When you consider Richmond’s enormous musical heritage, it seems scandalous that it has not been set up as a major tourist destination for rock fans – until now.
The Swinging 60s Experience bus is celebrating the borough’s influence of rock and pop history with tours aboard an original Routemaster bus.
The tours last either one or three hours (the latter has some walking involved) and include a knowledgeable guide providing commentary about the famous homes and locations on the loop from Richmond to Teddington.
While you drive around, music plays from bands and artists that brought the area to life in the 1960s and 1970s including The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, The Beatles, Elton John, The Yardbirds, David Bowie, The Who, Pink Floyd, Manfred Mann, The Kinks and The Animals.
Read more:
- Special gig to celebrate Richmond's Crawdaddy Club's 5th birthday
- Map: 19 south London locations where the Rolling Stones lived, studied, worked and played
- Playlist - South London's greatest hits mapped
- 'David Bowie changed my life' - Disco legend Nile Rodgers tells us about London Fold Festival
- Roll camera: south west London and north Surrey's most famous film locations
Sometimes the tours even feature a celebrity conductor. Former Genesis lead guitarist Steve Hackett and singer Dave Berry, who played the Cavern Club before The Beatles, are among the stars who have hopped aboard.
The tours start and finish at One Kew Road, next to Richmond rail and tube station, and the place described by Bill Wyman as The Rolling Stones’ spiritual home.
Then known as the Station Hotel, it is where they were first booked in February 1963 and launched their careers to an audience of just three.
Less than two months later, The Beatles were among a packed crowd watching them perform.
The Swinging 60s Experience tours were started last summer by advertising guru, semi-pro musician and Richmond resident of 35 years, Paul Endacott.
The previous summer, Paul had visited Liverpool and lapped up the history of the Beatles, from the Magical Mystery Tour to the Cavern Club and the Hard Day’s Night Hotel.
He said: “If the city of Liverpool can benefit from immortalising The Beatles, so Richmond upon Thames should now be maximising on the true potential of packaging and promoting its rich and varied music heritage to the 18-plus million visitors to London.”
His tours have proved popular too, and not just with tourists. Musicians have been quick to praise the venture.
Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood wished Paul well on the project and founder member of Genesis Anthony Phillips said: “I think this is a fantastic idea. From the swathe of cutting edge venues in London, the ones in Richmond and Twickenham were in many ways the heartbeat of that period with all of the seminal bands of the 60s using it as their stomping ground.”
Last summer, the tours ran as a scheduled service and since October have been monthly. The final monthly tour is on Easter Sunday, March 27, before they return regularly over this summer.
The one-hour tour leaves from the back of One Kew Road at 2pm on March 27 and costs £10. The three-hour tour (including some walking) starts upstairs at One Kew Road at 3pm and costs £25.
You can pay on the day, but it is advisable to book ahead. Go to 60sbus.london
Like our What's On page on Facebook for entertainment news, interviews, reviews and features from across south London.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here