Where was 'HP' shot?

[GulPlum]

"tactalk2001" <TACtalk at a...> wrote:

<snip>

> I have heard vague rumours that it was shot in Charing Cross 
> Road (which is famous for its second-hand bookstores), but I 
> walked up and down that street a couple of weeks ago, and 
> nothing matched.

Around Christmas (ie just after the movie came out), I did something 
very similar, with similar results. I must admit that I've not 
thought about it since. :-)

I don't have my copy of the DVD to hand to double check, but I think 
I'm correct in saying that we don't actually see Hagrid opening the 
door from the outside (from memory, the shot sequence is that we see 
him & Harry walking up to the door, but then we cut to an interior 
view to see them entering). This made me think that the Leaky 
Couldron facade is just that in that word's alternate meaning - a 
fake. :-)

I'm sitting here staring at a video capture I did a while back for 
another purpose of them standing outside the door, and the impression 
I get is that the Leaky Couldron facade is built over the entrance to 
an alleyway (the facades of the shops on either side aren't at the 
same elevation). 

It certainly doesn't look like any bit of Charing Cross Road to me (I 
used to know almost every inch of it) :-) and I suspect that it is 
somewhere around the back streets of Soho (Brewer Street, Windmill 
Street, that kind of area). Or a thought which has just occurred to 
me is that square (whose name I've forgotten for the moment) 
immediately across Charing Cross Road from the entrance into 
Leicester Square. I have a vague memory of something like that in 
that maze of little alleys. This would have the added advantage of 
being easy to film, instead of having to hold up the traffic in 
Charing Cross Road.

The building to the right of the Leaky Couldron is quite distinctive 
with that yellow pillar on a brown base; on the left of the LC is a 
shop with CDs on the rack rather than books, which narrows down the 
choices...

Of course, it's not entirely imposible that that was in fact filmed 
on a sound stage - a redress of part of the Diagon Alley set is all 
that would be required, as we see neither the pavement nor the top of 
the buildings.

If you don't get anywhere, I'll have another search around that area 
the next time I'm in London in a few weeks' time (I had to move out 
of the capital last year, but I remain a frequent visitor).