Liverpool Beatles Tours

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of ev’ry head he’s had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say ‘Hello’.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain - very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes,
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It’s a clean machine.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes,
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray.
And though she feels as if she’s in a play
She is anyway.

Penny Lane roundabout from St. Barnabus Church.

move the mouse over the picture to explore Penny Lane

Penny Lane - The Barber Shop

Bioletti's is no more, the barber shop where John, Paul and George would get their haircut, but it is still a hairdresser's, now called Tony Slavin. It is right on the top left hand corner of the roundabout, looking up towards Church Road but the barber shop also looks down the roundabout and down Penny Lane itself.

Penny Lane - The Bank

But which is the bank? Penny Lane Roundabout had 3 banks to choose from back then - although only one remains a bank today. One building on the corner of the roundabout was "Martins Bank" which was later absorbed by Barclays. Staff there reckoned they knew the identity of the banker being sung about, and that he worked for Martins Bank.

The next candidate is on the opposite corner of the roundabout, and is now after various name changes a Lloyds TSB.

The third bank was a Barclays Bank, and is the popular choice for the bank. It is on the corner of the block where the barber shop is It is now the Penny Lane Doctors Surgery.

Penny Lane - The Fireman

The fireman could be in Penny Lane, but not with his engine. The Fire Station is along Allerton Road at the start of Mather Avenue

Penny Lane - The Chip Shop

Here, on Penny Lane, on the corner of Crawford Avenue, is Penny Lane Fish and Chip shop. "Fish and finger pies" (chips!) was also a play on the urban myth in Dovedale School that someone had found a real finger in with their chips - a popular story in the playground and one that John would have enjoyed spreading! However, Paul later admitted it was a double-entendre - their bit of smut for the local lads!

Penny Lane - Very Strange

In the song "Penny Lane" there is the line "very strange". This is not just because it fits, or sounds nice, but is probably a reference to the firm of Strange and Strange, a firm of motor engineers who were based in number 51 Penny Lane for many years, and it was too good an opportunity to miss!

Penny Lane - The Pretty Nurse

It was here on the roundabout, in front of the shelter, that the "pretty nurse" (or more likely Nurse Cadet - not a full-time nurse) stood. It is thought that this nurse was in fact Beth Davidson, a childhood friend of John Lennon, and later to become Lennon's best friend Pete Shotton's wife. She would stand there and meet up with her friends while raising money selling poppies.
"And though she feels as if she's in a play, she is anyway" To add credence to the story that the nurse was in fact Beth, this line confirms it. As a child, she and her friends would put on plays in her back yard in Borrowdale Road. Her father even built her a stage She lived as if she was in a play - she is anyway. She sadly died from cancer in her 30s.

Penny Lane - Albert Marrion's Studio

Albert Marrion was the first photographer to take formal photographs of The Beatles. He had a studio on the Penny Lane roundabout - it is next to the TSB Bank on the corner, and is now a Barnado's charity shop. Paul used to stand in front of the shop looking at the photos there.