Front door from the house where Paul McCartney grew up to sell for £5,000

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Magical Mystery Door: Humble-looking front door from the house where Paul McCartney grew up to sell for £5,000

• Paul McCartney walked through the door every day between 1955 and 1964
• It's thought more than 100 Beatles songs were written behind it
• Shabby, yellow portal was sold to Glen South after new tenant redecorated
• He has now decided to declutter and it will go under the hammer on May 10

By DAMIEN GAYLE

PUBLISHED: 29 March 2013

This humble-looking front door is expected to sell for a up to £5,000 at auction - because it once belonged to the house Sir Paul McCartney grew up in.

The Beatles icon learned to play the trumpet, piano, guitar and drums at 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, Liverpool.

And every day between 1955 and 1964 he would come home and open this shabby yellow door before going inside and writing his future classics.

Relic: Auctioneers Henry Meadows and Chris Albury (right) from Dominic Winter Auctioneers with Fifties front door which is from Paul McCartney's childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton

Collector's piece: It is thought more than 100 songs were written in the house, according to auctioneer Chris Albury, who is handling the sale of the door at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

It is thought more than 100 songs were written in the house, according to auctioneer Chris Albury, who is handling the sale of the door at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

He has given the door an estimate of between £3,000 and £5,000.

He said: 'There are millions of Beatles fans who would like to see the door, touch it and be photographed in front of it, even if they don't want it.

'However, it is a unique and iconic item and there will be more obsessive collector fans out there who will not hesitate to bid keenly.'

Provenance: The McCartneys left the Forthlin Road in 1964 and the property was taken over by Sheila Jones, who sold on the door to Glen South when she redecorated the home in the Seventies

The McCartneys left the house in 1964 and the property was taken over by Sheila Jones who, during her time there, acted as an unofficial ambassador for the Beatles to fans who came from around the world to visit the home.

Star: Paul McCartney pictured last year

But in the late Seventies Mrs Jones decided to have the house refurbished and get rid of all of its the doors, window fittings and tiles.

The door's current owner, Glen South, bought it from her through a mutual contact.

Mr South, a singer, met The Beatles once when his band Gee South played as a support group at Northwich Memorial Hall on December 1, 1962.

He later entered the door into a charity sale but bought it back and it has remained behind his sofa ever since.

But Mr South has now decided to clear out some clutter and the door will go under the hammer on April 10.

Mr Albury added: 'It is not easy putting a value on odd things like this but we're happy to try.

'There is a precedent for this sale. Paul McCartney's bedroom door with the same provenance sold at a London auction in 1995 for £2,875.

'Subsequently that door went on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in London.'

Mrs Jones moved out of Forthlin Road in 1995 with the house bought by The National Trust.