Famous London Film Locations: A Movie-Lover's Guide

By Suz Pathmanathan
Published: July 17, 2024

Lights, camera, action!

Trace your way around the capital with these famous London film locations. London is an iconic city for its architecture, culture and general ‘vibe’. What’s more though is that the capital has been immortalised on screen throughout the years and portrayed in many different lights from the mystical and magical, to the nail-biting and thrilling.

The city itself has a variety of personas to be discovered on a film tour of London. Let’s take a look at the changing landscapes of London and the iconic scenes from some of our best loved films that have captured London at its best.

James Bond

James Bond: the world's favourite action hero and Mi6 spy. Okay, we'll give you this as perhaps a bit of an obvious connection London. With offices based on the banks of the Thames, his HQ is frequently featured in the popular series Fleming created so many decades ago.

A memorable moment was Pierce Brosnan’s speedboat chase along the Thames in The World is Not Enough. Later, in Skyfall, Daniel Craig symbolically stands on a rooftop in central London with some of the most iconic sights on the horizon, including Big Ben and the tops of the houses of Parliament, with bronze topped domes of local churches in the foreground.

Spot some of London's iconic "Bond spots" with a trip down the Thames on a Hop On Hop Off Thames River Cruise - you'll even spot the famous MI6 and MI5 buildings on the rivers-edge to leave you shaken and a bit stirred... with awe.

Notting Hill

Probably one of the best pop-culture films of the 1990s, Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, takes you on a tour of London like a local, as lived by a group of thirty-somethings. Grant’s iconic tiny house with the blue door can be found at 280 Westbourne Park Road. Although be warned, you ardent 'grammers, the owners of this house have since painted and changed the façade.

His travel bookshop lives at 13-15 Blenheim Crescent. It’s even been renamed Notting Hill Bookshop in homage to the film.

While you're wandering around the area, why not check out some of our neighbourhood hot spots courtesy of our Notting Hill area guide.

Bridget Jones

This much-loved protagonist will always have a soft spot in hearts all of the world, even those who found her antics a bit on the ridiculous side. With an objectively hilarious life and full of love dramas, she was the lovable character of Helen Fielding’s creation. Her quirky flat moved South of the river for the film, from its original location in Holland Park in the books.

For those with a keen eye who’ve visited Borough Market, you’ll recognise her black front door beside The Globe pub on Bedale Street. That's a DARN good beady eye for London film locations, well spotted! And those of us with colossally powerful memories might even remember the scene where Darcy and Daniel have their bare-fisted battle and smash through the Greek restaurant. Well, that's now a wine merchant called Bedales, just around the corner in the popular marketplace.

Only steps away from this iconic market area, you'll see The Shard soaring into the air, casting a pointy shadow over Bridget's flat.

Harry Potter

Do you like magic? Do you like train stations that are missing a quarter? Then you'll love Harry Potter and his magical world, based in London. Fans of the books might recognise some architecture featured heavily in the film. The Ministry of Magic was filmed outside Scotland Yard and the street shots (you’ll remember from Diagon Alley) combined Borough Market and Leadenhall Market. Even though they’re not even remotely nearby...

And who can forget platform 9 3⁄4 in Kings Cross. The station represents the portal into the magic world to catch the Hogwarts Express train, which is signposted in the actual Kings Cross station. You can even go and get your photo taken there.

There's a number of wizarding places scattered across London, from dedicated Harry Potter fan stores to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour where the magic happens to the shaky bridge Voldemort destroys in the last film.

Check out our master Harry Potter guide to London - and don't forget to bring a Potterhead or two.

Paddington Bear

Now a Hollywood Blockbuster, Paddington Bear is one of London’s most famous mascots. This fictional character has been around since 1958 when Michael Bond’s series of books plucked him from the depths of the Peruvian jungle. And placed him into the home of the Browns.

Those travelling in and out of Paddington station will be able to purchase a small bear as a memorabilia at this iconic London film location. Make sure you don't feed it marmalade sandwiches unless you like your stuffed bears fossilised, though.

Les Miserables (2013)

As the film reaches its revolutionary peak, the cast of Les Miserables takes to the barricades. This, shockingly, wasn't set in Paris but in Greenwich nearby the Old Naval College. According to The Telegraph, the set designers spent a month scouring the city for period furniture before knitting it altogether to form the impressive wall at which Enjolras and the revolutionaries make their impressive last stand.

The buildings surrounding the college also played a part in the film. It's all down to Greenwich's quaint charm, so pat yourself on the back Greenwich. While it's not entirely relevant to Les Miserables, a stroll through the park and a visit to the Royal Observatory is always a great shout, with its breathtaking view over the Thames river. Hugh Jackman would absolutely approve.

