Google Maps sends Beatles fans to the wrong Abbey Road zebra crossing

The Beatles made the crossing famous when they used it for their Abbey Road album cover in 1969.

Abbey Road residents and traders have told how Beatles tourists are visiting the wrong zebra crossing because of Google Maps giving faulty directions.

Dozens of people are recreating the band's 1969 Abbey Road album cover on a crossing around half a mile from the actual scene close to studios where the group recorded tracks such as Come Together and Here Comes The Sun.

It appears the visitors are being sent to the wrong location by Google Maps, which directs people to the crossing near the Abbey Medical Centre. Even Uber drivers have left travellers to pose at the wrong spot after following Google's directions.

The Telegraph spoke to three groups of tourists who posed for pictures on the wrong crossing in the space of a couple of hours on Friday. All said they were sent to that spot after searching on Google Maps.

The famous crossing is at the south end of the mile-long road.

Still post the photos

South Korean geology student Sieun Kim, 22, who was travelling across Europe with three friends, joked that she would still post the photos of them posing on the wrong crossing on Instagram.

She said: "We wanted to come here and get the picture but Google Maps showed us the wrong one. We'll keep them as a memory."

Californian Leilani May, 16, who is also travelling around Europe with two friends, said: "That's embarrassing, we were taking a picture on a random spot.

"We were wondering why nobody else was here. It's Google Maps' fault."

And Oscar Muñoz, 45, who was on holiday from Mexico with his wife Ana, 42, said: "We are both Beatles fans and wanted the picture so we came here but Google Maps sent us to the wrong place. We are going back tomorrow. It's 10 minutes wasted."

'Not the right one'

A worker at the Almas restaurant opposite the crossing said: "It's serious when you go back to your country and realise it's not the right one.

"I've even seen Uber drivers drop them off here. I guess they are using Google Maps so it's not really their fault.

"Yesterday I had two ladies who didn't believe pointing at the road sign, and they kept on taking pictures."

A 20-year-old worker at Hodgetts, a local chemist, who has always lived in the area, said: "They come here very often, it makes me laugh. It's more or less every day I see them taking pictures.

"People always come here asking if it's the right one. It's hilarious to be honest. That crossing is the most average non-famous crossing ever."

Google has been approached for comment.

Tourists who search for "Abbey Road" are directed to the geometric centre of the mile-long street in St John's Wood, north London.

A search for "The Beatles crosswalk" will pinpoint the exact location of the zebra crossing.

In 2012 it emerged that tourists were arriving in their dozens at Abbey Road Station in West Ham, expecting to find the zebra crossing. The namesake station was opened on the Docklands Light Railway the previous year. However, the closest Tube station to the real landmark is St John's Wood.