Fans to celebrate 40th anniversary of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road

On 8th August 1969, four men walked across a zebra crossing in St John's Wood. Hardly an earth-shattering event, but since then millions of people have come to the very same crossing to imitate those four men.

Of course the four men in question were The Beatles, and the crossing is in Abbey Road. The 'Fab Four' were posing for the photo that was to be used on their last album to recorded. Abbey Road has never been the same since. Every day, fans from around the world come to the crossing to walk in the footsteps of their heroes and to see the studios where they recorded most of their songs.

On August 8th 2009, a special Beatles walking tour will cross the Abbey Road Crossing exactly 40 years to the minute since the Beatles. The tour will be lead by Richard Porter, a professional Beatles tour guide and owner of the Beatles Coffee Shop. Richard has been leading Beatles tours for 20 years and has crossed Abbey Road thousands of times. However August 8th will be a special day. Fans will be lead across by the Beatles tribute band Sgt Pepper's Only Dart Board Band who will be wearing the same styled clothes as the Beatles on that historic day.

The special tour starts at Marylebone Station at 9.20am.

The tour is organised by London Walks Ltd who recently won the gold award for 'Best Tourism Experience' by both www.enjoyengland.com and www.visitlondon.com.

Other places visited on the tour will include:

• the place where the opening scenes for A Hard Day's Night were filmed;
• the restaurant featured in Help!,
• the former Apple Shop which had the psychedelic mural painted on the wall;
• the registry office where two of the Beatles were married,
• the apartment immortalised by Ringo, John and Yoko where the infamous 'Two Virgins' picture was taken.

We'll also see the house where Paul lived with Jane Asher. Those were the days ... for it was in that house that John and Paul wrote I Want To Hold Your Hand.

We will make a short journey on public transport to Abbey Road so it would be beneficial to buy a travelcard for zones one and two (a day pass) before the tour.

After the tour many Beatles fans will be going to a nearby restaurant to celebrate.

The tour costs £7 for adults or £5 for students, over 65s and BBFC members. There is no need to book for the tour, just turn up at the meeting point, but to give us an idea of how many people to expect on the tour, please contact the meetings organiser to let us know if you are coming. Also if you would like to come to the restaurant please let us know.

The anniversary is also being celebrated at the Beatles Coffee Shop, which is part of St John's Wood underground station. Many items of Abbey Road and Beatles merchandise will be on sale.

Evening events

Later that day Sgt Pepper's Only Dart Board Band will play a special concert at Peter Parker's Rock and Roll Club at 4 Denmark Street. The concert is being promoted by the Beatles Coffee Shop and British Beatles Fan Club. The club is on the site of Regent Sound Recording studio, where the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and Elton John all recorded.

Buy tickets to the evening concert

Tickets are now almost sold out. Please contact the Treasurer to reserve any of the last remaining tickets.

© Friday, 19-Mar-2010 03:21:12 GMT British Beatles Fan Club