Elsewhere in this lovely corner of London, where the narrow and windy streets seem to resemble and English fishing village, you'll find the 19th century ship Cutty Sark and the fantastic National Maritime Museum that overlooks the Thames.

Wimbledon

Fun fact, the film Wimbledon was actually shot at The Queen's Club, out in South Kensington. This grand club actually hosts an impressive tennis tournament of their own called The Queen's Club Championships. Despite its pretty unambitious name is one of the big qualifiers leading up to Wimbledon.

However if you're looking to really get into the technical nitty gritty behind the Kirsten Dunst romcom, it's worth jumping over to Wimbledon itself where you can tour the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.

Want to get a truly behind-the-scenes look at some of the top London film locations? Join a Brit Movie Tour, included with your London Pass.

Pick up a London Pass® and set foot exploring your favourite movie locations in our awesome city. You'll make great savings vs. paying at the gate on the best London attractions around!

Suz Pathmanathan
London Travel Expert

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Tourist on Westminster Bridge by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
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How to get Cheap London Attraction Ticket Deals

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that London is not a cheap place to visit. Indeed, it’s regularly cited alongside the likes of Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Sydney as one of the most expensive cities in the world. That’s largely due to its well-deserved reputation as one of the planet's top bucket-list destinations, with household-name attractions like Westminster Abbey, The Shard, Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Tower of London around almost every corner. And, as surely as night follows day, high demand means high prices. But London isn't just for lottery winners, celebrities and Russian oligarchs. No! This vast playground of historical attractions, world-class museums, stellar theatrical performances, and destination dining is for everyone to enjoy. And it is possible for savvy travelers to visit on a shoestring, as detailed in our self-explanatory blog ‘How to Visit London on a Budget’ right here. Read on below as we take a deeper dive into how to get cheap ticket deals at London attractions, including all the most highly sought-after landmarks and theaters. The London Pass Serious sightseers who plan to hit up a lot of major attractions and tours should consider The London Pass – basically a catch-all way of ticking off the big (and little) hitters in town while saving cash in the process. It’s the only pass of its kind that gives you access to Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge (plus some 80 or so additional attractions and tours across London), and it’s conveniently stored on your phone or mobile device for speedy scan-through access at each address. And here’s how it works. You choose a duration for your London Pass package – (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 consecutive days) – download the Go City app to your phone and you’re good to go. Your pass activates as soon as you scan in at your first attraction and is valid for consecutive days (not 24-hour periods), so you should make sure to start early on your first day of sightseeing. The London Pass can save you up to 50% on gate prices if you make full use of it and visit several attractions each day, but its value weakens when you only visit one or two places each day. Fear not though: the pass’s savings guarantee means that, if you visit at least three attractions each day for the duration of your pass, and don’t save money, you can apply for a refund of the difference. Some of the 80+ attractions you can visit with your London Pass include: The Tower of London – William the Conqueror’s notorious 1,000-year-old fortress on the Thames. The View from The Shard – dizzying panoramic views from atop the UK’s tallest building. London Zoo – a family favorite with over 750 species of weird, wonderful and downright cute critters. Hampton Court Palace – the grand former home of gouty serial monogamist Henry VIII. