New Leaky Cauldron set?

[GulPlum]

Nicholas wrote:

>Thanks for the report, Richard; very interesting.

I'm glad you liked it. :-)

>You may remember that I joined this group when I wanted to find the
>location for the original LC exterior from PS/SS. Despite assurances from a
>few members that it was a set, I remained convinced that it was a location
>in London. Is this proof of this? I still haven't managed to track down the
>original location, but presumably, if it had been a set, they would have
>reused it for PoA.

I'm may have replied in that original thread (at least, it's possible - 
this subject has come up several times in the last year or so since I've 
been around). I've always assumed it was a real street, and thought that it 
was in the Covent Garden area.

The shot of Harry and Hagrid walking down the street before the change of 
shot to the green LC door is without a shadow of a doubt Leadenhall Market 
in the City ("John Kent Fruiterers", very visible in that shot, is a real 
shop there, at number 39). I went around Leadenhall the last time I was in 
London and couldn't find anything that looked like it could have been the 
LC door location, but then it was the best part of two years since the 
sequence was filmed. Two years is a *long* time in construction in London.

Of course, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that the LC door should 
be anywhere close to where the previous sequence had been shot (especially 
as neither Harry's nor Hagrid's faces are visible).

An off-topic anecdote to illustrate the point, if I may, regarding a film 
known to HP fans: The Tailor of Panama. In the audio commentary on the DVD, 
during a particular scene (which consists of the titular Tailor going from 
his shop through a door into his workshop and then returning, several 
times), director John Boorman reveals that the workshop was a real place in 
Panama, and the shop was a studio set in Ireland! The shots were filmed 
several months apart. Incidentally, it's not as if there are any cuts 
between one room and the other: each instance of his "coming and going" 
appears to be one fluid shot!

So it's hardly necessary for the LC door in PS/SS to be anywhere close to 
the rest of the sequence.

I suspect that the area in which that was shot has been significantly 
redeveloped over the last couple of years, which is why they needed to find 
a replacement. Though why it has to be quite so *different*,  have no idea 
(admittedly, I prefer the PoA version).

As for the suggestion someone made that it might be a different entrance to 
the Leaky Cauldron, I'm afraid I don't buy it. In canon, there is only one 
entrance, and in any case it would be quite strange for a pub which is 
quite visibly not on a corner (both versions) to have two entrances. Unless 
one entrance is at one end of Diagon Alley, and the other at the opposite 
end. But that's just plain silly... :-)

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, feeling a bit disjointed tonight, flitting between the 
main and movie HPFGU lists...