London: Beatle Studios & Clubs (& misc.)


Decca Studios


Olympic Studios
Trident Studios


The Decca Studios in West Hampstead were the site of the Beatles' failed audition for the Decca label on New Year's Day 1962. The Decca Studio is a long but pleasant walk north up Abbey Road and West End Lane from EMI Studios. Although the vast majority of their songs were recorded at Abbey Road, the Beatles did occasionally record elsewhere. They recorded "Baby You're a Rich Man" and some backing tracks for "All You Need is Love" at Olympic Studios in the pleasant village of Barnes, west of London. The Rolling Stones made Olympic their recording home for in 1967-69, and John & Paul visited to sing backing vocals on the Stones' "We Love You" and "Dandelion." Trident Studios (now called The Sound Studio) is located in Soho on 17 St. Annes Court. The Beatles came here to record "Hey Jude" and several White Album tracks in 1968.


Scotch of St. James, 13 Masons Yard


Bag O' Nails, 9 Kingly Street
The elevator to the Ad Lib

The Scotch of St. James and the Ad Lib Club were two of the hippest clubs that attracted London's rock aristocracy in the Swinging London years. The Scotch of St. James (now the Directors Lodge Club) was an important live venue; it was located next to the Indica Gallery (in the left foreground), where John Lennon met Yoko Ono at a showing of her art in November 1966. The Ad Lib was located on the top floor, reached via elevator, of the Prince Charles Theater in Leicester Place. The Beatles came here often, including the night John, George and their wives were first given LSD. The Bag O' Nails, just off Carnaby Street (now the Miranda), was one of the hot clubs of the later sixties. It was also the site of Paul and Linda's first meeting in 1967.


Forte Post House, Heathrow
Beatle exhibit at the British Museum

The carport in back of the Forte Post House hotel near Heathrow airport was the rendezvous point where the individual Beatles would gather to travel as a group to their grand departures from Heathrow.
An exhibit of Beatle manuscripts, including the handwritten lyrics of "In My Life," "Help," "Yesterday," "Here There and Everywhere" and several other songs, is featured prominently on the Manuscripts Room of the British Museum in Bloomsbury. The collection was donated to England by Beatle biographer Hunter Davies.

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