Beatles London
How to take a tour of Beatles sites in London
Whether you’re taking a photo at the Abbey Road crossing, standing outside the Apple building on Savile Row, or browsing Beatles merchandise at the London Beatles Store, you’ll feel a strong connection to The Beatles in London.
Below are the top London Beatles tourist attractions, each delving into the legacy of the The Beatles and offering a unique slice of The Beatles 1960s musical magic.
Best London Beatles tour
It’s easy to see all of these sites when you take a London Beatles Walking tour. There are two walking tours of Beatles sites in London offered by tour guide, Richard Porter, that cover this list of Beatles things to see in London.
Richard Porter’s Magical Mystery tour travels mainly around the Soho and Mayfair districts of London. You’ll see Paul McCartney’s London offices, the studio where The Beatles recorded “Hey Jude”, the theater where Beatlemania began, the former Apple headquarters at 3 Savile Row – the site of the Beatles rooftop concert in 1969, where John met Yoko for the first time, and Abbey Road Studios.
Note: This website earns small commissions when make a purchase through one of the affiliate links. This is at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.
And Richard’s Beatles In My Life tour, mainly around the Marylebone area, includes the station where opening scenes of A Hard Day’s Night were filmed, the location where Paul and Ringo got married, where John lived with Yoko and had the Two Virgins picture taken, the home where Paul lived with Jane Asher and wrote “Yesterday”, the restaurant in Help!, and Abbey Road Studios at the end.
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO BOOK EITHER TOUR
(1) Visit the Abbey Road crossing
It’s your turn to walk across the Abbey Road crossing made famous by The Beatles’ 1969 album cover for Abbey Road.
August 8, 1969 was the day the famous photo shoot took place. The photographer was Iain MacMillan, the setting was in front of Abbey Road Studios in London, and the subjects were John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Another ingenious idea thought up by The Beatles? Well, it wasn’t intended that way.
As Ringo Starr revealed in an interview in 2008, the idea for the Abbey Road cover came about as a last resort.
“The Beatles, we always sat around the studio with these big ideas… we’re going to do the cover and we’re going to go to Egypt, or we’re going into some volcano. We’re going to do this big thing, and then, ‘Oh, sod it, let’s just walk across the road.’ And that’s what we did!”
As simple a cover as it was, the visual image has left an indelible mark on Beatles fans from generation to generation, with thousands visiting the site every year. Here’s some video from the Abbey Road live cam which streams 24 hours a day:
And don’t forget to sign your name on the Abbey Road wall!
.
(2) Beatles rooftop concert building location
The unassuming address of 3 Savile Row in London became the site of the Beatles’ final live public performance on January 30, 1969, when they took to the rooftop of the building that housed their company Apple Corps.
Visit the exterior, imagine the scene of the performance looking out over London, and take a moment in this historic place.
The rooftop itself isn’t open to the public, but the building and the blue plaque offer some good photo ops.
.
(3) Jane Asher family home
The Asher family home at 57 Wimpole Street in Marylebone holds a memorable place in Beatles lore: it was Jane Asher’s family house during the early 1960s. Jane dated Paul McCartney from 1963 to 1968. In 1963, Paul was invited by Jane’s parents to move into their home in a small room on the top floor in the back where he had a piano by his bed (pictured).
Down in Mrs. Asher’s music room in the basement, Paul and John wrote “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Most famously, Paul came up with the idea and wrote “Yesterday” while living there. The building is now a private holistic clinic.
.
(4) London Palladium
The London Palladium, located at 8 Argyll Street, holds a landmark place in Beatles history as the venue where Beatlemania truly erupted into public consciousness. On October 13, 1963, The Beatles performed there on the popular television program Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium (a family-friendly show similar to The Ed Sullivan Show in the US) which drew an audience of around 15 million viewers — one of the largest in Britain at the time.
The frenzy outside the theatre and the nationwide reaction afterward were so intense that the press coined the term “Beatlemania” to describe the unprecedented fan hysteria. That night marked the moment The Beatles transcended pop success to become a full-fledged cultural phenomenon, cementing the Palladium’s status as the symbolic birthplace of the Beatlemania era in Britain.
.
(5) Paul McCartney MPL Office
Founded in 1971, MPL (which stands for McCartney Productions Limited) manages McCartney’s extensive music publishing catalog, which includes not only his own post-Beatles compositions but also rights to thousands of classic songs by other artists and songwriters.
The London office, discreetly located at 1 Soho Square, functions as the nerve center for McCartney’s recording projects, tours, and publishing ventures, blending the professionalism of a major media company with the personality of an artist-led enterprise. Paul McCartney visits here on a regular basis, which inspires fans to occasionally wait outside in hopes to catch a glimpse of the music legend.
London Tour Guide Richard Porter (pictured above) got his own photo with McCartney during one of his London Walking Tours.
CLICK HERE to listen to Richard talk about his London Walking tours and meeting Paul McCartney in this exclusive interview with Daytrippin’!
.
Hey Beatles fans!
Are you ready to take a tour of Beatles sites in London?
CLICK HERE for info on Richard Porter’s London Beatles Walk
PLAN YOUR BEATLES-THEMED TRIP TO LONDON
Want to stay near the iconic Abbey Road London Beatles location?
CLICK HERE for a choice of hotels near Abbey Road Studios London
.