5
JANUARY, 2018
Leadenhall Market is historic, ornate, spectacular, awe-inspiring and, thanks to Harry Potter films, you can add ‘magical’.
The remarkable marketplace located in the centre of London’s financial district on Gracechurch Street, has seen trading for 100’s of years. But it’s the astonishing roof, constructed in 1881, that has made Leadenhall Market such a jaw dropping sight and a perfect set for the fantasy world of Harry Potter films.
Leadenhall Market.
Stock Photograph
Leadenhall Market
Stock Photograph
It featured in a few of the movies and was the location for Diagon Alley. And if you wander down Bull’s Head passage you will recognise the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron, in Goblet of Fire. That will mean something to millions of Potter fans and nothing whatsoever to anybody else.
It goes back to Roman times!
Trading on the site actually goes back to Roman times. It is known that by 1300 it was a very active poultry market, and soon after cheesemongers joined in too. In 1411 Dick Whittington (yes, he of the childhood stories and pantomimes!), a four-time Lord Mayor of London, gifted Leadenhall to the City Corporation.
In 1445 a school, chapel and granary service were built on site and trading now included: fish, grain, herbs, meat, eggs and butter. All of which it has been offering for 600 years.
It remains a spectacular step back in time and is a perfect place to not only