Welcome to The Beatles in Kent website, describing the historical connections between the greatest rock band of all time and The Garden of England.
The Beatles visited Knole Park in Sevenoaks between 30th January and 7th February 1967 to make promotional films for their songs Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. John Lennon also purchased a Victorian circus poster in town which was the source for most of the lyrics in his song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”.
The guide linked below provides further information about their visit to Sevenoaks and directions for a walk which visits each of the key locations relating to their stay.
You can hear my BBC Radio Secret Kent interview on “When The Beatles came to Sevenoaks” on BBC Sounds and BBC News, plus my afternoon with Robbie from the Chatting Tracks channel is on YouTube.
Approximately 5 miles from the centre of Sevenoaks in the graveyard of St Martin’s Church in Brasted village you will find the grave of Alan Civil, a French Horn player who performed the solo on “For No One” from the album Revolver and one of only five session musicians to receive a named credit on a Beatles recording. Alan Civil was also part of the orchestra crescendo in the song “A Day in the Life” from the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The Magical Mystery Tour film was first shown on BBC1 on 26 December 1967. Much of it was filmed at a disused RAF airfield near West Malling, which has now been redeveloped as Kings Hill.
Near the start of the film, Ringo Starr goes into a Newsagent to buy tickets for the Magical Mystery Tour from a poorly disguised John Lennon. The newsagent was the Town Newsagency, at 90 High Street in West Malling, which is now occupied by the Rain Grill kebab house. The town has commemorated the shop as part of the local council’s own local Blue Plaques Scheme (see details here).
The first time that The Beatles performed in Kent was at the Invicta Ballroom in Fullagers Yard off the High St in Chatham on Saturday 12th January 1963. The building was demolished in 1987, after it was converted into a bingo hall. At the time this was the southernmost show that they had performed to date.
Apart from the show in Chatham, the only other shows that The Beatles played in Kent were at the Winter Gardens in Margate, playing two shows per night from Monday 8th July to Saturday 13th July in 1963.
During their brief residency they stayed at The Beresford Hotel in Birchington, near Margate, a 4-star hotel that was demolished and redeveloped in 1967.
Click here to hear an audio podcast version of this website generated by NotebookLM.
I have previously presented multimedia talks on this subject to the Sevenoaks Society, Wrotham Historical Society and Sevenoaks U3A. If you are interested in arranging a talk for another group, or have any feedback on this site, please contact Ian Hooper at ian.hooper100@gmail.com.
Beatles in Kent 