Times Article

You've read the books, seen the movie - now take the walk. With millions of pounds being spent on film locations in London, a new breed of movie tourist is hitting the streets of the capital - and the city is providing directions. Marc Zakian reports.

The Globe inn squats under the railway bridge by London's Borough Market. For over a century this barrel-shaped pub was a sweat-and-sawdust watering hole for the stallholders. But a new clientele is bustling though its doors - on the trail of a 21st century icon. They are on a pilgrimage to the home of the queen of thirty-somethings: Bridget Jones.


The diarist's on-screen flat perches on top of the Globe, and the Victorian boozer's new found celebrity has made it the star location on a map of Bridget's London haunts. Borough Market's urban chic was relatively unknown until the film makers turned it the Jones girl's home patch. Now tourists are heading to Bedales winery - across the street from the Globe. Here owner Stephen Harrison tells tales of the shop's transformation into a Greek restaurant where lawyer Mark D'Arcy's (Colin Firth) fist fights with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) in the finale of the first film.

The Bridget map takes in a great cross-section of London life: from the east-side artist-enclave of Shoreditch, where she swills Chardonnay with her mates in the uber-trendy Light Bar; to the west side's Kensington Gardens - location for round two of the D'Arcy vs Cleaver fist fight, splashed out in the ornate Italian Fountains.

And if your map-reading skills are so Bridget-like you fear getting lost, why not join a walking tour. London Blue Badge Guide Simon Rodway (www.guidedtouruk.com)  has created the first Bridget Jones walk or, as he calls it, 'Jack the Ripper in knickers'.

 "For ages tourists would only venture East for Ripper walks," Rodway explains. "Now we visit this fantastic and ancient part of London, but instead of blood and murder, we talk about underwear".

"The Bridget walk is popular with young visitors keen to discover how real Londoners live," continues Rodway. "It's a great mix of the old and new city; from the stuffed-shirt, Eton-educated lawyers of Mark D'Arcy's office - filmed at Middle Temple (also a location for Shakespeare in Love) - to the chattering creatives in their Bermondsey riverside homes near Bridget's flat".

Bridget's Bermondsey is one of several lesser known London landmarks, enjoying cinema inspired tourism. With kids and adults potty for Harry Potter, commuters at Kings Cross Station now pass a luggage trolley which disappears into a wall to celebrate platform 9 ¾ - where the young wizards board the Hogwarts Express). And City workers lunching in  Leadenhall Market are surrounded by Potterphiles taking photos in front of the opticians shop which stood in for The Leaky Cauldron.


"Harry Potter is one of a number of films that are turning London into one of the world's great cinema cities," says London Film Commissioner, Sue Hayes. "One in five visitors tell us their trip was inspired by a movie or television series".

Much of this is down to London's Woody Allen,  writer-director Richard Curtis." Curtis' homage to his neighbourhood put Notting Hill firmly on the tourist map. The film even featured Curtis' own blue front door as the entrance to Hugh Grant's flat. When Curtis moved, the new residents painted their door black to dissuade tourists from ringing the bell hoping Grant would answer.

Curtis' films have turned several London locations into pilgrimage sites. Café Rouge in Covent Garden - where Andie MacDowell lists her sexual conquests for the benefit of Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral - is now considered a good place for a date.

Another Visit London map introduces us to one of the capital's icons: Postman's Park. This map follows the locations for the Golden Globe nominated movie Closer. A love scene between Nathalie Portman and Jude Law is set in the park - a charming memorial to ordinary but heroic men and women of the city. Much loved by Londoners, the film gives it a well-deserved moment in the sun.

 All this on-screen fame is changing the way tourists visit the capital. "Over a quarter of our tourists want us to take them to locations they have discovered though films," says Blue Badge Guide Nikki Emms. "And popular books can have just as much impact. I run a Da Vinci code tour. It was filmed in London, and has turned the Temple Church into a tourist attraction."

So if you're visiting London again, a film tour is a great way to discover new angles to a familiar city: from buying lingerie in Bridget Jones' knicker emporium, to browsing in Hugh Grant's Notting Hill book shop, to enjoying a drink near in Harry Potter's Leaky Cauldron.

Contact Marc Zakian: info@guidedtouruk.com