A: Penny Lane Street Sign - The first stop along the Magical Mystery (Multi-Cache) Tour is the famous Penny Lane Sign. The first waypoint takes you to the closest convenient parking spot. Walk 125m south from this location to the bottom of Penny Lane. This is a popular spot for tourists, with the local tour bus stopping up to 10 times in one day. Across the road you will see a sign for Liverpool College. Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, reportedly attended this prestigious school for a few months before being expelled for being a poor student.
A = Cycle route minus 54
B: Penny Lane Wall - The street was named after James Penny, a man who made his money from owning and transporting slaves. He actively campaigned to maintain the slave trade. However, this unsavoury history was superseded by Paul McCartney when he penned the anthem which has become the most famous street in Liverpool, if not the world! There have been attempts to change the name of the road, due to its association with slavery, but the upbeat nature of the song and the lyrical content ensures the street is the embodiment of community. Paul McCartney returned in 2018 on James Cordon's Carpool Karaoke. He signed the painted sign, and drew a lot of well-wishers wanting to sign next to their hero. As a result a perspex protection had to be bolted to the wall.
B = No. of bolts on the sign cover divided by 2.
C: The Pub & the Chip Shop - Our local pub, began life as a home for incurable children. It subsequently became the church hall for St Barnabus Church (you may see the tower if you look towards the end of the road - a later stop on this tour). The Quarrymen, later to become the Beatles, played here in the late 1950s. Freddy Mercury, the singer from Queen, is also rumoured to have stayed here in the late 1960s. If you walk a short distance down Dovedale Road, you can see the school that both John Lennon and George Harrison attended as children. Furthermore, the chip shop that can be seen from this location, is surreally referred to in the Penny Lane lyrics 'Four of Fish and Finger Pies'.
C = Time the Chip Shop closes
D: Community Centre Gate - Penny Lane Development Trust is a local charitable group that does great work in the community. The gates to the centre are a tribute to the Fab Four who can be seen in silhouette replicating the semaphore image from the HELP album cover.
D = Number of figures on the top of the gates.
E: St Barnabas - St Barnabas and its church tower dominates the Penny Lane roundabout. Paul McCartney used to sing here as a choir boy and returned with Lynda in 1982 as best man for his brother Mike's wedding. The “shelter in the middle of the roundabout” while in a state of suspended rejuvenation is still the focus of the junction.
E = Number of words printed above the gold Notices line
F: Barber Shop - Although there is a barber shop located at the top of Penny Lane, the one that features in the original lyrics of the song is this one. Over the road is the bank on the corner.
F = The number of letters in the barber’s surname minus 1
G: Newcastle Road - Just off Church Road, you will find Newcastle Road. This is the location of John Lennon's conception and it is here that he resided for the first 5 years of his life before he moved in with his Aunt Mimi at Mendips on Menlove Avenure.
G = The second digit printed in white on the telecoms box
H: Bluecoats - John Lennon's father Freddie attended this historic school, before becoming a waiter in the Merchant Navy.
H = The number of clock towers on the building
I: The Abbey Cinema – Now a convenience store, this grand art-deco building used to be a cinema. When a young child, John’s mother Julia used to work here as an usherette. George spoke often of his fondness for the cinema recounting to an interviewer that it was here he watched Rock Around the Clock with John, and shortly afterwards commented of Bill Haley “That’s the type of job I want to have, and as the saying goes, the rest was history”.
I = The number of big windows on the grey curved Art Deco frontage minus 18
J: Picton Clock Tower – A local landmark which along with the Abbey Cinema was referred to in an early draft of John’s In My Life:
"Penny Lane is one I'm missing
Up Church Road to the Clock Tower
In the circle of The Abbey
I have seen some happy hours [...]"
Look for the green plaque on the side of the tower.
J = The last digit of the year the tower was presented to the people of Wavertree
Final Coordinates:
N53 AB.CDE
W002 FG.HIJ
The final hiding place for the cache can be found a stone's throw away from George Harrison's childhood home. On route to the cache, make sure you have a look at No.12, Arnold Grove where George was born on 25th February 1943 (but please be respectful as this is a private house).