The following is a selection of extracts from the guide. I'll be updating this section every few weeks with a different set of entries.

REGENT SOUND STUDIO A, 164-166 Tottenham Court Road, W1

The Beatles recorded at Regent Sound Studio A for one day only during sessions for Sergeant Pepper. The Fabs were working on Fixing A Hole at the time, and moved here from Abbey Road on 9 February 1967. Work commenced at 1 am, and following a lengthy rehearsal the song was completed in just three takes, with the second being the preferred choice for the album. Overdubs were added at Abbey Road’s Studio Two on 21^st of that month. Why the Beatles chose this relatively humble studio to record in is unclear. Certainly, given the group’s status within EMI, the likelihood of their having to vacate Abbey Road in favour of some else’s pre-booking seems remote.

     The studio was located in the basement of an office building at 164-166 Tottenham Court Road. George Martin certainly had no love for Regent Sound, describing it as "a pretty awful little studio, very cramped and boxy" and "little more than a demonstration studio ... a low-ceilinged, boxy little room with a low-ceilinged boxy little sound to it."

57 WIMPOLE STREET, W1 

Family home of Paul McCartney's girlfriend Jane Asher, and McCartney's London base between 1963 and late 1965. Wimpole Street is in exclusive Marylebone, where property is notoriously expensive. The well-heeled Ashers owned the entire building, which is just a short walk from the Central Middlesex Hospital where Asher's father was an eminent endocrinologist. Her mother was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1963, when McCartney first met Asher (see Royal Albert Hall) she was 17 years old and no stranger to showbusiness herself. The red-headed actress had starred in the movie Mandy at the age of five and nine years later became the youngest actress to play Wendy in Peter Pan. Other Asher screen credits include Alfie, The Greengage Summer, The Masque of the Red Death and The Quatermass Experiment.

     The McCartney-Asher courtship was reportedly conducted in a 'well-mannered' fashion. As the relationship developed, Paul accepted the Asher family's invitation to live with them and moved into a small, sparsely-furnished garret room on the fourth floor. McCartney’s few possessions here included an expensive camera and recording equipment, a wardrobe full of trendy clothes – and cash, which he kept stashed in wads under his bed. The room was Paul's home throughout the height of Beatlemania, from 1963 to 1966. Jane's spacious bedroom was on the second floor. Whether hanky panky occurred between these two after lights out remains a matter of speculation.

     According to Albert Goldman in The Lives of John Lennon: "It was principally from the Ashers that Paul imbibed that awareness of classical and avant-garde music that led the Beatles to move away from pop-rock and launch them into the rising tide of art rock." John and Paul wrote several songs, including "I Want to Hold Your Hand," in the basement music room here.

     Another resident at the house, Jane's brother Peter, also enjoyed a brief moment of fame during the mid-Sixites as part of the soft-pop vocal duo, Peter and Gordon. Peter Asher would later go on to produce and manage Apple recording star James Taylor.

     According to John Lennon, the 1963 Beatles classic I Want To Hold Your Hand was written jointly with McCartney at this address. “We were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had ‘Oh, you-u-u ... got that something ...’ And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said ‘Do that again!’”

     In 1966, Paul moved to his own home in St. John's Wood close to Abbey Road and EMI Studios. 

     It’s fair to note that while his fellow Beatles, John, George and Ringo, retreated to the country early on in the decade, McCartney remained very much the man about town. It was Paul who developed an interest in the avant garde scene early on, striking up friendships with visiting poets and writers like Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs. Others in his circle included LSD manufacturer Michael Hollingshead, underground journalist Barry Miles, alternative bookstore owner John Dunbar and others. With Dunbar, McCartney dabbled in experimental movie-making during the late Sixties, composing and dubbing electronic soundtracks onto the 8mm films at his home in Cavendish Avenue. Neither the films nor their soundtracks have ever been presented publicly.