Apple Boutique
Encyclopedia
The Apple shop was a retail store that opened on 7 December 1967 located in a now demolished building on the corner of Baker Street
and Paddington Street, Marylebone
, London
, and that closed on 30 June 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures made by The Beatles
' fledgling Apple Corps
.
, was to create 'a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things'. In practice the stock was overwhelmingly fashion garments and accessories. John Lennon
vetoed the use of the word ‘boutique’ but the venture has come to be popularly referred to as the “Apple Boutique”.
, design collective. Pattie Harrison was familiar with them and introduced them to The Beatles who, in September 1967, gave The Fool £100,000 to design and stock the first outlet of a planned national chain of “Apple” shops. The Beatles business took a lease on 94 Baker Street, a Georgian town house dating from 1795, and the ground floor was proposed for the Apple shop despite the location being remote from the centres of fashion and design of 1960’s London.
Barry Finch employed art students to paint a psychedelic style mural, designed by The Fool, across the building's facades between 10 and 12 November 1967. The concept was borrowed from the painting of the facades of the Lord John shop in Carnaby Street, albeit executed to a figurative design with greater density and color. Westminster City Council
had not, however, granted consent for this, which could be construed as an advertisement, nor had a licence to do this been sought from the landlord, the Portman Estate
.
The launch party on 5 December 1967 was attended by John Lennon
and George Harrison
with their wives, Eric Clapton
, Jack Bruce
, Cilla Black
and Kenneth Tynan
sipping apple juice as the shop had no alcohol licence. Invitations read 'Come at 7.46. Fashion Show at 8.16.' suggesting a degree of precision and planning not subsequently realized in the management of the business. Footage of the event shows Simon Posthuma playing Arabic music on a flute, Barry Finch playing a small drum, and Josje Leeger playing finger cymbals to the guests.
Lennon’s friend Peter Shotton
managed the store with Pattie Harrison's sister Jenny Boyd
. The Apple shop was a financial disaster. Theft was endemic. Customers helped themselves to the stock as did staff members, who had difficulty determining which things people had come in with and which they had picked up in the shop. The ethos of the venture and those operating it was antipathetic to making accusations of shop-lifting or of calling for the police. The Fool's members also made a habit of taking their choice of the merchandise.
Complaints to Westminster City Council from local traders resulted in the Council issuing Apple with an enforcement notice to paint over the façade mural. In addition, the Portman Estate were prevailed upon to enforce the terms of the lease. The Apple Boutique was situated at 94 Baker Street. It had opened on 7 December 1967, but fell foul of council objections over the psychedelic mural painted on the outside. In an interview conducted for The Beatles' Anthology, George Harrison
said of the artwork:
Between 15 and 18 May 1968 the facades were duly painted white with the word “Apple” in cursive script painted on each fascia. This transformation and shift in style from the florid ‘psychedelia’ of the original mural, already anachronistic by the end of 1967, to the minimalism of the ‘approved’ scheme prefigures the contrast in record cover design between that of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
released in June 1967 and that of The Beatles
to be released in November 1968.
stated.
The night before the closing The Beatles, their wives and girlfriends came to take what they wanted. The next morning it was announced that all the remaining stock was to be given away on the basis of one item per person. In his interview on The Beatles' Anthology Harrison describes the event: "We ended up giving the contents away. We put an ad in the paper and we filmed people coming in and grabbing everything." Word spread quickly and the shop was empty within hours. The public, numbering in the hundreds nearly rioted trying to get their share and the police attended.
As a final ill judged gesture at the end of August 1968, Paul McCartney
used the windows of the closed shop to advertise the Beatles first Apple Records
single
release, scraping "Hey Jude
" in the whitewash on the glass. This was mis-construed as antisemitic graffiti
, 'Jude' being German for 'Jew' and the graffiti was removed.
Peter Shotton
moved on to other jobs at Apple Corps. Jenny Boyd
dated singer Donovan
and later married drummer Mick Fleetwood
.
The eighteenth century house was demolished in 1974 and replaced with Travelscene House, 94 Baker Street, London W1U 6FZ. This is an office building, taller than the eighteenth century house, with incorrectly proportioned neo-Georgian facades that pastiche the main facade of the original building, and forming part of a controversial redevelopment of the historic urban block to north and east.
On 31 July 2008, a recreation of the "Apple Boutique" mural was projected onto the building by BBC
programme Newsnight
to mark the 40th anniversary of the shop's closure. This was part of Newsnight's series marking the 40th anniversary of 1968 and brought together Pattie Boyd
, Beatles' friend Tony Bramwell, and 'sixties actress, and later fashion designer, Edina Ronay to recall the controversial and eccentric Apple Boutique.
Although "Apple Boutique" no longer exists as a physical shopping location, it continues to exist as part of the online store on the Beatles' website http://www.applecorpsltd.com/#/store.
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
and Paddington Street, Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and that closed on 30 June 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures made by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' fledgling Apple Corps
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...
.
Concept
The concept of the shop was that everything in it was for sale. The aim, as described by Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, was to create 'a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things'. In practice the stock was overwhelmingly fashion garments and accessories. John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
vetoed the use of the word ‘boutique’ but the venture has come to be popularly referred to as the “Apple Boutique”.
Mural Design
The Dutch designers, Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koeger along with artist Josje Leeger had met Simon Hayes and Barry Finch in London and formed the The FoolThe Fool (design collective)
The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band who were influential in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s. The colourful art draws on many fantastical and mystical themes...
, design collective. Pattie Harrison was familiar with them and introduced them to The Beatles who, in September 1967, gave The Fool £100,000 to design and stock the first outlet of a planned national chain of “Apple” shops. The Beatles business took a lease on 94 Baker Street, a Georgian town house dating from 1795, and the ground floor was proposed for the Apple shop despite the location being remote from the centres of fashion and design of 1960’s London.
