A Mayfair townhouse once owned by the Beatles manager Brian Epstein where the Fab Four themselves would sometimes hole up to escape their fans has gone on the market priced at £8.75 million.
The five bedroom Georgian mansion at 27 Charles Street was Epstein’s first substantial London property after his illustrious clients hit the big time in the early 1960s. He later moved to Whaddon House in Knightsbridge and in 1964 to Chapel Street in Belgravia while the Charles Street house was used as his business base where he built up an early version of the Apple Corps Beatles business empire.
The mid-18th century Grade II listed mansion has an adjoining mews House used as a “Beatles bolt-hole” linked to the main home via the lower ground floor.
The band were famously photographed together in a bath tub that stood in the middle of the mews house’s sitting room for a publicity stunt. John Lennon is said to have painted graffiti on to the tiles in the kitchen, which were later sold at auction.
The 3,800 sq ft house was later sold to former Tory arts minister and Leader of the House Norman St-John Stevas, who was sacked by Margaret Thatcher in 1981 in the purge of her Cabinet “wets”.
After being sold off separately some years ago, the mews house was bought back by Charles Street’s current owner, reuniting the property as a whole again. Accessible via the main home’s lower ground floor or from its own private entrance on Hay’s Mews, the famous ‘Beatles mews’ is perfect for housing extended family members, friends or staff, with a stylish reception space, kitchen and large ensuite bedroom.
Peter Wetherell, founder and executive chairman of Wetherell, says: “This Charles Street townhouse and mews was the Mayfair base of two famous showmen, firstly Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who allowed the Fab Four used the mews as their bolthole, and later Norman St John-Stevas, one of British politics’ most colourful characters.
"It is extremely rare to find a Grade II listed townhouse in the heart of Mayfair that has not only retained so many wonderful traditional Georgian features, but comes with its original mews house intact and several private outdoor spaces.”