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – lovingly reconstructed replica of the bard’s 17th-century London playhouse. Kew Gardens – kaleidoscopes of colorful wildflowers, tropical foliage, treetop walkways and more at London’s best botanical garden. Get The London Pass here. More Cheap London Attraction Ticket Deals There are several other straightforward methods of making savings on tickets to London attractions. Traveling to London by train? National Rail runs a promo that gives you 2-for-1 prices on major London attractions when you buy train tickets. There’s a decent list of attractions included in the promo, such as Madame Tussauds, London Dungeon, the ArcelorMittal Orbit and the Tower of London. You’ll need to register on National Rail’s Days Out website, from where you can then download and print vouchers for your chosen attraction. Present these with your train ticket (bearing the National Rail logo) at each attraction to claim your discount. You’ll get these when you take pretty much any train into London (with the exception of the Tube and some airport trains), or you can get them by buying a London Travelcard at any London railway station (as opposed to Tube station) such as Victoria, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Charing Cross and Waterloo. Remember to check your chosen dates are available before pitching up at the attraction – some of the biggies have blackouts on the 2-for-1 offers during peak periods. Other potentially money-saving options include the likes of the Merlin Pass, which includes access to Merlin attractions like the London Eye, London Dungeon, SEA LIFE London and Madame Tussauds, but has a lot of date restrictions during school holidays on the cheaper basic passes. Then there are cash-saving voucher sites like Groupon and Wowcher, which are great for finding bargain London attraction tickets, especially outside of peak season. Cheap London Theater Tickets The West End’s reputation for astronomical ticket prices is almost as famous as its world-class plays and musicals. We’re talking the likes of Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Matilda and The Mousetrap (only the world’s longest-running play, fact fans). Incredibly, it is in fact possible to bag cheap last-minute tickets to all of these and more, as long as you’re a) savvy and b) willing to queue for several hours at the box office on a wing and a prayer. Here’s the lowdown: very few shows are ever completely sold out and many West End venues offer day seats. Tickets for these are cheap and are generally released between 9AM and 11AM for same-day performances, so you’ll need to be flexible and yes, for the more popular shows, you’ll definitely have to queue and may still end up disappointed. Some shows also run lotteries via their website or app. This is much the same as the day-seat option, but means you can avoid schlepping to the venue and do it all from the comfort of your armchair. Winners are chosen at random. You can also get last-minute bargains from the tkts booth on Leicester Square, again for shows that same evening. If you can afford to be really flexible about your plans, it’s also well worth taking a gamble on ultra-last-minute cheapies direct from the theaters. And by ultra-last-minute we mean, like, an hour before the performance begins. The Royal Court does 10p tickets. Yes, that’s just ten new pence. These are standing only but hey, that’s a small price to pay, right? Similarly, the hip Donmar theatre in Covent Garden has been known to release £10 tickets for same-day performances, and you can bag tickets to the pit at Shakespeare’s Globe for £5-£10 at most performances. An absolute bard-gain. Save on things to do in London Save on admission to London attractions with the London Pass. Check out @londonpass on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Group of friends drinking pints of beer in a London pub.
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How to Visit London on a Budget

