Reacting to reports that EMI has put its Abbey Road recording studios up for sale, Britain's National Trust is asking the public whether the studios should be saved. In a statement on its website, the National Trust said: 'If there is enough momentum, we may launch a campaign to save the studios.'

Selling the studios could raise tens of millions of pounds for the debt-burdened EMI. The building in north-west London and the Abbey Road brand itself are an iconic part of British recorded music history. In 1931, the year the studios opened, Elgar recorded Land of Hope and Glory in studio one with the London Symphony Orchestra. A year later, a 16-year-old Yehudi Menuhin joined Elgar at Abbey Road to record the composer's Violin Concerto. The Beatles brought the studios worldwide fame, recording most of their 1960s hits there, and naming their 1969 album Abbey Road.

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