GRAB A PINT AT THESE LONDON FILM LOCATIONS
Drink in the atmosphere of your favourite movie scenes, from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to Hitchcocks' Frenzy and Bridget Jones' Diary
It's almost impossible to sneak into Elstree Studios with a crate of Stella and they're incredibly sniffy about taking corkscrews into Harry Potter World, so where can you relax with a good beverage on the set of a famous movie? Well, as it happens, there are plenty of options - and we've picked the very best of them for you right here.
ZEITGEIST @ JOLLY GARDENERS
Prince Road, Lambeth
Snatch (2000)
The Jolly Gardener didn't prove to be much of a jolly spot for three masked 'assassins' when they came face to face with Bullet-Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) inside this South London pub. Known as The Drowning Trout in Guy Ritchie's popular gangster flick, this was where Tony's quiet pint was interrupted by three men, unaware they had 'replica' written down the side of their pistols. The result, as is the way with a Guy Ritchie movie, was a verbose dressing-down and a fair amount of blood.
THE ANCHOR
Bankside
Mission Impossible (1996)
What do British people do when they've completed a seemingly impossible task AND saved the entire world? Head to the pub for a quick pint, of course! And that's exactly what Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) did in the first Mission Impossible movie. His choice of boozer was a particularly popular one - The Anchor on the bank of the Thames has a beautiful terrace that gets ram-packed during the summer months. Dating back to roughly 1770 in its current guise, although a pub has stood on this site for much longer, the building has seen it all, from pirates and smugglers to two devastating fires - although despite its obvious flammability it managed to escape the Great Fire of London and was supposedly where Samuel Pepys sat and supped a pint as he watched the city go up in smoke.
THE SALISBURY
1, Grand Parade, Harringay
The Long Good Friday (1980)
Harringay's beautiful old pub, The Salisbury plays a starring role in The Long Good Friday. It's here that gangland associate Colin (Paul Freeman) is ambushed by the IRA and the mob violence hits its peak. Despite the movie focusing on 1970s London, The Salisbury was actually used to depict Northern Irish pub, Fagan's.
While it's definitely gone upmarket over the years, its interior has been left beautifully untouched, allowing it to be used as a London pub in the movie, Chaplin.
THE CARPENTERS ARMS
Cheshire Street, E1
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
This tiny pub in London's East End is an unlikely venue for a basement car garage and armoury, but then Fast & Furious movies aren't afraid to play fast and loose with believability. It only makes a few fleeting appearances in the movie, though it also makes a return in the closing credits for a 'Hugh Janus' joke, which is reason enough for a visit. But why would you choose this pub as an unassuming boozer where weapons are secretly stored? Well, it used to be owned by the Krays back in the 60s, and they ran their criminal empire from inside. So, there's that...
THE BLACK PRINCE
6 Black Prince Road, Kennington
Kingsman: Secret Service (2014)
The Black Prince is the location for one of Kingsman's most brilliantly ridiculous scenes, setting up Harry Hart (Colin Firth) as a badass tough-guy with a cut-glass British accent and a penchant for expertly tailored suits and good manners. Future Elton John, Taron Egerton is also here, playing rude boy 'Eggsy,' who's left astounded by the umbrella-wielding tough guy in his midst.
The Black Prince is a classic pub in Kennington, South London, serving traditional pub grub.
YE OLDE MITRE
1 Ely Place, Holborn
The Deep Blue Sea (2011) and Snatch (2000)
Hidden down an alleyway in Holborn, Ye Olde Mitre is one of London's hidden gems, and it's been hiding for a while - since 1546, to be exact. But it might be recognisable to fans of The Deep Blue Sea (not to be confused with Deep Blue Sea, which features a gigantic shark and precisely zero cosy pubs). It's here where Freddie (Tom Hiddlestone) and Hester (Rachel Weisz) have a lovers tiff.
But that's not all. Guy Ritchie is a man who knows his London pubs and he chose Ye Olde Mitre as the local boozer of jeweller, Doug The Head (Mike Reid) - and you might notice that during a scene here, Ritchie himself makes a cameo, reading the newspaper in the background. Not a bad day's work!
THE ROYAL OAK
73 Columbia Road, Hackney
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), The Krays (1990), Legend (2015)
and Goodnight Sweetheart (1993-1999)
The Royal Oak is one of our favourite pubs in London and we can happily confirm that you won't fall in love with an orangutan in any of their cocktails. Yep, this is where the gang wait for Eddie to return from his card game with Hatchet Harry in Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Stand by the bar and you might recognise the spot where Rory Breaker spits a mouthful of tequila over a patron's head and sets him on fire - all because he changed the channel on the pub's TV.
