Recreate a London icon moment by crossing Abbey Road with the zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles. It is now the most famous road junction in the world.
Story
The Beatles album cover was shot in 1969 when the band was recording at nearby Abbey Road studios.
There was a rumor that the Abbey Road crosswalk, seen on the cover of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album, was no longer in the same location. This rumor was perpetuated by a statement from the Westminster Council that the crossing had been moved several meters for a traffic management scheme some 30 years ago.
An Abbey Road Studios employee who explained this story was denounced by longtime residents to prevent so many people from taking pictures. It did not work and it is not true, although the Westminster Council never retracted the statement.
The crossing is now Grade 2 listed, which means it is protected by English Heritage. The wall of the nearby Abbey Road studios needs to be painted every two months due to all the graffiti.
Get to Abbey Road
Nearest Tube Station: St John’s Wood.
Visit Abbey Road Online
While you can’t tour Abbey Road Studios, you can get an idea of what’s going on inside by checking out the interactive virtual tour through Inside Abbey Road provided by Google.
There is also a permanent London webcam that broadcasts footage of the crossing.
