But for any fan in Cumbria that doesn’t fancy making the trip to the roof at 3 Saville Row, there is a spot far closer to home that holds a particular resonance.
Back in November 1963, The Beatles were playing support for 17-year-old Helen Shapiro in Carlisle, who had the hit Walkin’ Back to Happiness out at the time.
They were performing in The ABC Cinema, later known as The Lonsdale Cinema, a building which no longer exists.
It is now a car park, if you want to revisit with Spotify.
The Fab Four were so little known that they were reportedly asked to leave a golf club dance at a nearby hotel for being inappropriately dressed, or as the old legend goes, too ‘rock n roll’.
“Did you know? The Beatles were once refused entry to a hotel function in Carlisle because of their leather jackets! 😮🧥 #TheBeatles #FashionFauxPas #1960s ” pic.twitter.com/66f20Pzcki
— Beatlemania (@BeatlemaniaUK) April 26, 2026
Andy Park, a 21-year-old at the time working as a pop reporter for the Carlisle Journal, shared vivid memories of that historic night in 1963.
“It’s a funny thing in music, three months is an eternity,” he said.
“Helen Shapiro would have been massive when the package was put together but meanwhile, The Beatles came along it was a phenomenon.
“It was just incredible. Ticket queues were around the block for the show.
“The ABC was a nightmare; you couldn’t write anything over the screams.”
Following the show, the Fab Four would be stopping off at Carlisle’s Crown and Mitre Hotel.
“When they arrived at the Crown and Mitre, Carlisle Golf Club was having a presentation night.
“We’re talking sixty years ago, golf was a completely different ball game.
“The people who played then were solicitors and bank managers, and a golf club presentation would be full of people in suits and ball gowns.
“One of the guys recognised Helen Shapiro, so they invited her in along with The Beatles.
“They must have stood out like a sore thumb; they lasted five minutes before being asked to leave,” Andy recalled.
Old Brown Shoe – The Beatles
Recorded: 16 & 18 April 1969
The “Ballad of John and Yoko” cover mirrors “Hey Jude”: J&Y on statues, the band behind; on “Hey Jude” all 4 stand by statues, one wearing Yoko’s hat.#Beatles #TheBeatles pic.twitter.com/ImBiKjnBHO
— Beatlemania (@BeatlemaniaUK) May 14, 2026
When the Beatles returned to Carlisle
According to the BBC, when The Beatles returned nine months later, now chart toppers, they had to be smuggled out of the cinema in a post office van by a local sergeant dressed as a postman.
Calum Scott-Buccleuch, then a 25-year-old stagehand and son of the cinema’s manager, remembers it was “quite a job” keeping them away from their screaming fans.
“The kids were outside queuing for three or four days before the booking office opened. It was an absolute riot,” Scott-Buccleuch said.
“You were in on the atmosphere,” he added, “but you couldn’t hear them.”
Who is your favourite rock band? Let us know in the comments.