Barry Finch employed art students to paint a psychedelic style mural, designed by The Fool, across the building's facades between 10 and 12 November 1967. The concept was borrowed from the painting of the facades of the Lord John shop in Carnaby Street, albeit executed to a figurative design with greater density and color. Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council and is entitled to be known as a city council, which is a rare distinction in the United Kingdom. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors...
had not, however, granted consent for this, which could be construed as an advertisement, nor had a licence to do this been sought from the landlord, the Portman Estate
Portman Estate
The Portman Estate is a property estate in Marylebone, Central London. It lies between Oxford Street and Edgware Road, and includes Portman Square, Manchester Square, and some parts of Baker Street and Gloucester Place....
.
The launch party on 5 December 1967 was attended by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
with their wives, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
and Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Peacock Tynan was an influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer.-Early life:...
sipping apple juice as the shop had no alcohol licence. Invitations read 'Come at 7.46. Fashion Show at 8.16.' suggesting a degree of precision and planning not subsequently realized in the management of the business. Footage of the event shows Simon Posthuma playing Arabic music on a flute, Barry Finch playing a small drum, and Josje Leeger playing finger cymbals to the guests.
Lennon’s friend Peter Shotton
Peter Shotton
Peter Shotton , commonly referred to as Pete Shotton, is an English businessman, best known for his long friendship with John Lennon of The Beatles. He was a close childhood friend of Lennon's, and attended Dovedale Infants School and Quarry Bank Grammar School at the same time as the future Beatle...
managed the store with Pattie Harrison's sister Jenny Boyd
Jenny Boyd
Helen Mary Boyd is a former 1960s London fashion model. She is also the younger sister of Pattie Boyd, who married Beatle George Harrison....
. The Apple shop was a financial disaster. Theft was endemic. Customers helped themselves to the stock as did staff members, who had difficulty determining which things people had come in with and which they had picked up in the shop. The ethos of the venture and those operating it was antipathetic to making accusations of shop-lifting or of calling for the police. The Fool's members also made a habit of taking their choice of the merchandise.
Complaints to Westminster City Council from local traders resulted in the Council issuing Apple with an enforcement notice to paint over the façade mural. In addition, the Portman Estate were prevailed upon to enforce the terms of the lease. The Apple Boutique was situated at 94 Baker Street. It had opened on 7 December 1967, but fell foul of council objections over the psychedelic mural painted on the outside. In an interview conducted for The Beatles' Anthology, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
said of the artwork:
Between 15 and 18 May 1968 the facades were duly painted white with the word “Apple” in cursive script painted on each fascia. This transformation and shift in style from the florid ‘psychedelia’ of the original mural, already anachronistic by the end of 1967, to the minimalism of the ‘approved’ scheme prefigures the contrast in record cover design between that of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
released in June 1967 and that of The Beatles
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
to be released in November 1968.
Failure and closing
The retail business lost money at an alarming rate, eventually running to £200 000 and the shop was closed on 30 July 1968. In a press release, explaining The Beatles' motives for closing the stores, Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
stated.
The night before the closing The Beatles, their wives and girlfriends came to take what they wanted. The next morning it was announced that all the remaining stock was to be given away on the basis of one item per person. In his interview on The Beatles' Anthology Harrison describes the event: "We ended up giving the contents away. We put an ad in the paper and we filmed people coming in and grabbing everything." Word spread quickly and the shop was empty within hours. The public, numbering in the hundreds nearly rioted trying to get their share and the police attended.
As a final ill judged gesture at the end of August 1968, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
used the windows of the closed shop to advertise the Beatles first Apple Records
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
release, scraping "Hey Jude
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
" in the whitewash on the glass. This was mis-construed as antisemitic graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, 'Jude' being German for 'Jew' and the graffiti was removed.
Peter Shotton
Peter Shotton
Peter Shotton , commonly referred to as Pete Shotton, is an English businessman, best known for his long friendship with John Lennon of The Beatles. He was a close childhood friend of Lennon's, and attended Dovedale Infants School and Quarry Bank Grammar School at the same time as the future Beatle...
moved on to other jobs at Apple Corps. Jenny Boyd
Jenny Boyd
Helen Mary Boyd is a former 1960s London fashion model. She is also the younger sister of Pattie Boyd, who married Beatle George Harrison....
dated singer Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
and later married drummer Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
.
The eighteenth century house was demolished in 1974 and replaced with Travelscene House, 94 Baker Street, London W1U 6FZ. This is an office building, taller than the eighteenth century house, with incorrectly proportioned neo-Georgian facades that pastiche the main facade of the original building, and forming part of a controversial redevelopment of the historic urban block to north and east.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
programme Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
to mark the 40th anniversary of the shop's closure. This was part of Newsnight's series marking the 40th anniversary of 1968 and brought together Pattie Boyd
Pattie Boyd
Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd is an English model and photographer, and the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
, Beatles' friend Tony Bramwell, and 'sixties actress, and later fashion designer, Edina Ronay to recall the controversial and eccentric Apple Boutique.
Although "Apple Boutique" no longer exists as a physical shopping location, it continues to exist as part of the online store on the Beatles' website http://www.applecorpsltd.com/#/store.
External links
- Apple Boutique page at strawberrywalrus.com - includes contemporary photographs
- Official Apple Boutique UK website http://www.thebeatlesonline.co.uk/thebeatles/Apple-Boutique/
- Official Apple Boutique US website http://beatles.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/artist?sourceCode=BEAWEB&categoryName=Apple+Boutique&artistName=Beatles.com