Beatles fans left crying for Help! after following tube map to Abbey Road station- 10 miles from St John’s Wood
It’s one of the most iconic pop culture photos in the world, and every year thousands flock to Abbey Road to take their own snap at the zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles.
But some of these day trippers are left facing a long and winding road, after following the Tube map to recently opened Abbey Road DLR station – 10 miles away in West Ham.
Charlie Seber, who volunteers at Abbey Gardens near the east London station, said: “We get an incessant stream of tourists coming down looking for Abbey Road studios.
“I saw three Japanese people walking up and down Abbey Road, and they stopped at any old crossing and tried to take a photo. I asked them if they were looking for something and they said the Beatles. I told them they were on the wrong side of London. But there’s got to be loads coming down when there’s no one here and I suppose they just take a photo of the wrong crossing and go away disappointed.”
Business owners in St John’s Wood said they feared the new station was costing them customers.
Richard Porter, who runs the Beatles Coffee Shop in St John’s Wood station said: “Abbey Road is one of the most iconic sites in London, they must have known this was going to happen.
“You wouldn’t have a station called Buckingham Palace, unless it was outside Buckingham Palace. It has to be costing us business. I think they should change the name of the station. I’m sure there are other roads in the area they could name it after.”
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The station was one of four new stops opened in September last year to provide better access to Stratford during the Olympics.
Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood is a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans, after the 1969 album Abbey Road, which featured the now-famous zebra crossing as a cover photo. The crossing was given Grade II listed status in December 2010.
A TfL spokesman said: “TfL does all it can to make navigation around the capital as easy and straightforward as possible and it is unfortunate that some visitors sometimes get confused by the odd duplicate place names.
“It is also a reminder that when visiting one of the world’s largest and varied cities, nothing beats some in depth research.”
