From the depths of darkest Peru, a little brave bear travelled halfway around the world to London, England to bring us all joy. And he’s the cutest marmalade-munching, blue-coat-wearing-bear known to man. It was only a matter of time before Michael Bond’s bestselling books about a bear called Paddington hit the big screen as live-action movies. And what phenomenal, 10/10 movies they are, too. I’ve scrutinised both for all the Paddington filming locations in (and outside) London.
Paddington (2014) follows the little bear’s journey to England, his adoption by the Brown family and how he almost becomes an exhibition at the Natural History Museum at the hands of evil Millicent Clyde (played by Nicole Kidman). Paddington 2 (2017) sees the adorable bear arrested for a crime he didn’t commit thanks to the eccentric thespian Phoenix Buchanan (played by Hugh Grant).
The Paddington production team shot scenes at both Elstree Studios and Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios. But there are plenty of authentic Paddington film locations from both films. They’re primarily set in London, with a few exceptions. So, let’s check out all of the top Paddington filming locations from both Paddington and Paddington 2!
Contents
Where Was Paddington Filmed?
Paddington Filming Locations in London
1. Tower Bridge
One of the first Paddington locations in London is Tower Bridge. After Paddington’s unceremonious arrival in London where he’s chucked onto the back of a van in a post sack, the van then drives across the famous bridge and we get a lovely establishing shot of London.
2. Marylebone Train Station
And the next filming location is one of the most famous, most synonymous Paddington locations! Well, erm, actually it’s Marylebone Station. Whomp-whomp. You see, Paddington Station doesn’t really have much of an exterior. So, the stone archway with “Paddington Station” written across in the film is actually Marylebone with a bit of artistic license and computer-generated trickery.
3. Paddington Train Station
But the interiors are still Paddington Station! Yep, I don’t think they would get away with not using the real-life location in the movie, would they? There are a few embellishments: the McDonald’s is fuzzed-out and, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t a nice tearoom in Paddington Station. But you’ve got to take a few liberties when it’s a children’s classic based on an idealised view of the English capital city, I suppose.
4. St Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, London Eye, Big Ben
Thankfully the Brown family, led by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as Henry and Mary respectively, offer to take Paddington home. And Mrs Brown bestows Paddington with his English name.
So, they hop in a black cab and quickly zoom around many of London’s top sites. I say quickly… In reality, it’s probably about two hours of driving. They pass St Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye, Big Ben and the Tower Bridge again. This montage features a cameo from Paddington creator Michael Bond “cheers”ing with a glass of red wine, which is just so lovely I might burst.
5. Floral Hall, Borough Market, Stoney Street
The black cab drives past an impromptu Calypso band performing “London is the place to be” underneath the archways of Floral Hall in London’s Borough Market. The band is honestly one of the top three highlights of this film.
6. 30 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill
Finally, Paddington arrives home with the Browns and their impossibly gorgeous, quirky home. It’s implied the Browns live in Notting Hill at 32 Windsor Gardens, London. In reality, the Paddington bear house is at 30 Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill, an even posher area of London. I’m talking stacks on stacks on stacks to live in a place like this.
Beautiful though, yeah? Got to love a pastel, multi-coloured street! And Peter Capaldi’s nosey neighbour character named Mr Curry lives at either N.28 or 26…
7. Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington
Paddington introduces us to the film’s villain at this next filming location. The blonde-bobbed Millicent Clyde is a keen taxidermist at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. I don’t know if all the interiors are shot in the museum, but some of them definitely are. Dippy the Diplodocus skeleton in the museum’s main hall makes a brief cameo at one point.
8. Maida Vale Station
It’s time for Paddington’s first foray into London and his first ride on the London underground! A whopping three different underground stations make up the Brown family’s local (fictional) tube station, Westbourne Oak. Nope, this station doesn’t exist.
The exterior of this station is Maida Vale underground station, which featured in the Richard Curtis romantic film About Time (2013). I suppose it’s quite a nice exterior with burgundy and emerald green tiles with coordinating flowers in hanging baskets.
Read next: About Time Filming Locations in England
9. St John’s Wood Station
The next underground station used as a Paddington filming location is St John’s Wood Station. Particularly, it’s escalators. They must be quite cinematic escalators, I suppose?
