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The Beatles

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251 Menlove Avenue, named Mendips - Mendips is a 1930s semi-detached property in Woolton, Liverpool. The house belonged to Lennon's Aunt Mimi and her husband George. They took John in, in 1945 when he was five because his mother could not cope after John's father left them. He remained here until 1963 when he was 23 years old. The Beatles' hit "She Loves You" was written in its front living room. Despite having purchased the childhood residence of Paul McCartney, the National Trust showed no interest in acquiring Mendips. It was eventually bought by Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow, who then donated it to the National Trust, and after restoration it was opened to the public on March 27, 2003. Ono said, "When John's house came up for sale I wanted to preserve it for the people of Liverpool and John Lennon and Beatles fans all over the world." The house was featured on the sleeve cover for Oasis' single "Live Forever."

20 Forthlin Road - is a National Trust property in south Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was the later teenage home of Paul McCartney. The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1995. The Trust markets the house as "the birthplace of the Beatles", since this is the place where The Beatles composed and rehearsed their earliest songs.

12 Arnold Grove - the birthplace of former Beatle George Harrison, is situated in the Wavertree area . It is a small terraced house in a cul-de-sac. George's parents, Harold and Louise, moved to the house in 1930 following their marriage. Here their four children were born—Louise, Harry, Peter and George (24 February 1943).

George recalled the only heating was a single coal fire, and the house was so cold in winter that he and his brothers dreaded getting up in the morning because, it was literally freezing cold and they had to use the outside toilet. The house had tiny rooms—only ten feet squared—and a small iron cooking stove in the back room, which was used as a kitchen. Describing the back garden, George wrote it had "a one-foot wide flower bed, a toilet, a dustbin fitted to the back wall and a little hen house where we kept cockerels."

George once said of the house, "Try and imagine the soul entering the womb of a woman living at 12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool 15. There were all the barrage balloons, and the Germans bombing Liverpool. All that was going on. I sat outside the house a couple of years ago, imagining 1943, nipping through the spiritual world, the astral level, getting back into a body in that house. That really is strange when you consider the whole planet, all the planets there may be on a spiritual level. How do I come into that family, in that house at that time, and who am I anyway?"

Strawberry Field - was a Salvation Army orphanage in Woolton, founded in 1936. Strawberry Field has had an annual fête, which John Lennon and his aunt Mimi regularly attended. It finally closed its doors in early January, 2005.

The name of the orphanage became world famous in 1967, with the release of The Beatles single "Strawberry Fields Forever", written by John. Lennon grew up near the orphanage and used to play in the wooded area behind the building with his childhood friends, Pete Shotton and Ivan Vaughan.

Penny Lane - a street in Liverpool. Locally "Penny Lane" was the name given to Allerton Road and Smithdown Road and its busy shopping area.

Penny Lane is now famous because of the song, written by Paul McCartney and recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, and released in February, 1967 as one side of a double-A sided single, along with Lennon's Strawberry Fields Forever. Both singles were later released on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November, 1967. The song features contrasting verse-chorus form and was credited "Lennon-McCartney" although McCartney was the sole writer on the song. McCartney and John Lennon grew up in the area and they spent a lot of time playing on Penny Lane junction as children. The street is an important landmark, sought out by most Beatles fans touring Liverpool.

In the past, street signs saying "Penny Lane" were constant targets of tourist theft and had to be continually replaced. Eventually, the city council gave up and simply began painting the street name on the sides of buildings. This is still the case at the Smithdown Road junction, but there is a conventional sign at the other end of the street.

The barber shop mentioned in the song was probably a shop owned by a Mr. Bioletti, who has claimed to have cut hair for Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison when they were children. The fire station in the song is where Allerton Road becomes Mather Avenue ("It's a clean machine"). The station is very close to the site of Quarry Bank School which Lennon attended. Mather Avenue leads to Forthlin Road, home of McCartney.

St Peter's Church, Woolton The venue for the Quarry Men's first gig and the exact location where John and Paul where introduced to each other. Paul shows what he can do with a guitar and John is 'eventually' impressed by the 15 year-old. Paul joins the Quarry Men. Also the resting place of Eleanor Rigby.

The Casbah - when Pete Best's mother converted the basement of her large Victorian house into the Casbah Coffee Club, the Quarry Men played the opening night in August 1959 and throughout the second half of the year. In December, having returned from Hamburg, they played the Casbah for the first time as the Beatles.

The Beatles Map. Here a some of the most important Beatles sites throughout the city. Click on the baloons for further information, and of course you can pan, zoom and print the map.

The Beatles

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