There is not a place I can think of that has as much rock n’ roll history as this flat on 34 Montagu Square, London W1H2LJ. In these walls lived three members of The Beatles: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney & John Lennon as well as Yoko Ono & Jimi Hendrix.
Here are a few facts about 34 Montagu Square…
- Ringo Starr leased 34 Montagu in 1965 at the height of The Beatles fame but soon after moved to a home outside London with his wife Maureen. Starr still decided to keep the lease.
- Paul McCartney then subleased the apartment from Ringo, installed recording equipment and planned to use the flat as a studio hideaway. At Montagu, McCartney wrote several Beatle songs including “Eleanor Rigby” but eventually gave up the flat.
- In December of 1966, when McCartney no longer needed the flat, Starr rented it out to Jimi Hendrix and his manager Chas Chandler. Hendrix penned “The Wind Cries Mary” at the flat but Starr evicted them after just four months because they painted all the rooms black.
- When John Lennon and Yoko Ono first got together in 1968, he moved out of the Kenwood home he shared with wife Cynthia Lennon. John & Yoko then moved into 34 Montagu while The Beatles were recording the “White Album.“
- It was the first of many homes that the couple shared and the location of the the infamous Sergeant Pilcher drug bust of John & Yoko on October 18, 1968 that would put them both in court facing drug charges for cannabis.
- It was also the location where Lennon & Ono were photographed nude cover for their “Two Virgins” album.
The ground/lower ground apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a reception room. These days, it’s the property of a music label owner.
On October 23, 2010 Yoko Ono unveiled The English Heritage blue plaque at 34 Montagu Square in Marylebone, London. Yoko said,
“This particular flat has many memories for me and is a very interesting part of our history.”
This is not the flat in London that Hendrix would die in. Hendrix died 2 years later in a flat about 2 miles away from Montagu Square. Click photo or link below to see the last photos of Jimi Hendrix alive.
