34 Montagu Square — Beatles London Flat

34 Montagu Square in Marylebone is a Georgian townhouse flat with an exceptional concentration of musical associations. Ringo Starr originally rented the basement flat in 1965 and sublet it to various friends and associates. Paul McCartney lived there in 1966 and reportedly wrote 'Eleanor Rigby' and other songs in the flat. Jimi Hendrix stayed there in 1966 when he first arrived in London with Chas Chandler — the flat was used as his base while he was finding his feet in the city. Most famously, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved in during 1968, and it was here that they were arrested in October 1968 for possession of cannabis — the charge that would later complicate Lennon's attempts to obtain a US visa. The controversial Two Virgins album cover was photographed in the flat.

The concentration of significant figures at a single address is remarkable even by the standards of 1960s London's interconnected music world. McCartney's composition work there, Hendrix's first London base, and Lennon's arrest all took place within the same walls. The flat represented a particular moment in the Beatles' history when their lives had expanded to include London's bohemian and avant-garde circles — Yoko Ono, the counterculture, and the experimental art world that Lennon was increasingly drawn to.

The flat at 34 Montagu Square is a private residence in a smart Marylebone square. A blue plaque acknowledges its musical significance, listing Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono among those who lived there. The square is freely accessible and is a short walk from Marble Arch. It is one of the most multiply-significant addresses in the history of British popular music.