London’s reputation as one of the most expensive cities on the planet is not without justification. Grimacing out-of-towners can often be seen experiencing this first-hand as – in a state of utter bewilderment and disbelief – they count the meager change from a ten pound note after purchasing their first London pint. Luxury hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, and consistently high demand due to its evergreen status as one of the world’s top bucket-list city destinations: all of these things help keep London prices sky high. Now the good news: it is possible to visit London on a budget. A little savvy here, a willingness to sleep in the suburbs there and hey presto, you have the beginnings of a wallet-friendly London adventure on your hands. Read on for our top tips on how to visit London on a budget... Budget London Accommodation Ok, so you’re going to have to manage your own expectations here. You’ll be hard-pushed to find anything but the most basic hotel room in central London for under £100 a night. And there’s no way in a zillion years you’re going to be staying at The Ritz. The key here is to focus your accommodation search outside London’s zones 1 and 2. Zones 3–6 are still well-connected, but obviously the further you get from the center of town, the more palatable the prices. Find somewhere with a Tube station nearby to keep you within reach of the main attractions and you’re sorted. You’ll find deals that won’t break the bank in the likes of Stratford, Hammersmith (pictured below), Islington and even King’s Cross. Budget hotel chains like Travelodge, Ibis and Premier Inn also help keeps cost down and, if you don’t mind sharing, hostel chains including Safestay and St Christopher’s Inns have properties in convenient locations including Greenwich, Holland Park, Camden and London Bridge. Airbnb can also be a good money-saving option, especially if you’re traveling in a group. Again, aim for the suburbs for the best bargains Getting Around London on the Cheap London’s iconic black hackney cabs are great for #humblebrag vacation selfies, but bad bad bad for the bank balance! Instead, stick to public transport. A one-day travelcard covering unlimited tube and bus travel within zones 1-3 costs less than £10. You can tap in and out of public transport to your heart’s content using your bank card, safe in the knowledge that you’ll never exceed that daily cap. If you must take a cab, apps like Uber provide cheaper alternatives to black hackneys, especially for longer trips. Walking London can be fun, too. Yes, it’s huge, but a lot of the major attractions are within a short distance of one another. For example: you could stroll from Westminster Abbey to Leicester Square, taking in Big Ben, 10 Downing Street and Trafalgar Square along the way, in around 30 minutes. Just grab a map, plan your route and off you go! Free and Discounted London Attraction Tickets Budget-conscious travelers with even a passing interest in art and history will be in clover in London, where a huge number of museums and galleries are absolutely gratis to enter. And not just any old museums and galleries either. We’re talking the likes of the National Gallery, a celebration of European art through the ages, from da Vinci to Turner. Then there’s the mighty Tate Modern, that IG-tastic former power station that houses crucial works by Pollock, Picasso, Rothko, Klee, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Monet and more. Also free is the mighty British Museum, only the largest collection of historical artifacts on the planet (eight million-ish, in case you were wondering), including the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, and an Easter Island statue. Meanwhile Kensington’s neighboring Natural History and Science museums are the kinds of places kids and adults alike can lose themselves in for hours at a time – and it’s all fantastically, unbelievably free! There are further savings to be made with the London Pass. If you’re planning to visit a number of bucket-list landmarks and take a tour or two, this could be very much the option for you. Holders of the pass can access as many attractions as they like for up to 10 consecutive days, including major hitters like Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, The View from The Shard, London Zoo, the Cutty Sark and Kew Gardens. It also includes hop-on hop-off bus tickets, football stadium tours, canal cruises and much more. You can save up to 50% compared to what you’d spend on the door. An absolute boon for budget travelers, in other words. Find out more about it and get yours here. It almost goes without saying – but is worth pointing out anyway – that strolls around London’s most Instagrammable neighborhoods will also cost you absolutely nada. We’re talking Portobello Road with its candy-colored houses and lively bric-a-brac stalls; atmospheric Whitechapel and Brick Lane, the picturesque village vibes of pretty Greenwich, and the embarrassment of riches that is the Thames’s South Bank. Wander from bustling Borough Market to the London Eye for a visual feast that takes in soaring Southwark Cathedral, painstakingly replicas of Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hinde galleon ship and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, and stunning cross-river views of St Paul’s Cathedral. London’s Cheapest Eats If you’re visiting London on a budget, you’ll definitely want to familiarize yourself with the nicest and cheapest ways to eat. Dodge the fast food chains and give tourist traps around Covent Garden and Leicester Square as wide a berth as possible. With the exception, that is, of Chinatown, where you can still bag a satisfying bowl of noodles or fried rice for less than the cost of a London pint. Eating early or late is also a good trick. Pre-theater set menus available between around 5PM and 7PM offer genuinely good value in the heart of town, while apps like Too Good To Go are worth checking out for end-of-night bargain bites, when unsold restaurant meals are turned into pocket-friendly takeaways to avoid having to throw them away. It’s also worth checking out voucher sites like Groupon and Wowcher for discounted dining experiences in London pubs and restaurants. London’s street food is also second to none and – while perhaps not exactly cheap by international standards – means you can have a filling meal on the move for waaay less than the cost of a sit-down London pub or restaurant dinner. Hit up Brick Lane for some of the best falafel and bagels in town. The only danger in this East End foodie mecca is that you’ll be tempted into emptying your wallet at one of the many inviting Bangladeshi restaurants or vintage boutiques that line the street. Then there’s the sensory saturnalia that is Borough Market by London Bridge station. Here, beneath the atmospheric railway arches lies a whole world of gourmet treats. Think delectable duck confit sandwiches, farm-fresh pork burgers, halloumi salads, regional cheeses, giant cream-filled donuts, craft ales, freshly brewed specialty coffee and, well, pretty much anything else you can think of. Yum! Save on things to do in London Save on admission to London attractions with the London Pass. Check out @londonpass on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Brick Lane street sign.
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East London Attractions

