The Beatles Famous Abbey Road Needs a Lollipop Lady to Help Tourists Cross

45 years since The Beatles crossed Abbey Road, the tourist traffic that the famed zebra crossing which the fabulous four walked across is so busy that it needs a lollipop lady. The crossing in St. Johns Wood, London was used for a front cover picture on one of the band’s most successful albums, Abbey Road. The original shot took less than ten minutes and six frames, but it is arguably the most iconic album cover in the world.

As a result, in the last four decades, fans have flocked to the site to walk across the zebra crossing in the same manner. Many of them have travelled hundreds of miles and want a picture of the road also, and the local council is concerned that unless they place a lollipop lady on site to usher tourists safely across, the crossing is an accident waiting to happen. The local council also receives thousands of letters of complaint each year from local drivers, who claim that the onslaught of tourists crossing the road makes for a tedious commute.

Abbey Road crossing is busy to the point of standstill traffic on a daily basis

According to Laura Greenway, owner of The Beatles Coffee Shop situated nearby, things can get rather hectic sometimes. Often drivers are impatient and honk their horns at tourists and photographers. Greenway thinks that a lollipop lady is a good idea because it will make the area safer.

Lindsey Hall, from Westminster City Council says that the crossing has always been a “bit of an issue” because it’s really just a residential area which was never designed to receive the volume of tourists that it has done for the last 40 years. Hall explains that the odd situation represents some difficulties so far as a solution is concerned. The council do not want to be the “spoil sports” who say no to tourism, but people have to be able to drive along the street also.

According to Hall, the city council is very proud of the musical heritage and The Beatles, allowing tourists to walk the famous crossing is an important part of the area’s history. Hall has set the wheels in motion for the introduction of an Abbey Road lollipop lady, or man.

A lollipop lady, as seen on school road crossings in England

In the United Kingdom, the term “lollipop lady” is most often used to describe a person who ushers children over the road so that they can get to school safely. Whist this job can be done by either a man or a woman, it is thought that the role is associated mostly with women because initially it was women who were best suited for the part-time nature of the shift work involved. The longest-serving lollipop lady in England, Eunice Robinson, patrolled her road crossing for 40 years. Otherwise known as School Crossing Patrols, the lollipop lady or man holds the lollipop shaped “Stop Children Crossing” sign.

The job of the lollipop lady is to walk onto the center of the crossing and wave the oncoming traffic to a halt. She will then beckon to the children waiting on the pavement that it is safe to cross. Lollipop ladies were introduced in the U.K in the 1960′s to allow the policemen, who previously ran the crossing patrols, to get on with other duties.Abbey Road needs a lollipop lady to usher tourists rather than children, but the concept of safe crossing is still the same. Hall thinks that the consistency of the traffic in the area could warrant a full-time lollipop lady, who would also stop people parking on double yellow lines and facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.

The Beatles posed for the shot of walking the Abbey Road crossing on August 8, 1969, exactly 45 years ago today. The tourism to that famous site has made the area so busy that a lollipop lady has been proposed by the town council.

By Tabitha Farrar