Abbey Road Studios

The Gramophone Company bought a nine-bedroom Georgian house on Abbey Road in 1929 and spent two years turning it into the world's first purpose-built recording studios. Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony on 12 November 1931. Both the building and the zebra crossing outside it were listed Grade II in 2010, which says something about how completely a working studio in St John's Wood became part of the national furniture.

Three studios are let for events, and they are the same three rooms the records were made in. Studio One is the world's largest purpose-built recording studio: 4,844 square feet, large enough to hold a hundred-piece orchestra and a hundred-piece choir at once, and the room where Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lord of the Rings, Skyfall and Black Panther were scored. It takes gala dinners, award ceremonies and conferences at a scale nothing else in the neighbourhood can match. Studio Two is the Beatles' room, still on its original parquet, still under its plaster ceiling, with the wooden staircase climbing to the control room where it has always been. It suits drinks receptions, seated dinners, press launches and screenings. Studio Three is the smallest of the three originals, contemporary in fit-out, with a mezzanine balcony and lounge areas for smaller gatherings.

Hire is offered for a limited number of occasions each year, because artists have the rooms the rest of the time. Lexington is the in-house catering partner, and accredited external caterers are permitted when all three event studios are taken together. Abbey Road is not open to the public for visits or tours, so an event here is the only way most guests will ever stand in these rooms.