King's Cross and St Pancras in the north, Leadenhall and Cecil Court in the middle, Borough Market south of the river.
Clips before you arrive
Drivers on this route carry the scenes on a tablet and show them at the location, which is what makes the stop land.
Hotel pickup at both ends
No meeting point to find with children in tow, and no Underground between stops.
Three hours, not a whole day
Long enough for nine locations and short enough for a seven-year-old.
One fare for up to five
This cab seats five rather than six, and the fare still covers all of them.
The most-reviewed themed tour here
Three hundred travellers have rated it, and the family reviews are the ones worth reading.
What the tour is, and what it is not
Start with the honest part, because one traveller booked this thinking it was something
else and said so in their review. This is not the studio tour at Leavesden.
It is a tour of the real London streets and buildings that appear in the films, and it
carries a plain disclaimer: not an official Warner Bros event, and not endorsed by the
author or her publishers.
What it is, is the only sensible way to see those locations in an afternoon. They are
genuinely scattered: King's Cross and St Pancras at the top of the map, Cecil Court off
Charing Cross Road, Leadenhall Market deep in the City, the Millennium Bridge over the
river and Borough Market on the far side of it. A walking route joining them up is most of
a day and several miles.
The thing the reviews return to is the clips. Drivers on this route carry the scenes on
a tablet or a small player and show them before you get out, so you are looking at a
market arcade already knowing which shot was framed there. Travellers describe children who
were sceptical in the cab and delighted on the pavement.
This one also scores lower than the rest of the tours here, and the reason is worth
knowing: its star breakdown is wider. Most reviewers give it five, a fair number give it
four, and a handful lower. Read the ones below, including the four-star, and decide with
them in front of you.
The nine stops, north to south
Hotel pickup in central London
King's Cross and St Pancras stations
Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road
Leadenhall Market
Millennium Bridge over the Thames
Borough Market
Westminster Abbey
Drop-off back in central London
Hotel pickup — Most central London addresses. Confirmation on this listing comes within 48 hours rather than instantly.
King's Cross and St Pancras — Twenty minutes at one and five at the other; the platform trolley has a free queue and it is long.
Cecil Court — Five minutes on a lane of antiquarian bookshops off Charing Cross Road.
Leadenhall Market — Fifteen minutes under the painted ironwork; quietest at a weekend, when the City empties.
The Millennium Bridge — Five minutes, and the view of St Paul's most people photograph without knowing why.
Borough Market — Fifteen minutes among the stalls, closed for the full market on a Monday.
Westminster Abbey — Fifteen minutes, from outside, at the western end of the route.
Drop-off — Back in central London, at your hotel or somewhere else you name.
Who this suits, and who should book the studio tour instead
Families are the audience here and the reviews say so plainly. Children who would not
walk between nine locations manage all of them from the back of a cab, the stops are short
enough to hold attention, and the clips do the work that a guidebook cannot. Grandparents
travelling with grandchildren appear repeatedly in the reviews, which tells you something
about the pace.
It also suits anybody who wants London and the films at once. Drivers on this route
cover the city between the stops, and several reviewers who came for the films say they
left knowing more about London than they expected.
Do not book it if what you want is the studio tour at Leavesden, with the sets and the
props. That is a different product in a different place and this cab does not go there. And
do not book it if you want to be inside things: the Abbey stop is from outside, and no fare
here covers admission anywhere. If the landmarks rather than the locations are what you
came for, the two-hour
highlights run is the cheaper and more direct answer.
What the fare covers, and what it does not
In the fare
A personalized private tour (3 hours)
Transport by private London Black Taxi
Hotel pickup and drop off (selected hotels only)
Local guide
Not in the fare
Gratuities
Food and drinks, unless specified
Pickup, and the one thing to confirm early
Hotel pickup from most central London locations, agreed with the operator after you
book. Say at that point how many of you there are: this cab seats five rather than six,
which is the tightest cap of any tour listed here, and a party of six needs a different
product.
Confirmation on this listing arrives within 48 hours of booking rather than instantly.
That is not a problem unless your dates cannot move, in which case book early. Where every
tour here stands on pickup, airports included, is on
the pickup and routes page.
Know before you go
It is not the studio tour. Leavesden is a separate ticket, a separate journey and a separate day. This is the real city the films used.
The cab takes five, not six. Check your party against that before you book; a sixth traveller needs a different tour.
Confirmation can take 48 hours. Book early if your dates are fixed, and treat a same-week booking as a gamble.
Platform 9 3/4 has a queue. It is free and it moves slowly. Ask the driver whether it is worth the time on the day you are there.
Borough Market is quiet on a Monday. The full market does not run; the buildings are still there and so is the photograph.
Nothing here includes admission. Not the Abbey, not anywhere. The stops are streets, markets and station concourses.
What travellers said about the film-location tour
★★★★★
Arrived in London late and exhausted with two granddaughters. Their guide collected them from the hotel, bought them coffee, and took them round the Harry Potter locations with film clips to refresh which scene was which. The enthusiasm carried the morning.
Wanda A. · Grandparents · July 2024
★★★★★
Matching the scenes in the films to the places around them was the fun of it. Their guide knew the books as well as the city and pointed things out between the stops. They came away planning to book with him again.
Jennifer K. · Family · March 2024
★★★★★
Booked the black cab tour with two grandchildren aged six and nine and visited ten sites across nearly four hours. Film excerpts on a tablet before each stop refreshed everyone's memory. There was time to walk around at each one.
No. The studio tour is at Leavesden, north-west of London, and is a separate ticket. This is a tour of the real streets and buildings used in the films, and it carries a disclaimer saying it is not an official Warner Bros event.
What age does it suit?
Reviews describe children from six upwards enjoying it, and the clips are what make it work for the younger ones. Three hours is short enough that attention holds, which is the main reason families choose it over a walking tour.
Do we go inside anywhere?
No. Every stop is a street, a market or a station concourse, and Westminster Abbey is seen from outside. Nothing on this route requires a ticket and nothing here includes one.
How many people fit?
Five, which is the tightest cap of any tour here. The fare covers all five together rather than charging each person, so a family of five pays once.
Why is its rating lower than the others?
Its star breakdown is wider: most travellers give five, a fair number four, and a few lower. The most common reason for a lower score is the same one repeated below — somebody expected the studio tour and booked this.
Is there a longer version of the same route?
Yes. A four-hour film-location tour runs from a different operator with a six-person cab and a slightly different set of stops, and it is on the film-location page. If you would rather have the landmarks than the locations, the two-hour highlights run is the cheaper answer.
Other black cab tours of London
If this is not quite your day, these two cover the city differently, and the full list
of black cab tours in London sits on the homepage.
