The Beatles Lovers' Guide To London And Liverpool

Whether you turned "Sixty-Four" "Yesterday" or were born "Any Time At All" thereafter, it's possible you grew up loving the Beatles or grew to love them. And what's not to love about the fabulous four that hail from Liverpool, England? John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr rocked the world of music as The Bealtes, and they proved to the world that "All You Need Is Love."

Wherever you hail from, you don't have to hide your love of the Beatles away. Why not "Come Together" and "Get Back" to where John, Paul, George, and Ringo once belonged? You don't need a "Ticket to Ride" to be a "Day Tripper." You can seek out some of The Beatles' points of interest in London with the blue plaques, or head north to Liverpool to spend "A Day in the Life" in the lads' storied past.

While there are many options to explore "Here, There and Everywhere" of Beatlemania in the two cities with a little help from your soon-to-be friends – Beatles London Walks by the great guide Richard Porter, and the Magical Mystery Tour or Fab 4 Taxi Tours – feel free to strike it out on your own, "I, Me, Mine" style. Here are the places any lovers of The Beatles must add to their itinerary, and there's no time like the present to visit them, because, as they said it best, "Tomorrow Never Knows."

Looking to avoid paying the "Taxman" millions, the Beatles' financial advisors suggested they channel some of their funds into a business venture. Apple Corps was formed in 1967 as a holding company, with subsidiaries for music, film, publishing, electronics, and other ventures. They first had temporary offices at 94 Baker Street (not far from Sherlock Holmes at 221b), and on the ground floor, a mod Apple fashion boutique that didn't even last a year.

Apple HQ moved briefly to 95 Wigmore Street (though the building no longer exists), and then on to 3 Savile Row, as Paul McCartney told author Barry Miles that it was "a good London building," and once "Lady Hamilton's London residence, which [Lord Horatio] Nelson bought for her." Built in the 1730s, the Beatles made good use of the property from the ground up. Beatles, friends, Apple employees, label signees, reporters, groupies, and even Hell's Angels hung about the offices, and the basement housed a recording studio where the album that later became known as "Let it Be" would be polished, and the roof, where the group last performed together live, at lunchtime on January 30, 1969.

The Beatles sold off 3 Savile Row in 1976, but that hasn't stopped "Apple Scruffs" (aka their most rabid fans) from stopping by to pay their respects to this day.

Paul McCartney's heart was evident in the music he created while staying with the Ashers at 57 Wimpole Street, where his actress girlfriend Jane and her musician brother Peter lived. In Peter's little music room, McCartney penned "Every Little Thing," "I've Just Seen a Face," "I'm Down," and the song with the working title "Scrambled Eggs," which later became "Yesterday."

McCartney got a place of his own in 1965 at 7 Cavendish Avenue, (only an 8-minute walk from Abbey Road). He said he loved the area for its Dickensian "sense of history," and made his own history there, penning hits like "Penny Lane," "Getting Better," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Hello Goodbye," "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "Hey Jude."  Even a break-in's method of entry by fans inspired the song "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window." 

Ringo Starr's name was on the lease at 34 Montagu Square, but it was his friends who made the most noise at the Marylebone home. McCartney used the basement as an experimental studio, where he and William S. Burroughs reportedly "did some crazy tape recordings." Later the flat was rented to Jimi Hendrix, who according to Miles, splashed paint all over the walls while on drugs. And if that wasn't enough, John and Yoko lived here, shot their "Two Virgins" photos, and were busted for pot.

While the Indica Gallery and Bookshop didn't last long in its physical existence, its legacy as a counterculture hotspot of the '60s continues to resonate to this day. The Indica was the brainchild of bookshop manager Barry Miles, art gallery owner John Dunbar, and musician Peter Asher. Miles admitted that the dual shop, which opened in 1965 (and closed just two years later), "was named, yes, after Cannabis Indica," and "is probably still remembered for just one show [1966's 'Unfinished Paintings & Objects'], Yoko Ono's first European show that John Lennon turned up."

Ono told The Independent that where she met Lennon at 6 Mason's Yard was "a very special place," and "the only cutting-edge gallery at the time and it was fantastic." It was also a place the Beatles were introduced to their future electronics guru Magic Alex, a young Marc Bolan hung about, and where the underground newspaper the International Times was founded.

Paul McCartney was involved in the venture as well, helping to paint the place, hang up shelves, and design flyers and wrapping paper. He was even the bookshop's first customer and was introduced to William S. Burroughs there. The bookshop is also where Miles handed Lennon a copy of Timothy Leary's "The Psychedelic Experience," and thus "indirectly" contributed to the writing of "Tomorrow Never Knows." The love of art is still on display at the former Indica address in the form of three galleries now housed there – Guy Peppiatt, Harry Moore-Gwyn, and Nicholas Shaw.

