Abbey Road (NW8)

THOROUGHFARE
Abbey Road
Borough	Camden City of Westminster
District	St. John's Wood
Length	-
Number Range	-
Type	Primarily Residential
Post Code	NW8
Adjacent Streets	-

Abbey Road is a thoroughfare located in the borough of Camden and the City of Westminster in London running roughly northwest to southeast through St. John's Wood, near Lord's Cricket Ground.

The north-western end of Abbey Road begins in Kilburn, at the intersection of Quex Road and West End Lane; it continues south-east for roughly a mile, crossing Belsize Road, Boundary Road, Blenheim Terrace and Marlborough Place, ending at the intersection of Grove End Road and Garden Road.

EMI's Abbey Road Studios are located at the south-eastern end, at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood. The Beatles and many other famous popular music performers have recorded at this studio, and The Beatles named their final 1969 studio LP Abbey Road. The album's cover photograph shows the four group members walking across the zebra crossing located just outside the studio entrance. As a result of its association with The Beatles, since 1970 this section of Abbey Road has been featured on the London tourism circuit.

The crossing featured on the Beatles cover, as well as the crossing directly north of it, have become popular photo-opportunity areas, despite the road still being a busy thoroughfare for traffic. The iconic Beatles album cover has been parodied many times over the years on the crossing.

The brick wall Abbey Road street sign pictured on the back of the Abbey Road album was demolished in the 1970s. The tin street sign on the corner of Grove End Road and Abbey Road was recently removed as well. The street sign is now mounted high on the building on the corner, to save the local council the expense of cleaning and replacing the sign, which was frequently defaced and stolen.

The setting has become so iconic that reenactments of the Beatles' crossing are a common tourist activity.