The Romantic’s A-Z Street Atlas of London

By Jess Johnson

Follow Jess at: @jkcjohnson

As Virginia Woolf once wrote: “The streets of London have their map, but our passions are uncharted. What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?” No matter the decade, the neighbourhood or the characters involved, love stories set in London share an unpredictable magic. Generations of filmmakers have been drawn to the city’s mixture of ancient history and vibrant modern energy. From concrete tower blocks to ornate townhouses, this is a city of contradictions – as infuriating as it is beguiling, with a surprise around every bend. Read on for a run-down of the best romantic film locations around London, inspired by (what else?) the classic cabbie’s A-Z Street Atlas.

ACTON An Education (2009)

The first film on our list is certainly not the most straightforwardly romantic – Lone Scherfig’s An Education explores a sinister and shadowy side of seduction, based on the 1960s-era memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber. When clever but naïve 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) meets suave older man David (Peter Sarsgaard), she is swept into his seemingly glittering world without realising what kind of man he really is. The shots of Jenny’s school were filmed at The Japanese School in Acton.

87 Creffield Road, W3 9PU

Bank

Imagine Me & You (2005)

Do you believe in love at first sight? Bride-tobe Rachel (Piper Perabo) and wedding florist Luce (Lena Headey) fall head over heels for one another on the former’s wedding day, battling against their coup-de-foudre connection for most of the film. The finale sees them reunited, running to each other in the midst of a traffic jam outside Bank Underground Station by using a football voice-projection technique (“You’re a wanker number 9!”)

Princes St, EC3V 3LA

Barbican

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Dating from 1123, St Bartholomew the Great is London’s oldest parish church. It is also where Charles (Hugh Grant) gets memorably punched in the face mid-jilt by Duckface (Anna Chancellor), in Four Weddings and a Funeral. The medieval church’s inspiring interiors have appeared in countless other films – including Shakespeare in Love, The End of the Affair and The Other Boleyn Girl.

W Smithfield, EC1A 9DS

Borough

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001)

Bridget’s flat is nestled above the Globe Tavern pub in Borough Market. It serves as a true time capsule of its era, from the chintz lampshades and battered chaise longue, to the landline phone and CD player on which to blast ‘All By Myself’ while eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. It is from here that Bridget runs out after Mark Darcy in the snow in her tiny zebra-print knickers, in a truly iconic rom-com finale. 8 Bedale Street, SE1 9AL

Greenwich

Bridgerton (2020-present)

Greenwich is the dream backdrop for the soapy, sexy historical-romance series Bridgerton, set in Regency-era London. The Bridgerton family’s red brick Palladian Georgian mansion is actually The Ranger’s House, which sits right on the edge of Blackheath. Run by English Heritage, nowadays the Grade I-listed building houses over 700 works of art including fine jewellery, bronzes, furniture, porcelain, ivories, oils and tapestries.

Chesterfield Walk, SE10 8QX

Hampstead

Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990)

Romantic poetry, lush woodland, storybook cottages… Hampstead is the perfect setting for lost love and yearning. In Truly, Madly, Deeply, Nina (Juliet Stevenson) is holed up in her decrepit-yet-picturesque Hampstead flat, grieving the death of her cellist lover Jamie (Alan Rickman, with a very rakish moustache). Although partially filmed in Bristol, this quirky tearjerker perfectly captures the misty beauty of the area – you can walk up the Holly Bush Steps, and visit the cosily romantic pub at the top.

Holly Bush Steps, NW3 6UZ

Heathrow Airport

Love Actually (2003)

A Richard Curtis classic, encapsulated by its opening line: “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.” The film’s introduction shows a medley of people greeting each other at the gate, depicting love as an all-encompassing force found between siblings, children, parents, friends, family and strangers, not just lovers. Consider this the opening montage that spawned a thousand ‘Welcome Home’ placards. Longford, TW6 1EW

Hounslow

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

Gurinder Chadha’s hilarious and heart-warming romantic comedy stars Parminder Nagra as Jess, a teenage girl who longs to play football professionally – against the wishes of her loving but traditional Sikh family. Jess and Jules (Keira Knightley) first meet at Barra Hall Park in Hayes, where Jess is playing football and Jules convinces her to try out for the Hounslow Harriers, as coached by Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

Barra Hall Park, UB3 2NH

Ladbroke Grove

Lover’s Rock (2020)

Directed by Steve McQueen as part of his Small Axe anthology, this is a beautiful and transfixing love story between Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) and Franklyn (Micheal Ward), two lovers who meet at a house party in 1980. The vivid depiction of time and place is apparent in not only the records being played but also the décor, the fashions, and the overall mood. Named after the romantic reggae genre of the era, it has a truly unbeatable soundtrack.

