Abbey Road Studios, London

Abbey Road Studios is a working recording studio at 3 Abbey Road in St John's Wood, north-west London. The Gramophone Company opened it on 12 November 1931, with Sir Edward Elgar conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The Beatles recorded here from 1962 to 1970, and their 1969 album took its name from the street.

Can you go inside?

Usually not. The studio says plainly that the studio and business are not open to the general public for visits or tours. The exceptions are rare ticketed events. From 2 to 4 August 2024, for example, Stories in Sound put a string quartet, a guitarist and a pianist in Studio Two, and ticket holders were allowed to take photographs in the room.

What anyone can do, any day, is stand on the pavement. The studio's own visitor page lists the options: walk the zebra crossing, write on the front wall, visit the Abbey Road Shop next door (published hours Monday to Saturday 9:30 to 17:30, Sunday 10:00 to 17:00) and wave at the crossing webcam. The wall gets painted over every three months, so whatever you write won't last long.

A Georgian house with studios behind it

The rendered front on Abbey Road is a house of about 1830. In 1930 and 1931 the architects Wallis, Gilbert and Partners enlarged it into studios, with the big recording rooms built out behind. The Gramophone Company started the project in 1929, and it cost £100,000 to buy, build and equip. By the time it opened the company had become part of EMI. Look for the Westminster City Council plaque on the front, which marks Elgar's opening in November 1931.

Historic England calls it the earliest and best-known purpose-built recording studio in the world. For most of its life it wasn't called Abbey Road at all. It was EMI Recording Studios until 1976, when general manager Ken Townsend renamed it after the Beatles album.

What the listing says about Studio Two

The Grade II listing of 23 February 2010 is unusually frank about the interior. Most of it has been remodelled, and the special interest is confined to the street front and Studios One and Two. Studio One, built for orchestras, has lost its stage and Art Deco decoration. Studio Two, built for big bands and smaller orchestras and described as the Beatles' preferred studio, still has its decorative plaster ceiling and the wooden stairs up to the control room on the mezzanine.

The list entry puts the Beatles connection in numbers: more than 190 of their 210 recordings were made here with George Martin.

Six days in February 2010

The listing came at the end of a tense week. On 17 February 2010, EMI, heavily in debt, said it might sell the studios, and property developers showed interest. On 21 February EMI said it would keep the building and look for investors instead. Two days later, the government listed it Grade II. In 2013 ownership moved from EMI to Universal Music Group.

The zebra crossing outside was listed separately that December; see the Abbey Road crossing page, about 60 m away. For the Beatles' last live performance, head to the old Apple building at 3 Savile Row, about 3.6 km south-east.