Skip to navigation

Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Jubilee Line: Dollis Hill to Green Park

Moxon Street
Moxon Street

It's a bit of a happy coincidence that most of the Beatles-related locations I've managed to track down for my tubewalk appear on the same day's walk – this one. I've been a fan of the Beatles ever since my parents introduced me to the 'Red' album (their 1962-1966 hits) when I was a kid; however, they never played anything later than Revolver, so imagine my excitement when I discovered the 'Blue' album (their 1967-1970 hits) as a teenager, which soon led to a fascination with the psychedelia of Sgt Pepper and the brooding menace of the White Album.

Dollis Hill to Willesden Green

195 Melrose Avenue
195 Melrose Avenue

Before all the excitement further south, today's walk starts off in slightly more subdued surroundings, in the quiet streets of Dollis Hill. I've a friend who used to live in Dollis Hill, and when I was having difficulties finding anything interesting to walk past on the first two stretches of this walk, he told me that that's because there isn't anything interesting in between Dollis Hill and Kilburn. Having walked through the area, I think he's right; it's perfectly pleasant round here, but it isn't exactly throbbing with attractions for the casual walker.

Willesden Green station
Willesden Green station

Willesden Green to Kilburn

Part of the mural under the bridges at Kilburn station
Part of the mural under the bridges at Kilburn station

I couldn't find anything worth detouring for between Willesden Green and Kilburn, so we simply walked along Chatsworth Road, past a variety of fairly typical suburban homes, some pretty, some less so. It's on stretches like this that company really helps, especially after yesterday's lonely wander through more of the same, and I was glad to have Julie to talk to.

Kilburn to West Hampstead

Pretty suburbia along Sherriff Road
Pretty suburbia along Sherriff Road

Kilburn High Road, which passes Kilburn station, is dead straight. This isn't surprising, as this is the old Roman road Watling Street, which starts in Dover and goes through London all the way to Wroxeter in Shropshire. The buildings along the road are in an interesting variety of styles, but we had to turn off before reaching the heart of Kilburn to the south, as the Jubilee line heads east at this point while the Roman road heads southeast, heading for Dover.

West Hampstead to Finchley Road

The old Decca Records office
The old Decca Records office

A few yards from the Tube station is Broadhurst Gardens, and on the right at number 165 is an office belonging to the English National Opera. However, back in the 1960s, this was Decca Records, and this is where the Beatles came on to audition for the label. They performed 15 songs in just under an hour, including some Lennon-McCartney originals, and Mike Smith, the producer of the sessions, told them he would let the group know of his decisions in a few weeks. But eventually Dick Rowe, the A&R man at Decca, rejected the group, saying, 'We don't like their sound, and "guitar music" is on the way out.' It's one of the most well-known miscalculations in pop history, and by the end of the year the Beatles would be at the top of the charts, but on EMI's label Parlophone.

A pavement sign showing a dog and a pile of doggy do with a red cross through it
Don't let your dog turn its back on any fires in the vicinity

Finchley Road to Swiss Cottage

The Freud Museum
The Freud Museum

Although Swiss Cottage station is a short walk south along Finchley Road, it's worth exploring the backstreets to the east of the main road, as the number of blue plaques along the likes of Netherhall Road and Maresfield Gardens is truly impressive. As per usual, most of the names on the plaques are of politicians from long ago, and I'm afraid my knowledge of political history is shaky enough to make most of them complete strangers to me, but there are two houses along Maresfield Gardens where even I've heard of the erstwhile occupants.

The home of Cecil Sharp
The home of Cecil Sharp

Swiss Cottage to St John's Wood

St John's Wood Park
St John's Wood Park

Just over the road from the station entrance on Avenue Road is Ye Olde Swiss Cottage pub, from which the area gets its name. The pub you see today dates from 1965, though there has been a pub on this site since 1803, when it was called the Swiss Tavern. It's on a busy triangle of land between Finchley Road and Avenue Road, and it's a good idea to duck off down St John's Wood Park for a bit of peace, passing a ventilation shaft for the Jubilee line just before the turn.

St John's Wood to Baker Street

Graffiti on the wall outside Abbey Road Studios
Graffiti on the wall outside Abbey Road Studios

Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour, because this is the section where the Beatles start to take over this tubewalk (at least, as far as I'm concerned). It's a short walk through some sumptuous suburbs to Abbey Road, where a double-whammy awaits Beatles fans just north of the junction with Grove End Road. First up is Abbey Road Studios, arguably the most famous recording studios in the world; the studios were created in 1931 in a century-old Georgian townhouse by the Gramophone Company, which later merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI, the label whose subsidiary Parlophone eventually signed the Beatles. The biggest group in the history of popular music recorded almost all of their music here, at what was then known as EMI Studios (they were renamed Abbey Road Studios after the last Beatles album in 1969). Pink Floyd recorded all their albums from Piper at the Gates of Dawn through to Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road (which includes The Dark Side of the Moon), and other notable clients include Oasis, Radiohead, U2, Green Day, Cliff Richard, the Shadows, Elliot Smith and Madness.

Tourists walking across the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing
Tourists walking across the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing
Image from Dollis Hill to Green Park
The fresco outside Lord's
The fresco outside Lord's

Baker Street to Bond Street

Mark outside Moxon House
Outside Moxon House

The Beatles sights keep on rolling, and the next one is south of the station at 94 Baker Street, where the band opened the Apple Boutique in 1968. The store, which was on the corner with Paddington Street, was famous for having a massive, psychedelic mural painted on the walls, to which the local businesses objected, resulting in its removal. The boutique was a disaster and lost money from the start, mainly because people kept shoplifting goods. The business opened on and shut on ; it was one of the first business ventures by the Beatles' Apple Corps, and it foreshadowed just how sour the hippie dream would become over the next couple of years.

57 Wimpole Street
57 Wimpole Street

Bond Street to Green Park

Bruton Place
Bruton Place

The backstreet shopping experience continues down Avery Row, which is a short walk southeast of the Tube station, though the shops here aren't a patch on St Christopher's Place (though there is a nice pub halfway down called the Iron Duke, so it isn't all bad). Crossing the road at the end of Avery Row, you enter Bourdon Street, where there are some delightful little houses that used to be stables and coach-houses; the basements are now garages, and they're extremely cute. Around the corner is Berkeley Square, which was laid out in the 18th century, and it's home to some of the most exclusive residences in London, though one wonders who lives at number 50, which is said to be the most haunted house in London.