Ladbroke Road, W11 3BQ

Notting Hill

Notting Hill (1999)

Picture the scene: floppy-haired bookseller William (Hugh Grant) rounds a corner on Portobello Road and bumps into beret-wearing movie star Anna (Julia Roberts), spilling his orange juice all over her impeccable white-teeand-black-leather-jacket combo. William’s travel book emporium was inspired by The Notting Hill Bookshop at 13 Blenheim Crescent. Now a popular tourist destination, it is just two minutes’ walk from the character’s famous blue front door – once owned by the film’s writer, Richard Curtis.

280 Westbourne Park Rd, W11 1EH

POSTMAN’S PARK

Closer (2004)

“Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off”, and this fib-filled 2004 melodrama remains a London classic. Postman’s

Park is where Dan (Jude Law) and ‘Alice’ (Natalie Portman) go for a walk, after she is knocked down by a taxi and hospitalised on their first meeting. A small public park near St Paul’s Cathedral, it is the home to the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice from 1900 – a tribute to the bravery of ordinary people. The Alice Ayres memorial tablet is real, and can be found under the loggia in the park.

King Edward St, EC1A 7BT

Primrose Hill

Been So Long (2018)

Fewer Belgravia townhouses and Kensington cafés, more night buses and kebab shops – Been So Long is a more tangible kind of London romance. It follows Simone (Michaela Coel) and Raymond (Arinzé Kene) as they fall in love across Camden Town. In one pivotal scene the two sit on a bench on top of Primrose Hill at dusk. “I didn’t used to think this hill was for people like me,” she says, before they break into a wordless, theatrical kissing sequence against the city’s purple-gold and glittering skyline. A true love letter to the city and its people.

Primrose Hill Road, NW1 4NR

Thamesmead

Beautiful Thing (1996)

An uplifting gem by Hettie Macdonald (who went on to direct 2020’s Sally Rooney adaptation Normal People), Beautiful Thing follows two working-class teenage lads as they fall in love in a 1990s southeast London housing estate, to a soundtrack of the Mamas and the Papas. The area of Thamesmead where it was filmed has undergone extensive renovation over the last few years, but the local landmark of Southmere Lake remains.

Southmere Lake, SE2 9TX

Vauxhall

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Written by Hanif Kureishi and set and filmed in Vauxhall during Thatcher’s 1980s, My Beautiful Laundrette was an instant romantic classic upon release. Omar Ali (Gordon Warnecke) and his punk boyfriend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis) have a passionate secret love affair at the titular laundrette, while renovating it for Omar’s uncle Nasser. Once called Powders Laundrette, the site was more recently a Portuguese café.

25-27 Wilcox Road, SW8 2XA

Waterloo

Sliding Doors (1998)

According to the butterfly effect, even tiny events can have a huge impact on our lives. Sliding Doors follows a double-pronged narrative structure that explores two different outcomes for our heroine Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow). Either she manages to slip through the closing Tube doors and get home in time to catch her no-good boyfriend cheating – or she doesn’t. These sliding doors in question can be found on the Waterloo & City line platform at Waterloo Underground Station. Existential crisis not guaranteed.

York Rd, SE1 7ND

LONDON ZOO

About A Boy (2002)

Toxic bachelor Will (Hugh Grant again) has no responsibilities and no regard for anyone but himself. That is, until he accidentally befriends bullied preteen Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) and his depressed hippie mum Fiona (Toni Colette). Not afraid of life’s messiness, the film offers an exploration of love and community that goes beyond the romantic. In one scene, Will and Marcus talk about women as they walk past the Penguin Pool at London Zoo – as Will is bribing Marcus to pretend to be his son so he can get a date with a hot single mother, naturally.

Outer Circle, NW1 4RY