Treslong, Hillegom: Where the Beatles Taped Dutch TV in 1964

Treslong was a bulb-trading and events hall in Hillegom, South Holland, where the Beatles taped a VARA television programme on 5 June 1964, with Jimmie Nicol standing in for Ringo Starr. The building was demolished in 2005 and houses now fill the site. Since 8 June 2019 a steel monument by Nicolas Dings in nearby Van Nispenpark marks the visit.

A bulb exchange with a big hall

Treslong was built in 1952 by Hillegom's flower-bulb exchange foundation on the grounds of an old country estate of the same name, whose house had been pulled down in 1950. It had a restaurant and a large trading hall. That hall was big enough for concerts and television, and in the 1960s it hosted both.

The evening of 5 June 1964

The Beatles reached Hillegom in the afternoon of 5 June 1964. Ringo Starr was ill, so Jimmie Nicol sat behind the drums. Recording for VARA began at 8pm in front of about 150 people. In the first half the presenter Herman Stok passed on questions from the young audience; Marga van Praag, who later became a presenter herself, asked one of them.

For the second half the band mimed to six of their records, among them Twist and Shout, She Loves You and Can't Buy Me Love. Their microphones were live, so they sang along now and then. During Long Tall Sally people started climbing onto the stage to dance, more followed with each song, and by Can't Buy Me Love the Beatles were hemmed in. Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall and Derek Taylor could not clear the stage and the band left. VARA combined the footage with film of their Amsterdam visit and broadcast it as The Beatles in Nederland on 8 June 1964.

The next day, 6 June, the band played two public concerts at Blokker, now marked by the Beatles Monument in Blokker. Treslong came first, but it was a TV taping for an invited audience, which is why Blokker is often called their only Dutch concert.

Demolished in 2005

Treslong grew in the early 1970s with an office block and a sports hall for 1,500 spectators. Bulb traders later moved away, and neighbours complained about event traffic. The complex closed, stood empty for a year and was demolished in 2005. A housing development that kept the name Treslong went up on the site. None of the old building survives.

The monument in Van Nispenpark

A local foundation formed in 2014 to give Hillegom a reminder of the evening. It held a design competition, and the Amsterdam artist Nicolas Dings won with a model picked from 20 entries. His monument is cut from 12 mm steel plate, about 4 metres high and 4.7 metres long, with four musician silhouettes on a concrete base. Marga van Praag, back 55 years after asking her question, unveiled it on 8 June 2019 near the main entrance of Van Nispenpark. In 2020 it was shifted about 15 metres to make room for play equipment.

A new information board went up beside it in June 2025. It corrects the older text, which had called Treslong an auction house.