10. Charing Cross Station
And finally, the actual platform itself is Charing Cross underground station. But not just any Charing Cross tube platform, it’s the one that used to be part of the Jubilee line until 1999. Now, the TFL team keep it maintained for testing new carriages, guided tours and filming locations. Yep, this is the same line Skyfall (2012) utilised for a scene.
11. Alice’s Antique Shop, 86 Portobello Road, Notting Hill
Mrs Brown takes Paddington to see her pal, Gruber (played by Jim Broadbent) who owns an antique shop in Notting Hill. In real life, it’s an actual antique shop! Named Alice’s, this antique shop is situated at 86 Portobello Road and is a local institution.
And of course, the next minute Paddington is out of the shop, flying over London via a skateboard, dog’s leash and umbrella doing his utmost to return a wallet.
12. The Reform Club, 104 Pall Mall, St James’s
Attempting to locate the explorer that visited Paddington’s Aunt and Uncle years ago, Mr Brown and the little marmalade-loving bear head to The Geographer’s Guild. The exterior of the guild is The Reform Club at 104 Pall Mall, St James’s.
The interior? You’ll have to keep reading!
13. Buckingham Palace, Westminster
After the ordeal with Millicent attempting to break into the Brown’s house to kidnap Paddington, the little bear runs away into the rainy, London night. He ends up at Buckingham Palace where a kindly Beefeater takes pity on him and lets the bear dry off in his wee hut.
14. Trellick Tower, Golbourne Road, Notting Hill
Paddington searches for every M. Clyde in the London phonebook in the hopes of finding the explorer, Montgomery Clyde. During this searching montage, he stares up at Trellick Tower which is an apartment block on Golbourne Road, Notting Hill. This address is yet another failed attempt and is not the address of the M. Clyde he’s looking for.
15. 52 Downshire Hill, Hampstead
Unfortunately, Paddington inevitably finds Millicent Clyde during his search, the woman who wants to stuff him. In the film, she lives at 36 Braddock but the real-life Paddington filming location is 52 Downshire Hill in Hampstead.
Paddington Filming Locations Outside of London
16. Costa Rica
Paddington opens in darkest Peru where the British explorer/geographer, Montgomery Clyde, befriends Paddington’s Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo. Unfortunately, an earthquake destroys Paddington and his family’s habitat! The location of these scenes is actually Costa Rica, not Peru.
17. Tilbury Docks, Essex
After his long voyage across a couple of oceans and probably a few different seas, little Paddington arrives in England. The Paddington location used is Tilbury Docks in Essex.
18. Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire
The interiors of The Geographer’s Guild are mainly studio sets (I think), but Hatfield House‘s interiors stand-in for some of the guild’s interiors. Specifically, when Hugh Bonneville’s Mr Brown hilariously tries to pass himself off as a cleaning lady.
Hatfield House is a veteran filming location at this point. Dozens of TV shows and movies have shot scenes here including Batman (1989), The King’s Speech (2010) and Wonder Woman (2017).
Paddington 2 Filming Locations in London
1. 30 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill
Time for the Paddington 2 filming locations! That means we’re back at 32 Winsdor Gardens, or in reality, 30 Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill. Which, if you didn’t read the description from the first Paddington movie, is probably supposed to be in Notting Hill, but it isn’t.
The whole gang is back together, including Julie Walters as the delightfully Scottish Mrs Bird. There are many more neighbours and thankfully, Paddington has introduced characters who aren’t white into the cast. You know, like the real London.
2. Alice’s Antique Shop, 86 Portobello Road, Notting Hill
Gruber’s Antique Shop is back in Paddington 2 as is Gruber himself. In reality, it’s an antique shop named Alice’s at 86 Portobello Road in Notting Hill. This time, Paddington seeks a special present for his Aunt Lucy.
3. The Shard, Southwark
Paddington is desperate to make enough money to buy Aunt Lucy a one-of-a-kind, antique London pop-up book for her 100th birthday. After a failed attempt working in a barber’s, Paddington seems to have found his calling in window cleaning. In a money-earning montage, Paddington cleans everyone’s windows from the bus driver’s to Mr Brown’s office in The Shard.
It’s the tallest building in the UK so it probs doesn’t employ too many window cleaners IRL, you know?
4. Regent’s Canal, Little Venice
After spotting a robber nicking the pop-up book from the antique shop, Paddington gives chase to a scruffy-looking man on a bicycle by riding on the back of a dog named Wolfie. He leaps down Regent’s Canal, specifically the section in Little Venice, to try and catch up with him.
