House of MinaLima
Take a look at number twenty six Greek Street. It might look like just another pretty Soho townhouse... but step inside, and you'd enter one of the most magical hidden gems in all of London.
London · from the walk “Soho's Secret Side”
26 Greek Street, London W1D 5DE
Take a look at number twenty six Greek Street. It might look like just another pretty Soho townhouse... but step inside, and you'd enter one of the most magical hidden gems in all of London.
When Mirafora Mina and Eduardo Lima opened their first shop on this very spot in twenty sixteen, the plan was three months — six at the outside. It was an experiment, a "what if?" That experiment lasted Four years and drew over a million visitors!
So who are these two? Mirafora and Eduardo began their extraordinary partnership in two thousand one, when Warner Brothers invited them to create the entire visual universe of the Harry Potter film series. They designed the Marauder's Map... the Daily Prophet newspapers... wanted posters, Hogwarts proclamations, envelopes addressed to Harry Potter at the Cupboard Under the Stairs. If you saw a piece of paper, a label, a book, or a poster in Any of the eight films... these two created it.
And here's a detail most people never think about. It is Mirafora's Own handwriting that you see in the films — that famous emerald green ink on every Hogwarts acceptance letter. She channeled the character of Professor Mcgonagall herself each time she picked up the quill. And to this day, Mirafora still offers bespoke replicas of that letter, handwritten by her own hand, with the option to personalize it with Your name. The price? Two thousand four hundred and ninety five pounds. The original designer writes your name on the envelope. That's not merchandise... that's magic.
Now, there's a wonderful fictional connection too. In the Wizarding World lore, Greek Street was actually the site of a so-called "Muggle-baiting incident" circa nineteen twenty six. The Daily Prophet reportedly ran the headline: "The Greek Street Trial — Is Muggle-Baiting Ever Acceptable?" You can spot this in the Fantastic Beasts films if you freeze-frame the newspapers... newspapers that Minalima themselves designed!
Among the gallery props, Mira and Eduardo even gave themselves personal Ministry of Magic identification cards, placing themselves in the "Rooms and Symbols" department. When you're the person responsible for the entire visual identity of a magical government... you get to decide which department you work in.
Their workspace at Leavesden Studios was once called "J.K. Rowling's favourite room on Earth." And the building we're standing beside? Number twenty six was a Greek Street newcomer — before Minalima, it had the rather more tawdry history of a former strip club. From discarded G-strings to Hogwarts acceptance letters... only in Soho.
The House of Minalima has since moved to one five seven Wardour Street, just a few minutes' walk from here. But this doorstep is where it all began — where a quiet experiment became a permanent piece of London's hidden magic.