20 Forthlin Road — Paul McCartney Childhood Home

20 Forthlin Road is the council house in Allerton, Liverpool, where Paul McCartney grew up after his family moved there in 1955. It was here, in the front room and kitchen, that McCartney and John Lennon wrote many of the earliest Lennon-McCartney compositions — songs that would later form the foundation of the Beatles' entire career. McCartney's father Jim was a former musician who encouraged his son's interest in music. After his mother Mary died of breast cancer in 1956, Forthlin Road became a rehearsal ground for two teenage boys quietly working out how to write songs.

Photographs taken by McCartney's brother Mike inside the house in the early 1960s provide an intimate documentary record of Lennon and McCartney at work — lounging on the sofa, playing guitar, practising in the kitchen. They are among the most evocative images in rock history. Lennon's home at Mendips in Menlove Avenue was another frequent rehearsal space, and between the two houses much of the early Beatles repertoire was assembled.

Both 20 Forthlin Road and Mendips are now owned and maintained by the National Trust and open to the public on guided tours. The interiors have been restored to their early 1960s appearance. Access is by pre-booked minibus from the Albert Dock. 20 Forthlin Road is one of the few working-class terraced homes in Britain to be preserved as a heritage site solely because of its cultural significance.