Store set The Beatles on the long and winding road to fame

HMV’s flagship London store famously played its part in helping The Beatles land their record deal, setting them on the path to becoming the biggest band in the world.

In early Feb 1962, the group had been rejected by Decca Records after recording a 15-track demo for the label.

One of the reasons was famously that “guitar groups are on the way out”, but it led the group’s manager Brian Epstein to fume that they would one day “be bigger than Elvis Presley” at a subsequent meeting with label executives.