Patrick Sawer
London: Museum plans for the site of the Beatles’ final concert have run into opposition from neighbours who claim it would block out sunlight.
The proposed development at 3 Savile Row would include opening up to visitors the rooftop where the band performed their 42-minute final live concert in January 1969, before the Metropolitan Police arrived and cut it short.
Fans visiting the seven-floor museum would also be able to experience a recreation of the basement studio where the album Let It Be was recorded, along with never-before-seen archive material and a souvenir shop.
The Beatles at 3 Savile Row is set to open next year, after the group’s record label Apple Corps reacquired the building.
But the planned development has struck a jarring note with some of its neighbours.
Rockefeller Global Investment Management, a wealth manager, has submitted objections to Westminster City Council over what it claims will be “the loss of daylight and sunlight” to its office next door, as well as “noise and disturbance”.
The company, which manages £165 billion ($309 billion) in client assets, said that reopening the rooftop where The Beatles performed their final gig “is likely to result in a material reduction in natural daylight and sunlight, as well as creating a more enclosed outlook”.
It also said: “Loss of light and overbearing impact are recognised planning considerations, and the proposal risks causing unacceptable harm to neighbouring occupiers. The scale and nature of the works would result in prolonged construction noise and disruption.
“This is particularly impactful in a professional working environment where we regularly host clients and require a quiet and high-quality setting.”
The plan to move back to 3 Savile Row, a Grade II listed mansion that served as the band’s headquarters between 1968 and 1972, was proposed by Tom Greene, who became Apple Corps’ chief executive in 2025 after working on the Harry Potter franchise.
The museum aims to welcome more than 10,000 student visits in its first year, with plans to involve more than 200 young people in workshops.
Supporters of the museum have urged those objecting to the plans to accept them.
Planning representatives for the project told Westminster council that The Beatles at 3 Savile Row would be a “local cultural asset (not just a tourist destination)” as well as an “education platform rooted in music, creativity and social history”.
They added: “These proposals represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring The Beatles – one of the UK’s most significant cultural icons – back to one of their spiritual homes, creating a visitor attraction of national significance in the heart of London’s most important visitor destinations.
“The proposed cultural experience and exhibition use will secure the long-term future of this Grade II* listed building, whilst referencing its history and its enduring cultural significance as Apple Corps’ former headquarters and the location of The Beatles’ last ever live performance.”
Addressing concerns about loss of daylight, Apple Corps’ planning representatives said: “There will not be any noticeable alterations to daylight or sunlight to any neighbouring properties, regardless of use.”
On noise, they said the proposed development “will not result in any adverse noise impacts and will improve the local noise environment”.
The development has been welcomed by Paul McCartney, who told The New York Times last week: “Museum implies dust. I don’t think it’s going to be like that. I think it is going to be quite lively.”
McCartney has previously said: “There are so many special memories within the walls, not to mention the rooftop.
“The team have put together some really impressive plans and I’m excited for people to see it when it’s ready.
“You go in on the ground floor, and there’s memorabilia and stuff like that. Then you work your way up through the building, and [see] various things that happened here and there, until you get to the top, where you go out on the roof and pretend to be a Beatle.”
Sources close to Rockefeller Global Investment Management said the firm raised its objections to the development before it was announced that the work was for a new Beatles museum and these “had nothing to do with concerns about the nature of what was being built”.
The Telegraph, London
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