HP Filming locations – London – Our beloved Professor Snape

Tucked away on an unassuming street in Islington lies Claremont Square, the location of Sirius Black’s familial residence, Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The house eventually is inherited by Harry and used as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.

St Pancras International station is located right next to King’s Cross, and its huge and imposing façade was used for exterior shots of the somewhat less photogenic King’s Cross.

It is, famously, the location from which Harry and Ron take to the sky’s in the Weasley’s enchanted Ford Anglia in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Magic!

All Potter fans know that the Hogwarts’s Express leaves from Platform 9¾. Follow signs to Platforms 9, 10, and 11 and you will come across a trolley belonging to an erstwhile Hogwarts student disappearing into the wall.

The actual true location is between platforms 4 & 5, but to match the photo I went to platforms 9 & 10

The one and only bank catering to witches and wizards, Gringotts Wizarding Bank keeps its client’s valuables safe with a variety of spells and charms. Interior scenes that featured in several of the adaptations were filmed at in the majestic marble interior at Australia House on the Strand.

City Hall and the attack of the Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince..

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens with a dramatic sequence of London’s Millennium Footbridge collapsing. A pedestrian-only steel suspension bridge crossing River Thames, the Millennium Bridge links Bankside with the City and offers dramatic views of St Paul’s Cathedral as you walk from the south side to the north.

You can actually see St Paul`s Cathedral at the rear end of the photo

The Leaky Cauldron pub and inn for wizards, which serves as a gateway between the non-wizarding world and Diagon Alley is located on the Muggle street of Charing Cross Road in London’s West End. Charing Cross Road is renowned for its specialist and second-hand bookshops and more general second-hand and antiquarian shops giving the street an intriguing charm.

Goodwins Court is a small alleyway that dates back to 1627. The alley is lined with small shops and really comes to life at night when the original gaslamp street lights are lit.

The small alley was J.K Rowling’s inspiration for Knockturn Alley in her books. As soon as you see it, you’ll realise exactly how this small street could inspire an imagination.

Soon Death Eaters are swooping over Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London’s West End…..

…..and racing north up Charing Cross Road, past the Garrick Theatre and Leicester Square tube station, before swerving right into Great Newport Street. There is indeed a tiny gated alleyway alongside number 12, on the north side, which is where the entrance to ‘Diagon Alley’ now seems to be.

locations Harry Potter uses when traveling in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and had to be closed to the public for an entire day during filming. Westminster is one of the most historic areas in London….

The very epicenter of magical law, the Ministry of Magic is accessed through a classic red telephone box on the junction of these two streets in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Sadly the phone box was just a prop, but this austere part of London does still seem a very apt setting for the tense scenes where Harry is up on charges of practicing magic in front of a muggle in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

…..the Knight Bus just about squeezes through two of London’s iconic double-decker buses on Lambeth Bridge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The flight of the Order of the Phoenix to their headquarters, passing the Parliament

One of the most memorable scenes in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I where we see Harry, Hermione, and Ron rushing through London’s West End was filmed in Piccadilly Circus. Remember the scene in which our 3 heroes have to jump out of the way to narrowly miss being hit a London bus?

Harry’s introduction to the world of witchcraft and wizardry took place on Diagon Alley. If you want to see the set of the Leaky Cauldron pub, head to Leadenhall Market. Don’t be disappointed to find the pub is actually an optician shop.

Two separate, equally charming London locations were used to represent the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. A number of the Diagon Alley scenes were filmed in London’s iconic Leadenhall Market, one of the oldest and most characterful in the city.

To see this version of the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, walk round to Bull’s Head Passage and look for the Opticians that is located there.

The other is in Borough Market, another London landmark that is well worth a visit and is a great place to grab a very fresh, very eclectic (non-magical) bite to eat.

In 1997, Harry Potter impersonated Runcorn (who he learned was apparently quite senior in the Ministry) when he, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley infiltrated the Ministry in order to recover Salazar Slytherin’s Locket, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.

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