Borough Market

Borough Market on Stoney Street in London provided the dark filming location for the Leaky Cauldron entrance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Director Alfonso Cuarón chose its Victorian railway arches in March 2003 because Leadenhall Market was too small for the three-story Knight Bus prop. Number 7 Stoney Street served as the entrance to the magical pub.

London · from the walk “A Taste of History: Borough Market to Bermondsey” · audio ~4 min · Generated

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street / Borough Market, London SE1 9AH

Why was Borough Market chosen as a filming location for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

Look around you. These dark Victorian railway arches... the soot-stained brick... the narrow cobblestone alley of Stoney Street. This is Not the cheerful, brightly-lit Leadenhall Market where Harry and Hagrid first walked into the Leaky Cauldron. And that's exactly the point.......... When Harry catches the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, he actually gets dropped off right here — at an alleyway on Stoney Street in Borough Market. But why did the Leaky Cauldron... move?......... After shooting Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets back to back, director Chris Columbus stepped away to spend time with his family, and the producers made a bold choice. Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón was brought in to helm the third film — and its tone became a lot darker and brooding than the previous entries.......... Cuarón himself explained it: "Azkaban is a coming of age. They're passing the threshold between childhood and the teenage years. There is a big cloud that overshadows everything around Harry." And he needed every location to reflect that shadow.......... The director couldn't fit a three-story purple bus prop in Leadenhall Market — the structure simply wasn't large enough. So the story's darker turn led him to film the Knight Bus and Leaky Cauldron scenes in the sinister, atmospheric railway arches of Borough Market.......... Now, look at number seven Stoney Street — the building directly under the railway bridge. A small flower shop called Chez Michele, underneath this railway arch, served as the entrance to the magical pub. Today it's a Mexican taco restaurant called El Pastor. During filming, the market didn't look significantly different — a few extra stalls were brought in and a cafe on Stoney Street was temporarily turned into a "Third Hand Book Emporium."

...... And here's a detail most fans miss. Film footage of the Real view from the window at number eight Stoney Street was digitally inserted into the movie as the view from Harry's Leaky Cauldron bedroom! You can see Southwark Cathedral's tower rising up beyond the rooftops, as a train passes by on the railway bridge right next to the window.......... One more little gem: the Knight Bus driver's name was Ernie and the conductor was Stan — and they were named after J.K. Rowling's grandfathers, Ernest Rowling and Stanley Volant.......... Shooting of the third film commenced in March two thousand three. By Saturday evening the crew had arrived in force at the Market. They filmed throughout the night and again on Sunday evening. The young actor Daniel Radcliffe was on set, standing right where you're standing now... waiting for a purple triple-decker bus to screech to a halt under these very arches.......... Borough Market itself is London's oldest food market — it began operation near London Bridge soon after the Romans built it around forty to fifty AD. In twelve seventy-six, congestion caused the market to move, and in seventeen fifty-six, it relocated to this permanent location, where it has remained for over two hundred fifty years.......... So the next time you watch Prisoner of Azkaban... pay attention to the gloom. The grit. The shadows under the arches. That wasn't movie magic. That was just... Borough Market, being itself.

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