Do a Fab Beatles Tour of London

Do a Fab Beatles Tour of London

Abbey Road

The Beatles in London Walk is actually two walks. The first takes fab four fans to Abbey Road, starting at the St John’s Wood underground station (both Beatles walks start and end at London underground stations.) From the station you head for the Abbey Road studios and the famous pedestrian crossing, used on the cover of the Abbey Road album. The book points out that the zebra crossing used for the album cover is the smaller side crossing, not the bigger crossing which visitors sometimes assume.

Sir Paul McCartney’s London Home

From Abbey Road it’s a short walk to Sir Paul McCartney’s London home at 7 Cavendish Avenue, which he bought in 1966 for £40,000. The booklet explains how Paul McCartney wrote Penny Lane and other songs here, and house guests have included Mick Jagger, Sting, Michael Jackson and Tina Turner. You had to know where you were going, as it’s the only house in the street without a number.

The book’s Beatle stories continue by pointing out the Post Office from which Brian Epstein sent a telegram to the Beatles in Hamburg, letting them know of the audition he’d arranged for them at Abbey Road. Nearby is the New London Synagogue where, little over five years later, Brian Epstein’s Memorial Service was to be held.

It’s only one tube stop from the end of the first part of the walk to the start of the second, which begins at Baker Street and takes you on a long and winding road that ends near Piccadilly Circus and the London Pavilion and Rock Circus. In between you’ll find such London Beatles landmarks as the London Beatles Store, Marylebone train station where scenes from A Hard Day’s Night were filmed, the Registry Office where Paul married Linda and Ringo married Barbara Bach, Ringo’s flat where Jimi Hendrix also once lived (for four months till Ringo evicted him!), Carnaby Street, the Indica Gallery where John met Yoko, and the Beatles’ Apple Headquarters in Savile Row, where the group played their last ever concert, on the rooftop.