Centro Cultural Los Beatles in Bayamo, Cuba

Centro Cultural Los Beatles is a music venue in Bayamo, capital of Granma province in eastern Cuba, on Calle Zenea between Figueredo and Saco. Cuba's Minister of Culture opened it on 11 January 2006. Bronze figures of George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr stand outside its entrance.

Opened by the Minister of Culture in January 2006

The centre opened on 11 January 2006, according to a report from the Cuban state news agency AIN carried by Chile's Emol. Culture Minister Abel Prieto presided, and Abel Acosta, president of the Cuban Institute of Music, attended. The room seated 80 and was set up to promote the music of the 1960s, the decade when Beatles songs were kept out of the Cuban media. Bronze figures of the four Beatles were placed at the entrance from the start.

The same report set Bayamo in a run of official Cuban tributes: José Villa Soberón's Lennon on a park bench in Havana, unveiled by Fidel Castro in 2000, and a Lennon bronze at Guardalavaca in Holguín province from 2002.

Four bronzes on Calle Zenea

The centre is on Calle Zenea, which La Demajagua, the Granma provincial newspaper, notes was formerly called Década. The finer detail comes from travellers rather than the press. A travel photo taken by Ludo Kuipers on 5 March 2016 and published on his OzOutback site is captioned with the bronze figures outside from left to right as George, John, Paul and Ringo, and says tribute bands played there every weekend, singing in Spanish.

No confirmation it is open after 2020

The latest dated mention of Beatles shows on the street is from November 2020, when La Demajagua promoted a Friday-night tribute on Calle Zenea with games, prizes from the Bayamo branch of the EGREM record label and a fashion show, without naming the centre. One visitor on a travel forum reported finding it closed on several trips. Nothing published since 2020 confirms the venue still operates. The bronzes stand on the street front, so they can be seen whether or not the doors are open.

OpenStreetMap also marks a "Grafito de John Lennon" on Calle Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Nuevitas, Camagüey province; no photograph or press report of it has been published.