Strawberry Field

Strawberry Field

Site of a former Salvation Army children’s home & the inspiration for the famous Beatles song. Strawberry Field is a Salvation Army property and visitor attraction in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton. It operated as a children’s home between 1936 and 2005. The house and grounds had originally been built as a private residence in the Victorian era, before being acquired by the Salvation Army in the 1930s.

Strawberry Field, the iconic site immortalised by John Lennon in The Beatles hit, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, opened its iconic red gates to the public for the first time in September 2019 Previously the site of a Salvation Army children’s home where the young John Lennon played in the grounds, Strawberry Field now serves as a unique addition to Beatles tourism. The new site is home to an interactive visitor exhibition, café, shop, calm garden spaces for spiritual reflection and – at its heart – a Steps to Work programme for young adults with learning difficulties and other barriers to employment.

It was on these grounds that a young John Lennon, before Beatles fame, came to play, reflect and escape the post-War streets of Woolton. Those days spent playing in The Salvation Army grounds shaped him and inspired his work within the Beatles as an adult. Strawberry Field was later immortalised in the famous song, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,’ where he explored those more innocent days of escape that could counter the later complexities of a life lived in the public gaze.

Much like The Cavern Club, Penny Lane, The Grapes and The Beatles Story, Strawberry Field is a jewel in Liverpool’s Beatles’ crown. However, in spite of the hundreds of thousands of tourists that come to Liverpool each year, this important part of local history has been never been open to the public. Now the famous red gates are open to the public for the very first time.