“They used to come and offer to clean and collect glasses for Woodbine,” Al Nasir said of Lennon and McCartney.
“In return Woodbine would feed them and help them out by teaching them chords.”
Historical accounts suggest that Phillips drove the Beatles to Germany in a Volkswagen van, though his legacy was largely excluded from official histories after Brian Epstein took over management.
“I don’t even know if Woodbine even had a contract with the Beatles,” Al Nasir said.
“But he certainly picked them up when no one else cared; he took them to Hamburg, a place that nobody else really thought about.”
Phillips expressed his heartbreak in 2000 after seeing a Hamburg group photo used on stage from which he had been removed.
“When I saw that it hurt me,” he said in 2000. “That was the end of the Beatles memory and me.”
Phillips died in a house fire at the age of 72 in 2000, and his family recently unveiled a commemorative plaque outside the Jacaranda.
The upcoming BBC series is inspired by the memoirs of Klaus Voormann, who designed the cover for the 1966 album Revolver.
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Concurrently, director Sam Mendes is preparing four separate Beatles feature films dedicated to each band member, scheduled for release in 2028.
