London Album Cover Locations
London gave album art its single most imitated image — four men on a zebra crossing in St. John's Wood — and a whole lineage besides: a Chelsea studio doorway, a derelict power station with a pig floating over it, a Soho street built on record shops, a Mayfair phone box where Ziggy Stardust was born. The city's mix of grand and grubby has always made good backdrops.
This map collects the London covers we can pin to a spot, with the story of each and a link to the full history. Two of them sit a short walk apart in Soho; the rest range from Walthamstow to Battersea to a west-London park. Pins are colour-coded by how sure we are of the exact frame.
Showing 7 of 7 locations.
ExactApproximateInspired / fictional / unknown
Walk it
Some of these stops sit within a short walk of each other. Here's a route that strings them together.
The Soho stops
Two sleeves within a ten-minute walk on the Mayfair/Soho fringe — the alley where Ziggy Stardust was photographed and the market street Oasis put on Morning Glory.
Every London cover on the map
7 covers · in chronological order
01 · Exact spot
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles · 1967
Chelsea Manor Studios. Michael Cooper photographed the assembled tableau of life-sized cutouts on a set built by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth inside Chelsea Manor Studios.
Can you visit? The Sgt. Pepper tableau was built and shot at Chelsea Manor Studios on Flood Street, Chelsea; the studio itself is long gone.
02 · Exact spot
Abbey Road
The Beatles · 1969
Abbey Road zebra crossing. Iain Macmillan shot the four Beatles crossing this zebra crossing outside EMI Studios on the morning of 8 August 1969. The crossing has since been Grade II listed.
Can you visit? Yes — the crossing is a live public road outside Abbey Road Studios; expect a steady queue of people recreating the walk, and a webcam watching them.
03 · Exact spot
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie · 1972
23 Heddon Street. Brian Ward photographed Bowie outside his studio at 23 Heddon Street on a wet January night in 1972; the 'K. West' furrier sign hung above his head, and a commemorative plaque now marks the spot.
Can you visit? Yes — Heddon Street is now a pedestrianised lane off Regent Street; a Bowie plaque marks the spot of the K. West sign from the cover.
04 · Exact spot
Band On The Run
Paul McCartney & Wings · 1973
Osterley Park. Clive Arrowsmith shot the 'prison breakout' cover against a brick wall in the grounds of Osterley Park on 28 October 1973, lit by a single searchlight.
05 · Exact spot
Animals
Pink Floyd · 1977
Battersea Power Station. Hipgnosis photographed the Grade II*-listed power station with a 40-foot inflatable pig, 'Algie', floating between its chimneys in December 1976. On the second day the pig broke free and drifted into Heathrow's flight path, grounding flights. The station closed in 1983 and reopened in 2022 as a shops-and-flats redevelopment.
Can you visit? Yes — Battersea Power Station reopened in 2022 as shops and flats after decades derelict; the four chimneys the inflatable pig floated between still stand.
06 · Exact spot
Parklife
Blur · 1994
Walthamstow Stadium greyhound track. Stylorouge photographed greyhounds rounding the bend at Walthamstow Stadium in East London — a vanished slice of working-class British leisure.
Can you visit? Walthamstow Stadium's greyhound track closed in 2008 and the site is now housing, but its landmark art-deco frontage was preserved.
07 · Exact spot
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis · 1995
Berwick Street, Soho. Michael Spencer Jones photographed Berwick Street — Soho's independent record-shop row — for Brian Cannon's Microdot design. The two figures passing on the street are a design assistant and the album's producer Owen Morris, the blurred passer-by holding the DAT master tape over his face.
Can you visit? Yes — Berwick Street still holds its market, though the record shops the cover celebrated have largely gone.
Then & Now
The cover, and the exact spot today — drag the panorama to look around, the way the photographer once did.
Abbey Road — The Beatles
Abbey Road zebra crossing · London
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars — David Bowie
23 Heddon Street · London
Animals — Pink Floyd
Battersea Power Station · London
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? — Oasis
Berwick Street, Soho · London
Frequently asked
- What famous album covers were photographed in London?
- Among them: the Beatles' Abbey Road (the St. John's Wood crossing) and Sgt. Pepper (Chelsea), David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (Heddon Street), Pink Floyd's Animals (Battersea Power Station), and Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (Berwick Street, Soho).
- Where is the Abbey Road cover crossing?
- On Abbey Road in St. John's Wood, north-west London, directly outside Abbey Road Studios. It's an ordinary working zebra crossing that you can walk across today.
- Can you visit London's album cover locations?
- Many are open public spots — the Abbey Road crossing, Heddon Street, Berwick Street, and now Battersea Power Station. A couple of studios (Chelsea Manor) are gone. Each entry below notes what's there now.
- What is the most famous London album cover location?
- The Abbey Road zebra crossing is the most famous album-cover location in the world, not just in London — recreated by visitors every single day.
- Are the coordinates exact?
- Pins marked "exact" point at the spot the photographer stood; "approximate" means the area is known but not the precise frame. Confidence is shown per pin.