Hello, Goodbye! American family sell Llandudno house that once played host to the Beatles

The Beatles came to Doris Hague’s house, on 33 Bryniau Road for tea, 56 years ago.

This August, Lisa Magon and her sister Cathy Mills - who are from America - paid a visit to that house which they are now selling.

Doris is their grandmother.

Lisa, 55, who’s uncle is Jon Hague - a Welsh artist from Llandudno who was good friends with a young John Lennon - said the Beatles came to her grandmother’s house for tea in the early 60s and on Cathy’s fourth birthday.

Doris, who operated the house as a B&B at the time, knew John before he was famous.

In 1963, the Beatles had a show in Llandudno and when the date arrived, they were starting to become well known in the UK.

Lisa said: “My uncle Jon Hague was a good friend of John Lennon’s. They met in Liverpool art school.

“My uncle was in Llandudno at the time of the show because my mother, Georgina McKenna, and her two children [Cathy and Karen McKenna] were all visiting from the US.

“Jon invited John and Paul to come over for tea to visit. They were all sitting together in the front room of the house when one of the B&B guests walked into the house.

"The guest was a young girl who recognised the Beatles. All the way up the stairs she kept telling her mother that the Beatles were in the front room, her mother didn’t believe her until the next day when she asked my grandmother if it really was John and Paul.

“At the tea, the Beatles talked about how they need to watch out for certain hard candy being thrown on the stage during the performances – they spent a fair amount of time dodging mint imperials.”

Lisa's uncle Jon Hague was friends with John Lennon

“I don’t think it meant a lot to my grandmother [the visit] as it seemed more like an every day thing. Since Jon and John Lennon were friends and she may not have thought they were going to be as big as they eventually became.

“She did have a couple of the Beatles phone numbers and addresses in her address book. I remember looking through her address book when she would visit the US and getting excited to see their names.

“I’m sure the addresses were long changed but it was still a thrill to see their names.”

The house on Bryniau Road is currently in bad disrepair.

“It was the house my mother grew up in,” Lisa explained.

“It was originally a bed a breakfast run by mother, grandmother (16 bedrooms). The house was eventually split into two halves and at the time the Beatles - John and Paul - were there, it was an eight bedroom house.”

Lisa was in Llandudno this August celebrating Cathy’s 60th birthday.

Her other sister Karen Siota, 58, maiden name McKenna, paid a separate trip to the town in May.

Lisa Magon with her sister Cathy during their visit to Llandudno in August

Lisa, who is married to Wayne and has grown up children Allison and Olivia, added: “At the time of Cathy’s fourth birthday, my uncle Jon took Cathy took the Grand Hotel to visit the Beatles where they stayed for a week.

“Jon thought it would be funny to let Cathy into John Lennon’s hotel room alone – something like ‘hey, there’s a little girl in our room’. So Cathy went in to the room alone for a short time. The other thing she remembers is the Beatles singing her happy birthday and at some point going out to the balcony.

“There were some girls gathered below who had found out where the Beatles were staying.

"One of the Beatles was shaving at the time and Cathy remembers him flicking shaving cream on the screaming girls below.”

Georgina left Llandudno to visit the US in 1958. She met her husband in Los Angeles and never moved back to Wales.

“We were fortunate to visit Wales for many summers in our youth,” Lisa said.

“On Cathy’s birthday, August 17, we went to the Quay Hotel in Deganwy with relatives.

“We did go back to the house. It brought back many memories of the summers we spent with our relatives and our love for the town of Llandudno. For example, singing in the Happy Valley show, Cathy getting stranded on the West Shore as the tide came in behind her, working for Tiffany’s.

“After 30 years of leasing the house, it is in need of a full refurbishment.

“Rather than manage the remodel from the US my mother is choosing to sell.”