Every Harry Potter Filming Location in London (and What Was Really Filmed There)

London appears in the Harry Potter films more than almost anywhere else — and unlike the studio sets, many of these spots are real streets you can still walk. The trouble is that half the “locations” you’ll find online are wrong. This is the honest version: what was genuinely filmed where, sourced and sense-checked, with the myths clearly flagged.

Leadenhall Market — Philosopher’s Stone

Part of the first film was shot in this ornate Victorian arcade near Bank, standing in for the approach to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. Harry and Hagrid walk through the market to a dark shopfront — in real life an optician’s, The Glass House on Bull’s Head Passage, painted over for the shoot. Director Chris Columbus had struggled to find his Leaky Cauldron until he came across it.

Honest note: you’ll see the exact door number given as both 2–3 and 42 Bull’s Head Passage depending on the source — so we won’t commit to one. And despite what some sites claim, we’ve found no evidence the door reappears in Goblet of Fire.

Borough Market / Stoney Street — Prisoner of Azkaban

For the third film, Alfonso Cuarón moved the Leaky Cauldron across the river. 7 Stoney Street became the pub itself, and number 8 alongside became the Third Hand Book Emporium — at the south-east edge of Borough Market, by The Market Porter. Cuarón wanted a full-size, three-storey Knight Bus that Leadenhall’s alleys couldn’t fit, plus the darker mood of the railway arches.

Millennium Bridge — Half-Blood Prince

The Death Eaters twist the bridge apart in the film’s opening. The real story is almost better: when the brand-new “Wobbly Bridge” opened in 2000 it swayed so alarmingly it closed within days, reopening two years later after stabilisation. Warner Bros destroyed a bridge that had already embarrassed itself.

Great Scotland Yard — Order of the Phoenix

This is where the red telephone box holding the visitors’ entrance to the Ministry of Magic stood — except it never really stood there. The box was brought in purely for filming, with a fake structure added to hide an office doorway. (The same sandbagged stretch appears in Atonement, filmed the same year.)

Westminster Underground Station — Order of the Phoenix

Mr Weasley marvels at the ticket barriers here as he and Harry head to the Ministry — a genuine, and genuinely fun, quick stop right by the station.

Piccadilly Circus & Shaftesbury Avenue — Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry, Ron and Hermione apparate onto Shaftesbury Avenue at its Piccadilly Circus end, narrowly dodging a night bus. The junction was closed for filming with hundreds of extras. (Book purists: in the novel they land on Tottenham Court Road — a detail many tours get muddled.)

London Zoo Reptile House — Philosopher’s Stone

Confirmed by the zoo itself: the scene where a Burmese python chats to Harry was shot in the Reptile House in November 2001. There’s even a lovely canon wrinkle — Harry says he’s never been to London before Diagon Alley, so the zoo can’t really be London Zoo.

King’s Cross Station — the films (and the truth about the trolley)

The platform scenes were filmed between platforms 4 and 5 — more photogenic than the real 9 and 10 — with a fake cover over the wall to protect the Victorian structure. The famous half-a-trolley photo spot is a later fan addition, now inside the station by the shop, and not the filming location. The station also renumbered platforms during Chamber of Secrets.

St Pancras International — Chamber of Secrets

Here’s the one nearly every tour gets wrong: the grand “King’s Cross” exterior, where the flying Ford Anglia takes off, is actually next-door St Pancras. The filmmakers thought it looked more like King’s Cross than King’s Cross did.

Claremont Square, Islington — Order of the Phoenix & Deathly Hallows

The leafy square used for Grimmauld Place was genuinely filmed — but with a twist worth knowing: No. 12 itself is a visual effect, squeezed between two real houses on the square’s south side. Real location, imaginary house.

A stop we’re honest about: St Paul’s Cathedral

You’ll widely read that St Paul’s spiral Geometric Staircase was filmed as the route to the Divination classroom. It’s repeated everywhere — but we couldn’t find a primary source that confirms it, so we won’t state it as fact. What’s certain is that it’s a breathtaking Christopher Wren masterpiece, and a highlight of any City walk.

The famous fakes

Some of the internet’s favourite “locations” simply aren’t. Diagon Alley was a studio set (Leadenhall is only the approach); the Ministry phone box was a prop; and the Dursleys’ house is a real, privately occupied home in Bracknell — so we’ll happily tell you the town, but never send you to someone’s doorstep. We’ve given the whole myth pile its own guide: 5 “Harry Potter locations” that are totally wrong.

See them the honest way

Most of the central-London locations sit within a two-hour walk, from Leadenhall Market to Borough Market. That’s the route our actor-guides take on the Tour for Muggles walking tour — telling you exactly which spots are real, which inspired the books, and which are myths. Heading further afield? Try our guide to the Harry Potter locations within three hours of London.