It's still very much a proper boozer, but heavily gentrified - you won't need subtitles for the Cockney Rhyming Slang in here.
Curiously, despite a dearth of pubs in East London that were frequented by Ronnie and Reggie, the Royal Oak featured in the film The Krays despite not having any known links to the real-life gangsters. It's the pub that gets turned over by rival gang, The Maltese Boys.
It was later given a starring role in another movie about the twins, Legend, when it became the Blind Beggar (which still exists in Whitechapel, but has undergone a transformation since Ronnie murdered George Cornell there in front of a room full of witnesses). That not enough for you? Fine! It's also the spot where Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) finds a time portal that allows him to travel back to wartime Britain in Goodnight Sweetheart.
Rory Breaker at The Royal Oak in Lock Stock (Warning - Violence)
THE COACH
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Having finished off Mission Impossible with a quick pint, it seems Tom Cruise was eager to build a swift beer into movies whenever he came to London. And who could blame him? In Edge of Tomorrow, Bill Cage (Cruise) heads to the Coach and Horses for a swift livener. It closed down in 2015 but thankfully found a new lease of life three years later as The Coach. It's been given a hefty makeover and is now a hotel, pub and restaurant. It's well worth a visit - hard-to-please critic, Jay Rayner said it was "like greeting a much-missed old friend."
JAMAICA WINE HOUSE
Saint Michael's Alley, Cornhill
Wilde (1997)
The Mrs has gone out to a wine bar tonight. Jamaica? No! She went of her own accord.
That's a perfect way to set up a paragraph about wordsmith and legendary wit, Oscar Wilde, right? Well, it's done now so we'll move on swiftly. The odd-looking Jamaica Wine House is where Robbie Ross (Michael Sheen) lends heartbroken John Gray (Ioan Gruffudd) a shoulder to cry on. It's got a long and storied history, having been established in the 1600s with strong links to the sugar cane plantations in the West Indies and Turkey (which brought about its original name, The Turk's Head). Nowadays it's been renovated and boasts a restaurant amongst its four rooms.
THE LAMB
Leadenhall Market
Brannigan (1975)
Leadenhall Market's grand, Victorian splendour has played host to many films over the years, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Hereafter and Love Aaj Kal. But you're here for the drinking, not the shopping, and that takes us to the market's delightful pub, The Lamb Tavern.
The Lamb played host to The Duke himself, John Wayne, on the set of Brannigan. Wayne plays a no-nonsense Chicago cop who comes to London in pursuit of a fleeing gangster. He gets into a fight (as John Wayne tends to do) in the Lamb Tavern. It's certainly not one of The Duke's best films but it is one of the best boozers in the area.
THE GLOBE AND NELL OF OLD DRURY
Covent Garden
Frenzy (1972)
Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 thriller, Frenzy focuses on Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), who gets fired from his job in The Globe before becoming entangled in the hunt for a serial killer.
As he and his girlfriend Babs (Anna Massey) go on the run, he also overhears city gents excitedly talking about 'The Neck-tie Strangler' in the Nell of Old Drury (pictured).
The movie was shot when Covent Garden was still a fruit market, but even though the apple stands have turned into Apple stores, these two pubs have remained largely unchanged. They're both perfect spots for an after-work pint in the hustle and bustle of one of Central London's most buzzing areas.
THE GLOBE TAVERN
Borough Market
Blue Ice (1992) and Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)
Another double whammy here, and a great excuse to visit one of Borough Market's loveliest pubs. While the beers are poured on the ground floor, technically all the movie action happened upstairs - in an apartment shared by Renée Zellweger and Michael Caine. Movie legend Caine was the first to lay claim to the top floor as Harry Anders. In Blue Ice, Anders lives in an apartment above Borough Market and even makes a daring escape out of one of the top floor windows. That might have been a little easier today, as the expanded train line passes perilously close to the top of this old drinking spot.
But once Michael had cleared out his belongings, it was the turn of Zellweger's Bridget Jones. Inexplicably able to afford an SE1 apartment on a writer's wage, she can be seen throughout the film trudging through Borough Market, and we recommend you do the same, before finishing off with a sundowner outside The Globe. Whatever you do, don't get all fighty on Bedale Street outside, please.
Comments