Leadenhall Market: Diagon Alley in Disguise

Leadenhall Market in London is a historic market rebuilt in 1881 by Tower Bridge architect Sir Horace Jones over the remains of an ancient Roman basilica. Along with featuring original wrought iron butcher hooks on its shop fronts, the market served as a filming location for the Leaky Cauldron at 42 Bull's Head Passage in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

London Β· from the walk β€œMuggle London, Wizarding Secrets” Β· audio ~3 min Β· Generated

Leadenhall Market, Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 1LT

Which Harry Potter location was filmed at Leadenhall Market in London?

Now, here's a cabbie's nugget for you. When Sir Horace Jones began excavations to rebuild the market in eighteen eighty-one, he unwittingly discovered part of that Roman basilica buried beneath. And the fella who designed this place? His final legacy is one of the most recognised buildings in the world... Tower Bridge. That's right. Same man designed Smithfield, Billingsgate, and Leadenhall. Three of London's great markets, plus the bridge. Yet few people have ever heard of Horace Jones.......... But the story every cabbie loves to tell here is about Old Tom. Who's Old Tom? According to an eighteen sixty-four newspaper account, Tom was hatched at Ostend and trained to act as a Decoy goose... his job was to lead other geese onto boats bound for London's slaughterhouses. One day, by mistake, Tom boarded the vessel with his doomed fellow geese and found himself right here, at Leadenhall Market. But instead of meeting the chop... a combination of luck and tenacity meant he escaped several times, and endeared himself to the market traders, who allowed him to live out his days here. And Old Tom didn't just survive... he was accustomed to strut into the Rose and Crown every morning and ask for his dram, and by the time he'd gone the round of the inns, he'd occasionally show himself the worse for his potations. Several times Tom was apparently apprehended by police for being drunk and disorderly! A goose. Arrested for being Drunk. He lived to the ripe age of thirty-seven and died of natural causes. So beloved was Old Tom that he even made it into the Times... his obituary was published on the sixteenth of April, eighteen thirty-five.......... Now, one more thing before you wander through. This market featured in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. If you walk down to Bull's Head Passage, you'll spot the blue door at forty-two Bull's Head Passage that was used for filming. And next time you look up at the painted ironwork... look closely at the shop fronts and you'll see the original wrought iron hooks where animal carcasses used to hang. That's the Real Leadenhall. Not magic wands and wizard robes... but decoy geese, Roman ruins, and butcher's hooks hiding in plain sight.

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