1963 more than 2023, as fans pack into a Liverpool record shop in the early hours of Friday morning to buy a new Beatles single that went on sale at midnight. Incredibly, first in the line at HMV to buy Now and Then on 7in and 12in is none other than John Lennon – his real name, and he has the passport to prove it. “I started queueing at 8am Thursday,” he says, wearing the same round sunglasses and “New York City” T-shirt as his legendary namesake. “I was determined to be first.”

Behind him is Brian Jackson, 62, who runs Liverpool record/memorabilia shop Allkinds and has been a fan since he was four: “Our family used to play Beatles’ records on a Dansette. It’s never left me.” Some fans recognise the historic nature of the occasion. “I want to tell my children and my grandchildren that I bought a Beatles record on the day of release,” said Ved Desai, 19, a student from Dubai. Lizzie Hillesdon, who performs as singer Pixey, says the single reminds her of the White Album. Further down the queue, 22-year-old student Jackie Oien first heard Now and Then hours earlier at a listening party in the Cavern club. “Some people were teary,” she said. “It’s an emotional day for Liverpool.”