In this blog we continue our dive into the London locations most linked to The Beatles. If you haven’t read it already, you can find part one here.
6. The Apple Boutique - 94 Baker Street
Following the death of the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, in 1967, the band went on a series of increasingly bizarre and disastrous business ventures, including a brief dalliance with fashion, when they opened The Apple Boutique, a cool hippy clothes shop, at 94 Baker Street. The boutique opened on 5th December 1967 with a wild party that saw the great and the good of 60s culture attend, and each given an apple to munch on. The Beatles paid a far out Dutch art group known as The Fool £100,000 to paint a mural on the side of the building. Psychedelic and really rather beautiful, the mural certainly helped the building stand out. However, in their naivety, they failed to get permission from either the council or the landlord and after complaints from local residents, the council insisted it be painted over to a much more conservative all white.
The Boutique was a financial disaster from beginning to end. Theft was constant, as customers helped themselves to the stock, as did staff members, who had difficulty determining which things people had come in with and which they had picked up in the shop. Just 7 months after opening, the boutique closed and The Beatles instructed that every item of stock be given away. In modern money, this brief dalliance into the world of fashion cost the band more than 3 million pounds!
There is a blue plaque to both John and George on this building which is now an estate agent.
7. 34 Montague Square
34 Montagu Square is one of the most famous houses in music history. In the 1960s it became the centre of scandal, sex, drugs, rock n roll and so much more.
The first Beatle to live here was Ringo Starr who moved in in 1965 with his wife Maureen, their first home together, although they were only renting it. The Swiss Embassy was, and is, located at the back of the house and within weeks of the couple arriving, an embassy spokesperson complained that Beatles' fans were defacing their back wall with messages meant for Ringo. Their chauffeur, who had fought in the First World War, said the language some of the young people were using was worse than anything he ever heard in the trenches.
When Ringo’s son was born in September 1965, he and Maureen moved out of London to a large estate in the countryside. When Ringo left, Paul set up a recording studio in the basement, where he wrote Eleanor Rigby and recorded a demo version of I’m Looking Through You.
In 1966 Ringo sublet the flat for £30 a month to the new American guitarist on the scene, Jimi Hendrix and his manager Chas Chandler, the bass player from The Animals. Whilst here, following an argument with his girlfriend Kathy Mary Etchingham about her cooking skills, Hendrix wrote ‘The Wind Cries Mary’. Unfortunately, one afternoon whilst on acid, he threw whitewash over the walls, forcing Starr to evict him.
In 1968, John and Yoko moved in. The flat was in a state of squalor with the couple claiming they were living on "a diet of champagne, caviar, and heroin".
Perhaps because of these rumours in October 1968, police raided the flat and found 200 grams of Hashish. The man in charge of the raid was Sergeant Norman Pilcher, who in the 60s made a name for himself by arresting a number of celebrities on drug charges, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards. Lennon pled guilty to possession, to protect Yoko who was a foreign national and may have been deported. He was fined £150, a small sum for a rockstar. The damage though was more long term, as having a criminal record made it much for him to acquire American Citizenship a decade later, particularly when combined with his protesting about the Vietnam War. It now seems likely that Lennon was innocent all along. In 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was sentenced to 4 years in prison for planting evidence.
It was also at the flat that John and Yoko took the infamous naked photos of themselves that became the cover for their album Two Virgins. The head of EMI was horrified when he saw the pictures, so the album was sold in a brown paper bag, so people couldn’t see the offending appendages.
In 2010, Yoko Ono unveiled a plaque on the building to commemorate that John Lennon had once lived there. Friends commented that John would have thought it was hilarious that the place he was arrested for drugs now has his name on.
8. London Palladium and Brian Epstein Plaque - Argyll Street
The London Palladium Theatre is arguably the most famous theatre in the world. It was at the Palladium in October ‘63 that The Beatles were truly brought to the attention of the masses thanks to their appearance on the popular show ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’. The show was broadcast to millions of homes securing their status as the most popular entertainment act in Britain. The girls lined the streets and were so hysterical that the next day the Daily Mirror screamed the headline BEATLEMANIA and from there the phrase was born. Contrary to popular belief, it is not where John said the famous ‘rattle yer jewellery’ line. That was a month later at the Prince of Wales Theatre for the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen Mother. Next to the theatre is a plaque to Brian Epstein, their doomed manager. Despite being such an integral part of their success, his is a sad story. Insecure, gay when it was still illegal to be so, and prone to dalliances with those that only wanted to manipulate him, Epstein would die in 1967 at the shockingly young age of 32 after an accidental overdose. It was from this office that he ran his empire. Though his biggest success was clearly The Beatles, he also managed a host of other popular artists including Gerry and The Pacemakers and Cilla Black.
9. The Bag of Nails - 9 Kingly Street
This used to be one of the hippest hangouts in all of 60s London and a regular haunt of the band. After recording sessions the Fabs would get in their sports cars and all race to this club where they would hang with other rock stars and drink all night. It was here that Paul first asked American photographer, Linda Eastman, out on a date as she sat with members of the band The Animals. Playing that night was Georgie Fame. The venue was also one of the first places Jimi Hendrix would play London in November 1966 changing the face of guitar music forever. You can read more about The Bag of Nails here.
10. Apple Office - 3 Saville Row
‘We’d like to say thanks on behalf of us and the group and we hope we passed the audition’ So said John after the final concert on the rooftop of 3 Saville Road on 30th January 1969. The building was bought to house The Beatles business empire, Apple Corps, in 1968, with the basement turned into a recording studio during the ill fated Get Back project. If you want to know all about this period and this building then you have to watch Peter Jackson’s mesmerising Get Back documentary on Disney Plus. Painstakingly restored footage that blew the mind of all Beatle fans. It is all there to see.
Although the music was still great, the fab four were drifting apart and the sessions were interrupted by arguing, members showing up on different days and building their own recording booths to avoid each other. George Harrison briefly quit the band. He reluctantly returned and they agreed they should film a live performance to accompany the album on the building’s roof.
And so it was in sub zero temperatures on the afternoon of the 30th January 1969 The Beatles played their last ever performance together. Crowds gathered on the streets below with some people climbing up lampposts, not believing it really was the Beatles they could hear. The band wore their girlfriends coats to stay warm, and placed their girlfriend’s stocking over the microphones to counter the howl of the wind. They performed nine takes of five songs. Star in particular played magnificently - as tight as he’d ever played. John had to have someone hold up cue cards as he kept forgetting his own lyrics. But the best thing is that the band genuinely look as though they are enjoying themselves. However local stuffy businesses were not impressed with the music booming above and so the police were called to shut it down after just 40 minutes. They gave the band a heads up though and if you ever watch the rooftop show you can hear the sound of flushing toilets 10 mins before it ends as all the drugs on the premises were flushed away.
And so, the Beatles live playing career came to an end. Apple eventually sold the building in October 1976. Today, its an Abercrombie and Fitch, much to the dismay of the other tailors on the street, who inspired by John Lennon, gathered outside shouting the line ‘Give 3-piece a chance’.
If you would like to hear more stories about The Beatles and London’s music scene, why not join our Free Rock n Roll Tour, or you can check out all of our walking tours in London, here.
