Beatles building up for sale
The Apple building where The Beatles performed for the last time has been put up for sale, with its owners expecting to sell it for £25 million.
By Chris Irvine
The five-storey building at 3 Savile Row, London, is the former headquarters of the Beatles' Apple Corps in the late 1960s after the band bought it for £500,000.
And on January 30, 1969, the Fab Four of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr played on the rooftop for the last time.
They had been recording Let It Be, their final album, in the basement studio, before staging their first live performance for nearly three years.
Owners Kier Property plan to sell it for office space but they believe the Beatles connection will send the value up.
Built in 1735, the building was once bought by Lord Nelson for his mistress Lady Hamilton.
Leigh Thomas, Kier's associate director, said: "It's being marketed internationally. If someone wants a bit of heritage with a bit of history of the band, then this is the place.
"I still get goose bumps in here. It's the world' biggest piece of memorabilia.
Tribute group The Bootleg Beatles had planned to play a 40th anniversary show on top of the building but it had been cancelled by police and council officials due to safety fears.
The band's Andre Barreau, who plays George Harrison, said he and David Catlin-Birch, who plays Paul McCartney, did manage to play a couple of songs without the police knowing.
He told NME.com: "We snuck up there to play a few songs to mark the occasion. We did 'One After 909' and 'Get Back', which were a couple of the songs out of the five that The Beatles did.
"It is a shame. Loads of bands - from U2 to Oasis, apparently - have asked to play up there and we're the only ones who've ever been allowed [the band performed for the gig's thirtieth anniversary]. But it wasn't to be this time, sadly. Maybe, if we're still going in ten years time."
