The Atlantic Hotel, Newquay: The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour Base

The Atlantic Hotel on Dane Road, Newquay, was the Beatles' base from 12 to 15 September 1967 during the Magical Mystery Tour shoot. John Lennon directed a scene at its swimming pool, and the band went out from here to film on nearby beaches. The hotel still operates. It has no Beatles marker; the town's plaque from 2002 is on the Killacourt green.

One night that became three

The coach carrying the Beatles and their cast spent its first night in Teignmouth, Devon. On 12 September 1967 it went on through Plymouth, Liskeard and Bodmin, and that evening pulled up at the Atlantic Hotel, on the headland above Newquay. The plan was a single night, but they ended up using the hotel as a base for three, sleeping in four holiday flats rather than in the main building.

The hotel, which opened in 1892, says thousands of fans turned up once word got out, and that some holidaymakers and local people ended up on camera.

What was filmed at and around the hotel

On 13 September the morning was spent at Watergate Bay, where the Beatles were filmed looking through a telescope. The party came back to the Atlantic for lunch, then split up. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took the coach to Porth, where McCartney rode a tandem on the beach. At the hotel, Lennon directed a scene in which Nat Jackley, as Happy Nat the Rubber Man, chased women in bikinis around the pool. George Harrison skipped the afternoon to give a long interview to BBC radio's Miranda Ward. Most of the pool footage never made the finished film.

On 14 September a secluded field near the town drew so many onlookers that police had to clear a traffic jam. Of the two scenes shot there, only the one with the passengers squeezing into a small tent was used. A late lunch in the hotel dining room, with the resident band playing, was filmed and cut.

On the morning of 15 September, before leaving, the whole party was filmed cheering and waving in front of the coach and the hotel. The coach then headed back towards London, and the second week of filming moved to West Malling in Kent.

Is there a Beatles plaque in Newquay?

Not at the hotel. The hotel's own pages mention the visit but no plaque or display. The town's marker is a plaque fixed to a boulder on the Killacourt, the public green above Towan Beach in the centre of Newquay, with the Atlantic Hotel in view across the bay. It was put up in 2002; a local Beatles site says the Mayor of Restormel unveiled it on 19 October that year during a festival weekend. When Newquay Town Council redesigned the Killacourt between 2019 and April 2021, its plans said the Beatles boulder would probably be moved within the site to a more prominent spot, so its exact position today may differ from older photographs.

Visiting

The Atlantic is still a working hotel. The Killacourt is open public space, and its paths were levelled for step-free access in the 2019 to 2021 works.