Siobhan
Apr 29, 2003, 02:48 AM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,944788,00.html
Plaque to Lennon recalls Beatles' short-lived fashion foray
Rebecca Allison
Monday April 28, 2003
The Guardian
The veteran actor Sir John Mills yesterday unveiled a Musical Heritage plaque for John Lennon at the site of the former Apple Boutique in London.
The Beatles' clothes shop opened in December 1967 on the corner of Baker and Paddington streets in a blaze of publicity. As Paul McCartney said, it was to be a "beautiful place where you could buy beautiful things".
In September that year the Beatles had given three Dutch and one English designers - known collectively as "Fool" - £100,000 to design and stock the boutique.
Art students painted a huge psychedelic mural across the front and side of the store, but it was removed after complaints from local retailers.
The store was managed by Lennon's childhood friend Pete Shotton and George Harrison's sister-in-law, Jennie.
But the venture did not last. On July 30 1968 the band decided the retail business was not for them and told staff to give away all the remaining stock.
Celebrities, including Jean-Claude Van Damme, yesterday joined members of Lennon's family at the building, which is now more prosaically the home of an employment agency.
The plaque was unveiled a month after Lennon's boyhood home in Woolton, Liverpool, was opened to the public.
Plaque to Lennon recalls Beatles' short-lived fashion foray
Rebecca Allison
Monday April 28, 2003
The Guardian
The veteran actor Sir John Mills yesterday unveiled a Musical Heritage plaque for John Lennon at the site of the former Apple Boutique in London.
The Beatles' clothes shop opened in December 1967 on the corner of Baker and Paddington streets in a blaze of publicity. As Paul McCartney said, it was to be a "beautiful place where you could buy beautiful things".
In September that year the Beatles had given three Dutch and one English designers - known collectively as "Fool" - £100,000 to design and stock the boutique.
Art students painted a huge psychedelic mural across the front and side of the store, but it was removed after complaints from local retailers.
The store was managed by Lennon's childhood friend Pete Shotton and George Harrison's sister-in-law, Jennie.
But the venture did not last. On July 30 1968 the band decided the retail business was not for them and told staff to give away all the remaining stock.
Celebrities, including Jean-Claude Van Damme, yesterday joined members of Lennon's family at the building, which is now more prosaically the home of an employment agency.
The plaque was unveiled a month after Lennon's boyhood home in Woolton, Liverpool, was opened to the public.