East London may well lay claim to being the city’s coolest quarter, thanks to its proliferation of urban art, bleeding-edge galleries, buzzy markets, global street food and hipper-than-thou cocktail bars and speakeasies. It’s also where you’ll find landmarks including the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Walthamstow Wetlands, and Whitechapel’s haunting, haunted lanes, which have retained the best of their Victorian character. Take a walk with us as we explore some of the finest attractions East London has to offer... Brick Lane The good news is that, in spite of the area’s ongoing gentrification attempts, Bangladeshi and Jewish influences continue to dominate along Brick Lane. You’d still be hard-pressed to find a better curry or bagel anywhere else in London, and that’s reason enough to visit this characterful kaleidoscope of cultures, in our humble opinion. But there’s so much more to see and do along these iconic cobbles. We’re talking flea markets that fairly heave with retro fashions and vintage vinyl; supermarkets brimming with exotic fruits and spices; tiny antique stores and bouji indie boutiques; plus some of the best street art this side of NYC. Heck, there’s even a bowling alley. Something, in other words, for just about everyone. ArcelorMittal Orbit Britain’s largest piece of public art, a looping, swirling behemoth designed by Turner-Prize winning artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond, the ArcelorMittal Orbit is the centerpiece of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. Ascend to the viewing platforms 260 feet up for views across Olympic tracks where records were set and broken at the 2012 games. And that’s not all: you can also see a great many more London landmarks from up here, including the Shard, Big Ben and the 02 Arena. Thrillseekers who fancy experiencing the quickest route back down to terra firma can take on the world’s longest and tallest slide, an epic 12-loop monster designed by German artist Carsten Höller that twists and turns its way down for 40 seconds of pure fun. Or terror, depending on your constitution. Dennis Severs’ House Tucked away on a quiet side street a stone’s throw from Spitalfields Market, Dennis Severs’ House is a mesmerizing throwback to a bygone era; the kind of out-of-time oddity you only really tend to find in East London. Step inside this Georgian townhouse, where Severs spent the last 20 years of his life painstakingly recreating the 18th-century lives of a fictional Huguenot family. Preserved since his death in 2000, the house is, in effect, a theater set that’s alive with period décor and furnishings hawked from market stalls, and is at perhaps its most evocative around Christmas, when rooms are decked out with festive candles, trees and decorations. The Guardian called it “a three-dimensional historical novel written in brick and candlelight” while Severs himself described it, rather more prosaically, as a "time machine". Columbia Road Flower Market Tucked between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, Columbia Road is a pretty colorful place to visit at the best of times, all independent delis and bakeries, tiny art galleries and cool boutiques where rummaging for vintage clothes and retro records is practically a way of life. But it’s on Sundays that it really bursts into full technicolor life, thanks to a blooming marvelous flower market that runs the gamut from £1 bedding plants to ten-foot-tall banana trees, and just about every conceivable plant in between. Come for the colors, stay for the sweet scents and chilled Sunday morning vibes. Jack the Ripper Tour The characterful cobbled avenues and neat brick houses of Whitechapel, one of East London’s most visited attractions, exude Victorian charm. But they weren’t always this pleasing to the eye – or this safe. Jack the Ripper remains big business around these parts, his legend drawing thousands of amateur sleuths every year, all keen to unravel this infamous murder mystery. Take a walking tour with expert guides, who will transport you back to the East End of the late 19th Century, visiting dimly lit alleys and recounting bloodcurdling tales of the Ripper’s murders as well as seeking out some of the regular haunts of his victims, and the notorious murder sites. Chilling, thrilling stuff. ABBA Voyage And now for something a little more... light-hearted. ABBA Voyage is a musical extravaganza that takes place in the (purpose built, no less) ABBA Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Using four avatars of the original members of the band as they appeared in their 1979 heyday – all velvet suits with flared trouser hems, floaty kaftans and brightly coloured glitter suits – the show takes fans on a musical journey, with a live band providing the enthusiastic backing to iconic hits including Voulez-Vous, The Winner Takes It All and, of course, Dancing Queen. Look out for the space-age neon ‘ABBAtron’ outfits. A strong look in any era. Walthamstow Wetlands Europe’s largest urban wetlands can be found a short walk from the Tottenham Hale Station on the Victoria line. This awesome 500+ acre site encompasses 10 reservoirs and a whole host of colorful bird and insect life. A busy program of talks, walks, tours and kids’ activities helps reveal some of the reserve’s most interesting visitors, among them breeding birds including gray herons, tufted ducks and little egrets, wintering waterfowl such as pochard and gadwall, and kingfishers and peregrines that swoop and dive for their supper. Depending on the season, you might also spot damselflies, dragonflies, butterflies, bats and amphibians. Whitechapel Gallery Tucked away on Whitechapel High Street, this wonderful gallery has been quietly wowing punters for over a century, thanks to its wide-ranging (and ever-changing) exhibitions of modern and contemporary masterpieces. The gallery even exhibited Picasso’s Guernica, one of the most powerful anti-war statements ever committed to canvas, back in 1938. Step inside for free art shows and installations that are all but guaranteed to expand your mind. Victoria Park Victoria Park (or Vicky Park as it’s known to locals) is perhaps East London’s best-loved green space, chock-full of walking trails, playgrounds, cafés and interesting monuments. Look out for the Grade II-listed drinking fountain designed by Henry Darbyshire and the famous Dogs of Alcibiades statues. Keep your eyes peeled and you might even spot some stone alcoves from the original London Bridge tucked away in the park’s northeast corner! There’s a cool food market with live music every Sunday and the V&A playground is a boon for all parents of energetic toddlers. Come back in summer for a whole host of live entertainment, including major music festivals such as All Points East. Save on Activities and Attractions in London Save on admission to Paris attractions with The London Pass. Check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
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Tower of London

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