All rights reserved.
Copyright Bavo Dekker (c)1998
Decca studios
Decca Studios 165 Broadhurst Gardens.
The Beatles auditioned at Decca Studios on New Year's Day, 1962. The
group recorded 15 songs during the audition, which included three
Lennon-McCartney compositions (the lightweight pop "Hello Little Girl"
plus "Love of the Loved" and "Like Dreamers Do") and twelve covers.
Although the group never properly recorded the Lennon-McCartney tunes,
several of the covers turned up later in the Beatles' recording career,
such as "Money", "Till There Was You", and "Besame Mucho". (The latter
appeared in the Let it Be film but was not officially released.)
Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Chronicle states that the session
began around 11 a.m. and lasted only about an hour, which seems a
remarkably short time to record such a large number of songs. The
Decca session material has appeared on numerous more-or-less legitimate
releases. Many of these lack the Lennon-McCartney compositions, presumably
to lessen the possibility of legal entanglements.
The building is now occupied by the English National Opera.
How to get there: You can easily reach 165 Broadhurst Gardens when
visiting Abbey Road. Get back onto the Jubilee Line of the Underground
and go three more stops to the north, to the West Hampstead stop.
When you exit the Underground (which is actually aboveground at this
point) walk to your left along the sidewalk. In a very short distance
Broadhurst Gardens will be the first street on your left. Turn left
and number 165 will be across the street about 3 or 4 doors down.
