She’s Got A Ticket to Write (and she don’t care): You Start To Roam, Now You’re In Town

In the previous entry were photos from the London Walks Beatles Tour, the one that starts at Marylebone Station and ends at Abbey Road. This one concerns the second Beatles tour offered by London Walks, which starts at the Tottenham Road underground station and covers a number of central London Beatles- related sites. This tour was taken in June 2024.

Soho Square

Soho Square is right around the corner from the tube. Our tour guide told us how the Beatles first came to London in 1962 when they arrived to audition for Decca Records (they were ultimately rejected. Sorry Decca. But they did eventually sign The Rolling Stones, so there’s that.) Our four boys from Liverpool were fascinated by Soho, which at the time was a bit more swinging than it is now.

One of them liked it so much that he made it his headquarters.

Behold, One Soho Square: the building that houses MPL Communications.

MPL stands for McCartney Productions Limited, so now you know which Beatle bought that building. The one and only Paul McCartney runs his music publishing business out of here. As you can see, Sir Paul is not in; curtains and blinds are securely drawn and the hatches battened down. The upper curved window is not shaded though. Wonder what he keeps in there.

Just an old statue. However, it does look familiar.

Oh yeah, of course it does. I had this album when I was fourteen. I wish I could find it. I remember playing “Mull of Kintyre” over and over again for some reason.

After leaving Sir Paul’s little sanctuary the next stop was most unassuming.

17 St. Anne’s Court

This was the site of Trident Studios. The Beatles did not record everything at Abbey Road, go figure. Trident was a studio they used that had state-of-the-art equipment and sometimes better space than the boys’ usual haunt. The most famous recording they made here was “Hey Jude;” they also used it for part of the White Album, all in 1968.

The Beatles of course weren’t the only artists who recorded out of this studio. Elton John’s “Your Song” was recorded here, plus three of Queen’s early albums and this blue plaque holder:

And many, many more famous artists. Trident had a reputation for the sound of its piano, which Paul wanted for “Hey Jude” and Freddie wanted for “Killer Queen.” The piano was offered for auction back in 2001, but didn’t sell.

Anyway, the place looks like this because it’s being renovated, but it is still a working studio.

Just outside of Soho is the next location:

6 Mason’s Yard

6 Mason’s Yard is hidden a bit off Duke Street Saint James’s. In 1966, this was the location of the Indica Gallery.

The counterculture art gallery was operated by John Dunbar and funded partially by one Peter Asher (that’s a familiar name) with a bit of help from his close friend and housemate, Paul McCartney, who was its first customer in September 1965. They named it after their favorite cannabis. Because of course they did.

In April 1966, it also featured a bookstore (run by Barry Miles, one of Paul’s friends) which was ultimately moved to another location.

One day that April, Paul dropped by the bookshop with John (he liked to bring John along when he visited) who picked up a book titled The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert (one of those names is familiar.) John, who loved him some LSD, was fascinated and read the entire book in the shop (without Paul or Barry bugging him to buy it, I guess). This book contained the line “Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream” which John incorporated into the song “Tomorrow Never Knows.” The Beatles began recording the song six days later.

This wouldn’t be the last time that John was fascinated by something he saw at the Indica Gallery.

On November 7, 1966, a Japanese multimedia artist named Yoko Ono was setting up an exhibit titled “Unfinished Paintings and Artists” that would open the next day, when in came John Lennon to have a visit with John Dunbar. Dunbar took John around the exhibit, making sure Yoko knew that Lennon had plenty of money and might purchase some art (Yoko may have denied that she knew who John was at this point, but it’s possible she actually did). He loved a work that required him to climb a ladder and look through a magnifying glass at a single word painted on a canvas mounted on the ceiling (it said merely “yes”) and another that featured an apple on a plinth - with a price tag of £200. When he got to one that required the observer to hammer a nail into a board, Dunbar pressed Yoko to allow John to hammer in a nail, which she didn’t want to do because the exhibit wasn’t officially open. She refused, unless John paid her five shillings. John allegedly responded, “How about this. I’ll give you an imaginary five shillings, and hammer in an imaginary nail.” According to John, at that moment he realized that Yoko “got” him, and he “got” her, and they “got” each other. John was twenty-six; Yoko was nearly eight years older, and they were both married, with children. It would take them another year and a half to get together officially.

3 Savile Row

In July 1968, the Beatles moved their multimedia corporation, Apple Corps, into a building they had just purchased on 3 Savile Row. They had a studio built in the basement, although it ended up being poorly designed (by one of their hangers-on) and had to be rebuilt. On January 30, 1969, the Beatles (with special guest Billy Preston on keyboards) gave their final live performance on the building’s roof. Apple moved out in 1975. Abercrombie and Fitch currently uses this building for storage.

Beatles on the roof, 1969

To see an excellent account of what went on up there on the roof (and before) up to and including John’s final announcement “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we’ve passed the audition,” see the documentary Get Back! Yes, I know it’s long.

A group that no longer exists can have a blue plaque. Monty Python has one too. There were complaints from some who thought Monty Python was a person.

This tour also ended at Abbey Road Studios.

As an aside, anyone looking for a Beatles fix without the spend, the British Library in London (near Kings Cross/St. Pancras) has a free exhibit of books and manuscripts that includes some Beatles lyrics: