Sir Paul McCartney hopes Abbey Road can be saved

The studios attract Beatles fans from around the world

Sir Paul McCartney has told the BBC he hopes the famous Abbey Road Studios can be saved, after reports that it has been put up for sale by owner EMI.

Selling the studios, best known for being the place where the Beatles recorded their albums, could raise £30m for the debt-stricken record company.

Sir Paul told the Newsnight programme some people associated with the studio may be "mounting some bid to save it".

EMI and its private equity owner Terra Firma have declined to comment.

It is not known if any sale would see the site continue as a record studios or be converted for another use.

"There are a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time who were talking about mounting some bid to save it," said Sir Paul.

"I sympathise with them. I hope they can do something, it'd be great."

Zebra crossing

EMI recently revealed that it needs to raise more than £100m from investors to prevent it from breaching its banking arrangements with US lending giant Citigroup.

Advertisement

A day in the life of Abbey Road

Earlier this month, the record company also reported a pre-tax loss of £1.75bn for the year to 31 March 2009.

Abbey Road Studios still draws Beatles fans from around the world, many of whom pose for photographs on the nearby zebra crossing to imitate the front cover of the Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road.

The building in the St John's Wood area of London is a converted 1831 Georgian townhouse.