Thanks to the Paul-written double A-side single released in 1967, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane" is forever in our ears and in our eyes. The once rural country lane that had its earliest mention in the 1840s, which was then known as Pennies Road, and may or may not have been named after slave trader James Penny. In Paul, John and George's lives, Penny Lane is where they'd often hang out and meet up at the bus depot. McCartney said that the song was written about "recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was a recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us. All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on."

Some of the places "beneath the blue suburban skies" still stand today. Bioletti's is now Tony Slavin's, a barber shop that shows off all the people that have come for a cut. The area later housed a Beatles-themed bistro and remains a bus stop. Right across the street at 20 Smithdown Place is the former site of the bank, where a "banker" perhaps didn't wear a "mac" in the pouring rain. Order "four of fish" at Penny Lane Fish & Chips, and stop by the Penny Lane Development Trust to check out a Yellow Submarine, an Octopus' garden, a John and Paul mural, and the restored doors of the fire station that may have housed Paul's "clean machine."

On July 6, 1957, 16-year old John Lennon and his band of Quarrymen were playing the Garden Fête at St. Peter's Church in Woolton. A 15-year-old Paul McCartney came to the show, recalling, "I remember I was amazed," adding that Lennon seemed "like a great lead singer to me" (via The Sunday Post). Later that day, in the Church's hall, Quarryman Ivan Vaughan introduced his schoolmate Paul to his bandmate John, where Paul impressed them all by singing some Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and Little Richard, as well as tuning their guitars. Lennon later said, "That was the day, the day I met Paul, that it started moving," and McCartney joined the band two weeks later.

In the church's graveyard lies one of the most famous song titles in music history, who perhaps was "buried along with her name" – Eleanor Rigby. Yes, here lies Ms. Rigby, who died on October 10, 1939, and nearby lies "John McKenzie," who may or may not be the "Father McKenzie." McCartney has often claimed that the woman's name in the song was originally "Daisy Hawkins," and took "Eleanor" from "Help!" actress Eleanor Bron, and "Rigby" from the name of a shop. As for the coincidence of the gravestone, McCartney told the New Yorker in 2021, "John and I certainly wandered around [the graveyard], endlessly talking about our future. I don't remember seeing the grave there, but I suppose I might have registered it subliminally."

Before he was a Starr as Ringo, he was Richard "Ritchie" Starkey, and lived for a short time at 9 Madryn Street. The building was spared demolition, but his boarded-up birthplace hasn't been dubbed worthy of National Trust status... yet. Around the block, at 93 High Park Street, was the neighborhood pub The Empress, and Ringo paid homage to it, featuring it on the cover of his solo debut, "Sentimental Journey." Recently, a giant Ringo mural was created on the side of it. A minute away from The Empress is Ringo's true childhood home, 10 Admiral Grove, a row house that was purchased by a fan in 2016.

American Ken Lambert, who wanted to "respect" the legacy of George Harrison, purchased his Wavertree childhood home at 12 Arnold Grove and turned it into an Airbnb property for rent. The listing welcomes you to stay right in George's old bedroom. Harrison actually used his street name "Arnold Grove" as an assumed name when checking in at hotels (via Billboard).

Complete your own sentimental journey by touring original drummer Pete Best's home in West Derby, where his mother Mona had a basement music venue – The Casbah Coffee Club at 8 Hayman's Green. McCartney noted that this is "the place where all that started. We helped paint it and stuff. We looked upon it as our personal club."

Originally launched as The Magical Beatles Museum in 2018, the Liverpool Beatles Museum touts itself for having the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia worldwide, and it resides on the same street as the Cavern Club – Matthew. While not an official Beatles museum, its co-founder is basically one of the family. Roag Best's half-brother was originally The Beatles drummer Pete Best, his mom Mona used to let the boys perform in her basement Casbah Coffee Club, and his dad was Beatles road manger and Apple Corps chief Neil Aspinall.

"My dad would come home from various tours and film sets and bring items from them home," Roag told Goldmine, and with various other rare pieces from his mum and brother, a massive collection was born. Eventually, it became too massive to store and the museum ended up as the solution, one that differs from Liverpool's other, as Roag said it "has mostly recreations and/or stuff seen before and of the 30 or so original items they have, half of them are mine."

Roag continues to add to the museum's collection, where one-of-kind or rare items are on display, like the piano from "I Am The Walrus," John's Sgt Pepper medals, his helmet from "How In Won The War," The Apple Corps boardroom table, the trophy that appears on the Sgt Pepper album cover, and Liverpudlian posters teasing the return of the band fresh from Hamburg, Germany.