Are you a Harry Potter nerd like me and wanting to hit all the Harry Potter filming locations when you’re in London? You’re in luck because I’ve done all the research (and a fair bit of walking around exploring) for you and compiled everything I know about Harry Potter filming locations in London, including their exact location you can follow on Google Maps. Read on!
Suggested read: How to find all the Harry Potter filming locations in Oxford
1. Claremount Square aka 12 Grimmauld Place
12 Grimmauld Place, the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix can be found in Islington, a suburb north of the London city centre. The real life location of 12 Grimmauld Place is Claremount Square and you can find it using these Google Map directions.
2. Millennium Bridge
Situated over the River Thames in the centre of London, Millennium Bridge (otherwise known as the London Millennium Footbridge) makes a cameo at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when it is destroyed by Death Eaters. This scene occurred purely in the Harry Potter movies, with the book speaking to a Brockdale Bridge being destroyed instead. With an impressive design that lines perfectly with St Paul’s Cathedral, it is definitely worth checking out Millennium Bridge while you’re in London regardless if you are or aren’t a Harry Potter fan. You can find Millennium Bridge using these Google Map directions.
3. Diagon Alley Inspiration aka Cecil Court
Thought to have inspired Diagon Alley (although can someone link me to J.K. Rowling saying this rather than just a lot of other blogs saying this please?), Cecil Court is located just off Charing Cross Road off Trafalgar Square. You can find Cecil Court on these Google Map directions. Walking down this alleyway filled with bookshops and quirky items in store windows everywhere you look, you would be forgiven if you forgot you were in the centre of London as it feels like a quaint, hidden gem.
4. Leadenhall Market aka Diagon Alley
Continuing on Diagon Alley inspiration, we have Leadenhall Market. Leadenhall Market was the filming location for just before Harry and Hagrid enter Diagon Alley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. You can find this undercover market here on Google Maps.
5. King’s Cross Station
Of course, I couldn’t have a list of Harry Potter locations in London without including the biggest of them all: King’s Cross Station. Well known for the location Harry Potter and his fellow Hogwarts students catch the Hogwarts Express to and from Hogwarts each year. I first visited King’s Cross Station as an 11 year old in 2004, with a very patient mum. Back then there were no signs of Harry Potter in the station; however, that is a very different story to now.
It’s almost a right of passage for those who grew up with Harry Potter to visit King’s Cross Station and snap a pic at the Harry Potter wall.
I also particularly liked this part of King’s Cross that reminded me of one of the final scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
‘Of course it’s all happening inside your head, Harry, but why on Earth should that mean it’s not real?’
On one of my visits to London, I flew to England to be at King’s Cross Station on the 1st of September, 2017. Harry Potter fans will recognise this date as the real date of ’19 Years Later’ at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was lucky enough on the day to meet Warwick Davis from the films. As you can see I was practically pink with excitement.
You can visit King’s Cross Station using these Google Maps directions.
6. St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel aka King’s Cross Station
Head just next door to the real life King’s Cross Station and you’ll find yourself staring at the exterior of King’s Cross Station. Confused? Don’t be. While King’s Cross Station may be a real location in London, the Harry Potter movies used the exterior of St Pancras Renaissance Hotel as the exterior for King’s Cross. Recognise this building from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Ron and Harry take the flying car to Hogwarts? You can find this exact location on Google Maps here.
7. Australia House aka Gringotts
Located in the centre of London, the interior of Australia House was used as the interior of Gringrotts Wizarding Bank. You can find this building on Google Maps here.
8. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
And, of course, as any true Harry Potter fanatic can confirm, visiting Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is one of the best Harry Potter related things to do in London.
See the sets and costumes in real life as you wander from room to room and take in the magic that is the Harry Potter films. Even if you aren’t a big Harry Potter fan (and to that I ask how did you stumble across this blog?) you will no doubt also enjoy this tour just from learning the incredible amount of work that goes into creating these films.
You can visit Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter through these Google Maps directions or you can take a train from London Euston Station to Watford Junction and then hop on a shuttle bus (information about this route is available here).
9. Reptile House, London Zoo
The Reptile House in London Zoo is the Harry Potter filming location for the now famous snake scene near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. You know, the one where Harry accidentally sets a snake free? You can recreate this moment yourself at London Zoo, hidden within Regent Park.
10. Lambeth Bridge as driven on by the Knight Bus
Lambeth Bridge features in that scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban. The one hat makes us all draw a breath in as a triple decker purple bus squeezes in between two double decker London red buses travelling across the bridge. I’m holding my breath now just thinking about it. You can visit this bridge yourself by following the Google Map directions here.
11. Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus features in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as the location Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly apparate to when the Death Eaters attack Bill and Fleur’s wedding. You can find this very popular London location on Google Maps here.
12. Charing Cross Road – Home of the Leaky Cauldron
“D’you hear that, Ern? The Leaky Cauldron, that’s in London.“
While not a Harry Potter filming location as such, Charing Cross Road is the book series location for the Leaky Cauldron and therefore worth a visit when exploring the best Harry Potter locations in London. As we’re muggles, we wouldn’t be able to see the real Leaky Cauldron anyway but it’s always worth a gander. You can find this road here on Google Maps.
13. Great Scotland Yard – an entrance to the Ministry of Magic
Located in Westminister in London, Great Scotland Yard is the Harry Potter filming location for the visitors entrance to the Ministry of Magic. While there is no red telephone box (just saying, London, there is an opportunity here) to take a photo at, this street is recognisable as where Harry and Arthur Weasley enter the Ministry of Magic for Harry’s hearing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and where Harry, Ron and Hermione momentarily kidnap ministry workers to impersonate them in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
You can find its exact location on Google Maps here.
14. Westminster Tube Station – Harry and Arthur Weasley travel through London like muggles
To get to the scene above where Harry and Arthur Weasley entered the Ministry of Magic, Harry and Arthur Weasley first travelled like muggles through the London underground. To be specific, Westminster Tube Station where Arthur Weasley had the time of his life emerging himself into the muggle world. If you feel the need to tick off every Harry Potter filming location in London, don’t forget to drop by Westminster! You can get here by clicking on this Google Map location.
15. Tower Bridge
The Tower Bridge in London appears very briefly in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry and the Order are flying from Private Drive to the Order’s headquarters. I put this one in here somewhat apprehensively as any fan of the Harry Potter books would know this whole scene just would not have happened in the books. However, it is a London filming location for Harry Potter so here it is (and you can find Tower Bridge in Google Maps here.)
16. London City Hall
Another Harry Potter location that is only on screen momentarily is the London City Hall (note: London City Hall has now been moved to East London, but this building still remains next to Tower Bridge). At the very beginning of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, when the death eaters are causing havoc on the streets of London, London City Hall is on screen as the muggles attention is captured by the Dark Mark and the realisation that something isn’t quite right. You can find the City Hall building here.
17. Where pen was first put to paper
Now with many, many locations around the United Kingdom claiming that they are the birthplace of Harry Potter, it was good to know that J.K. Rowling cleared up the rumours by declaring the true birthplace as the flat she was renting in Clapham Junction. While Harry Potter was penned across many different locations (and well known to have been written in some cafes in Scotland)
You can visit this location for yourself if you want to and you can find the location here on Google Maps.
If you want more…
If you are interested in Harry Potter locations in London you may also be interested in
- Harry Potter Locations in Scotland you need to visit
- How to find the real birthplace of Harry Potter
- All of the Harry Potter filming locations in Lacock
- How to find all the Harry Potter filming locations in Oxford
- All the Harry Potter filming locations in Gloucester Cathedral, and
- How to get to Malham Cove.
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