Time Out London’s Magical Harry Potter Map
By Kalistrya
Fans can easily find their way around London’s Harry Potter book and film locations with Time Out London and Pottermore’s magical map!
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With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child about to become a certified hit in only a couple weeks time when it opens officially, London is using the outbreak of Pottermania to their tourism advantage. To that end, Time Out London this week collaborated with Pottermore to create a magical map showing all the Harry Potter locations in London.
The map covers both book and film locations that devoted fans will want to see for themselves. Split into “Book” locations and Movie” locations, the color scheme uses orange for the on page locales and purple for film spots, with separate numbering for each.
Let’s take a look at the sites they cover.
LOCATIONS IN THE BOOKS AND THE MOVIES
1. King’s Cross station
Running about 6 times a year in the books, the Hogwarts Express train takes wizards goes from King’s Cross Station Platform 9¾ (accessed through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10) to Hogsmeade Station. While you can’t walk through the wall to the station like in the books, there is a spot with plaque and luggage trolley sticking out of the wall for photographs, and there is a gift shop as well.
LOCATIONS IN THE BOOKS
2. Tottenham Court Road
After the Death Eaters show up at the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Hermione apparatus herself plus Harry and Ron here to escape. The book describes it as a “wide dark street thronged with late-night revellers and lined with closed shops.” The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 film used Shaftesbury Avenue instead.
3. Charing Cross Road
The Leaky Cauldron, a wizard and witch pub/inn, is located on this street. They can access Diagon Alley by going through the inn.
4. ‘Vauxhall Road’
This is where the fictional Vauxhall Road would be located. It’s road with Winstanley’s Bookstore & Stationers, where Tom Riddle bought the diary that he later turned into a Horcrux and would be found by Ginny Weasley.
LOCATIONS IN THE MOVIES
2. London Zoo Reptile House
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the London Zoo is used instead of the zoo in Surrey mentioned in the books. It’s where a young Harry Potter, dragged to the zoo by the Dursleys, discovers that he can speak to snakes and accidentally sets loose a giant python (a boa constrictor in the book).
3. Leadenhall Market
A covered market located on Gracechurch Street, it was used for exterior scenes of Diagon Alley in the movies where Hogwarts students purchased items from the supply list. A shop in Bull’s Head Passage in the market was used as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
4. Australia House
Interior scenes of Gringotts, the wizards bank run by goblins, were filmed in Australia House, home to the Australian High Commission.
5. St Pancras International
The neo-gothic façade of St Pancras International on Midland Road was used for the exterior shots of King’s Cross Station. It was on the corner of the courtyard that Harry and Ron park the Ford Anglia in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
6. Lambeth Bridge
This bridge is where the triple-decker Knight Bus squeezes between two London buses in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
7. 7 Stoney St. (Borough Market)
The Leaky Cauldron switched filming locations from Leadenhall Market to Borough Market for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s where the Knight Bus with Harry inside pulled up and made a car alarm go off.
8. St Paul’s Cathedral
Divination classes with Professor Trelawney were in a classroom at the top of a narrow set of spiral stairs. Scenes of students making their way up the stairwell to the class were filmed at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
9. Westminster Tube Station
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is escorted by Arthur Weasley takes Harry to the Ministry of Magic for his disciplinary hearing before the Wizengamot and they were filmed getting there by going through the Westminster Tube Station. The station actually had to be closed to the public for an entire day for filming.
10/11. The Thames and Tower Bridge
A two-for-one stop will get visitors a view of both the Thames and Tower Bridge. Harry and the members of the Order of the Phoenix fly along the River Thames, going past the Riverside Terrace of the Houses of Parliament and over the famous bridge.
12. Claremont Square
This Islington square was turned into 12 Grimmauld Place on film as the house of Harry’s godfather Sirius Black and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
13. Scotland Yard
It was on the corner of Scotland Place and Great Scotland Yard that filming crews put a telephone box prop for Harry and Mr. Weasley to enter to get to the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Maybe visiting fans can just photoshop one into their photos.
14. Millennium Bridge
This pedestrian-only steel suspension bridge crossing River Thames was attacked by a gang of Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. While the bridge was used for filming, it was only in the realm of movie magic that it was destroyed.
15. Piccadilly Circus
For Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are filmed escaping from Death Eaters attacking at a wedding by apparating to Piccadilly Circus where they have to jump out of the way to narrowly miss being hit a No. 19 bus and continue running down Shaftesbury Avenue.
Next: Wake Up To Breakfast at Hogwarts
While it’s not the most detailed map, it’s a nicely illustrated visual of all the important spots Harry Potter fans should visit while on a trip to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.