Abbey Road Studios in St. John's Wood, London have been listed at Grade II by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the recommendation of English Heritage.

Recently subject to much speculation as to their future after current owners EMI Records were said to be considering selling the site for possible redevelopment - which it subsequently decided against - the studios are famous as the major recording home for The Beatles. Other famous names associated with them include Dame Shirley Bassey, Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson and Sir Edward Elgar. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber had said he was keen to buy the studios "at any cost", and Paul McCartney was reported to be "desperate" for the building to remain as a working recording studio. The National Trust also expressed an interest in acquiring the site.

Listing the studios, culture minister Margaret Hodge said: "Music - of whichever genre - is the thread that follows us through all our lives and Abbey Road Studios have produced some of the very best music in the world. It's a testament to both the importance of music in people's lives as well as the passion this kind of issue stirs up, that so much interest has been generated by the perceived threat to the future of Abbey Road." Listing status can be conferred through either a structure's architectural or historic merit. Number 3 Abbey Road itself is an 1830s villa, whose interior was transformed in the 1930s when it was turned into a purpose-built recording studio. Listing status has thus been granted on the historic merit of the studios.