5. Guildhall, 71 Basinghall Street
Paddington is dealing with a spot of bad luck as the police believe it’s him that’s stolen from Gruber’s Antique Shop and so the little bear has to appear in court. The exterior of the courtroom is the Guildhall, technically London’s Town Hall. It’s a Grade 1 listed building, approximately 600 years old and houses a clock museum.
6. Skinners’ Hall, 8 Dowgate Hill
The interior of the courtroom is Skinners’ Hall at 8 Dowgate Hill, which is a 400-year-old events venue. The courtroom is their wood-panelled dining room with renaissance-esque paintings. Definitely one of the most beautiful and ornate Paddington 2 film locations.
7. Tower Bridge
We’re back at Tower Bridge which was one of the Paddington filming locations, too. This time, the evil Phoenix Buchanan is pretending to be part of the medieval armour exhibition in the Tower Bridge Museum so he can begin his quest for wealth and glory. Clue #1 is at this location!
8. St Paul’s Cathedral
Time to search for Clue #2 which is hidden somewhere in St Paul’s Cathedral, another Paddington filming location throwback from the first movie.
As Mr Brown says, the cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is one of London’s most famous landmarks.
9. Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent’s Park
Thanks to the tenacity of Mrs Brown and Mrs Bird, they discover that Phoenix Buchanan is the real thief. So, off they go to report the crime to the London Metropolitan Police Station. Except it’s not the real Met Police Station, it’s the Royal College of Physicians exterior at 11 St Andrews Place.
10. Millennium Mills, Rayleigh Road, Royal Docks
Paddington and his new pals escape prison in a nifty hot air balloon and land on an old factory. This factory used to be called Spiller’s but it’s also known as Millennium Mills in the Royal Victoria Docks.
11. Paddington Train Station
Of course, Paddington must return to his namesake train station! In order to track down the travelling circus which is heading off to its next location via steam train, Paddington reunites with the Brown family at Paddington Train Station.
Paddington 2 Filming Locations Outside of London
12. Iguazu Falls, Argentina and Brazil Border
During the opening flashback scene, we discover how Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo found little Paddington while sitting on a rickety bridge over a huge waterfall. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this waterfall (albeit, computer-generated) looks an awful lot like Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil.
Yes, I know Paddington is from darkest Peru, but it bloody looks like Iguazu Falls, okay?
13. Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, England
Though you don’t actually see much of the building in Paddington 2, the illuminated, chaotic travelling fair called Kozlova’s Steam Fair is set up on the grounds of Knebworth House in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. There are rollercoasters, a helter-skelter, a Ferris wheel, carousels, a sinister actor-cum-magician who stars in dog food commercials… Everything you would expect in a classic fairground!
It’s such a gorgeous mansion that the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) also utilised it as a filming location.
Read next: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga Locations in Scotland & Iceland
14. Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Dublin, Ireland
Poor Paddington is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Really tugs at your heartstrings seeing a cute little bear go to jail, right? The interiors for the prison aren’t in London at all, they’re the Kilmainham Gaol Museum in Dublin, Ireland. Specifically, the cell-block section. It’s a former prison-turned-public exhibition and The Italian Job (1969) utilised it as a filming location, too.
15. HM Prison Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England
The old Shepton Mallet Prison closed in 2013, but it’s one of the Paddington 2 locations and was used for some establishing shots of the prison where Paddington is locked up. It’s, apparently, a haunted prison and is due to become a new housing development in a couple of years.
I absolutely adore the prison scenes. Dressing middle-aged men in stripey pink prison uniforms is a work of genius and Brendon Gleeson as “Knuckles” McGinty is *chef’s kiss.*
16. Nidd Gorge Viaduct, North Yorkshire, England
The pivotal scene at the end of Paddington 2 partly takes place on Nidd Gorge Viaduct (technically off the viaduct and in the gorge), a railway bridge outside Harrogate, North Yorkshire. This is where Phoenix brings a knife to a gunfight (I flippin’ love Julie Walters in this film) and Mr Brown attempts to threaten Phoenix with a “biff” on the nose. So civilised, so English.
And those are all the top Paddington and Paddington 2 filming locations in London and elsewhere! Have you watched either (or both!) of the films or visited any of the Paddington filming locations? Let me know in the comments below!
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