Beatles Childhood Homes

Mendips on Menlove Avenue, where John Lennon was raised, and 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, the teenage home of Paul McCartney

Over 50 years after they first took the charts by storm, The Beatles are still as strong a draw as ever.

Millions of tourists flock to Liverpool each year, eager to take in the birthplace of the Fab Four and see where it all began, and there is no better way to immerse yourself in the history of pop's greatest band than with a tour of the childhood homes of John Lennon (Mendips on Menlove Avenue) and Paul McCartney (20 Forthlin Road in Allerton), operated by the National Trust.

Mendips

Mendips, the childhood home of John Lennon, is a fine example of 1950s semi-detached housing. More luxurious and higher status than 20 Forthlin Road, it was lovingly maintained by John's Aunt Mimi. You can still see the house and garden as it was when they lived here. Neat, tidy, yet still cosy, it's a real home.

20 Forthlin Road

A typical example of post-war terraced council housing, 20 Forthlin Road is smaller and plainer than Mendips. Paul's mother, Mary, tragically died when he and Mike were in their teens and Jim, their father, brought them up alone after that.

The McCartney men weren't as houseproud as Aunt Mimi and money was tight, so expect to see mismatched wallpaper, clutter and threadbare sofas.

Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, bought Mendips in 2002 when the previous owner died. She then donated the property to the National Trust, and asked them to "restore the house to what it once was, and tell John's story". 20 Forthlin Road has been within the ownership of the National Trust for 16 years.

It is the house in which Paul McCartney lived for several years before he rose to fame with The Beatles, and it is labelled by the National Trust as "the birthplace of The Beatles". It was also the home of his brother Mike and the birthplace of the group The Scaffold, which Mike was a member of.

Each home has been meticulously restored to the homes that Lennon and McCartney would recognise from their younger years, using photographs and eyewitness accounts to restore original fixtures and fittings, and source identical items of furniture.

Read More