From The Beatles to machete gangs and firebombings – the sad demise of Abbey Road

Abbey Road will forever be synonymous with The Beatles and their iconic album cover depicting them crossing the North London street on a zebra crossing.

John, Paul, George and Ringo are perhaps the most celebrated artists in a long line of household names to record in the famous studios.

Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Oasis, Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, to name but a few, have all produced much-loved albums there, but it was the ‘Fab Four’ who made Abbey Road a mecca for music fans.

In recent months, however, the London landmark has become a living “nightmare” for nearby residents as men armed with “shotguns”, “knives” and “molotov cocktails” descended on the sought-after street.

Trouble first began when a new restaurant opened on the corner of Abbey Road and Belgrave Gardens, less than a 10-minute walk from where The Beatles recorded their 11th studio album, named after the road itself.

Monak, self-described as a pan-Asian “chic eatery” and cocktail bar, was owned by and attracted “horrible people” according to one resident of Belgrave Gardens who did not want to be named.

The resident, who had lived on the plush west London street for five years said the locals were regularly disturbed by “people screaming” outside the restaurant, which she branded “the tackiest place”, as well as people on “drugs” or by people who had too much to drink.

She told Express.co.uk there would be “awful” disturbances “practically every night” until the early hours. 

She added: “Friday and Saturday was really bad, like till two in the morning there’d be people screaming. 

“I mean we would be scared to walk down our own road because we felt unsafe.”

Criticising the previous occupiers of the prime hospitality location, the woman noted that once Monak opened the trouble emanating from the site worsened.

She said: “It went from bad to intolerable”.

However, the antisocial behaviour of the clientele turned out to be the least of the residents’ concerns.

In May 2022, locals were terrified after someone fired a shotgun at the restaurant late at night.

An elderly Belgrave Gardens resident, Doreen, who said she had lived on the road for 50 years told this website: “We all heard the shots.”

She also slammed the “terrible crowd” the nightspot attracted.

James, who said he lived on the same street as Doreen but had only for “a year and a bit”, claimed the venue was the “scourge of the community.”

According to local news outlet the Ham and High, the Metropolitan Police found “shotgun pellets” on the floor next to the damaged front door. Both Doreen and James also believed the weapon involved was a shotgun.

However, that was not the end of the ordeal for locals as in April this year men entered the restaurant, threatening customers and staff with knives and firebombing the premises.

James, whose accommodation overlooks the restaurant, said that the men, who reportedly were wielding machetes, entered the venue and “started screaming at the customers”. 

In a terrifying twist, one of the men “started pouring all the gasoline around and lit it up” while there were still “a couple” of customers still in the building who started “scrambling out”.

In response to the incidents, the Met applied to Westminster City Council to review Monak’s licence and more than 200 residents and business owners signed a petition to demand it loses it altogether.

All three residents this website spoke to, as well as a number of the surrounding businesses, had signed the petition.

The owner of Bruno’s Deli, which faces Monak, described the place simply as “disgusting”.

Monak is now “temporarily closed”. The first resident who did not wished to be named hopes it does not re-emerge.

She said: “It’s a nightmare, I hope they never reopen.”