Harry Potter Tour in London

We took a Harry Potter tour while in London. Free Tours by Foot is an excellent tour company that provides young professional guides the opportunity to hone their skills. The consumers pay what they want at the end of the tour. It is usually suggested that an individual pays 10 GBP for a tour that lasts around 2 1/2 hours.  These are obviously all walking tours (tours by foot), so you have to have the stamina to walk for a few hours. Tours are reserved by signing up on their web page.  Over the past several years we have participated in a food tour of east London and a street art tour of east London. Both were very interesting. The Harry Potter tour was as well. 

We started the tour off at the Westminster Underground Station. In the movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Harry and Mr. Weasley pass through this station on the way to Harry's hearing at the Ministry of Magic.  Our tour guide said the tube station was closed for the whole day for the filming. The actual timing of the clip used in the movie was only around 11 seconds.

Next we stopped at the corner of Scotland Place and Great Scotland Yard (the original location of Scotland Yard) to see the place where Harry and Mr. Weasley enter a phone box to descend into the Ministry of Magic. (Also from the "Order of the Phoenix".)  There is no phone box here. It was brought in as a prop.

Trafalgar Square was the next stop. The death eaters started their flight here and flew around Lord Nelson's column on their way to Millenium Bridge. The premier of the "Deathly Hallows" movie took place outside on Trafalgar Square on a big screen. There was a lottery for tickets to this premier.

Cecil Court off of Charing Cross Road provided the inspiration for Diagon Alley. It is a narrow street lined with book shops and antique shops. Harry bought his wand and his owl in Diagon Alley in the "Sorcerer's Stone".  It was on this street that the composer Mozart stayed on an early European tour.

Knockturn Alley, near Diagon Alley, is a very narrow residential street with old door knockers and curved glass windows. The first mention of this street is in the "Chamber of Secrets". It was a street with shops specializing in the darker arts (magic) in the movie. Harry ends up in a shop on Knockturn Alley after mispronouncing "Diagon Alley" where he intended to go. 

On Charing Cross Road there is a sweet shop (above) that sells Harry Potter candy, among other things. In the window you see signs for Bertie Botts and chocolate frogs. Basically it is a retro candy shop. There is also a sign for gobstoppers from the Willy Wonka movie.

We stopped by a theater in the west end where they are performing  the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", parts 1 and 2. Apparently it is sold out through October 2018.  It has been published as a script. The script was based on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. It looks like the story was never published (only the script of the play).

We stopped briefly at the Millenium Bridge where the death eaters flew around. Then we headed to Borough Market where we found the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron pub. A taco restaurant is now there. 

We enjoyed this tour. Warning - there is about 2 1/2 miles to walk, plus a short trip on the tube. We did not dally either. You need to be fit to keep up.