Tucked behind the swanky front door of No 3 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, London, you will find not just another trendily decorated Georgian townhouse but perhaps the most famous recording studio in Britain. Or indeed the world.
Anyone with even the vaguest interest in music and, in particular, those four lads from Liverpool, will have already heard of 3 Abbey Road, AKA London’s Abbey Road Studios. Synonymous with The Beatles (90 per cent of their work was recorded in Studio Two), the studios have also played host to Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush and the king of rock and roll himself — yes, Sir Cliff Richard.
Built in 1813, the studios were originally used for recording classical music. But then EMI started running the show. The label’s great and good all recorded there but it wasn’t until 40 years ago, with the release of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, that the studios were propelled to international stardom.
Let me admit it now: I am addicted to this record. It saw me through a number of teenage crises. And so I put my hand up and freely admit that I, alongside millions of others, have lingered an irritatingly long time on the famous zebra crossing outside the studio in a bid to re-create the pose featured on the album’s cover sleeve (even if the actual crossing has since been moved a few hundred metres up the road). Yes, I was honked at, and no, I didn’t take my shoes off — unlike Sir Paul McCartney, whose bare feet supposedly conveyed the message that he’d kicked the bucket.
Great artists continue to come and go at Abbey Road, but for most of us the zebra crossing is the real star. And now you can watch it from the relative safety of your own home: a webcam is pointed permanently at the stripes so you can witness confused tourists wrestle with the London traffic (abbeyroad.co.uk/visit). Shoes optional.
Find out more fantastic reasons to visit London.
