Paddington 2 filmed iconic London locations

Paddington 2 filmed many of its domestic interiors on stages at Pinewood Studios and Warner Bros Studios Leavesden outside London, but also shot at key iconic locations like Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral.

“We were looking for locations that celebrated London and delivered the kind of cinematic scale we were looking for,” says Jonah Coombes, supervising location on both Paddington movies, in comments to KFTV.

“The success of the first film got us a better level of access. St Paul’s Cathedral had never been closed before for filming – that was unprecedented.”

A very different challenge for the Paddington 2 team was an escalation of production at the real north London neighbourhood that stood in for the Browns’ home in Windsor Gardens.

Whereas in the first film the team had shot on location in the affluent Primrose Hill for just four days, for the sequel this time frame increased to two weeks.

Coombes and the rest of the team were careful to co-ordinate with local authorities and Primrose Hill’s community association, with people now having a better idea of what to expect from a major film production after the first Paddington.

London remains one of the world’s top filming locations and city authorities are planning to develop a new studio in the east of the city.

See KFTV’s guide for more on navigating the logistics of a London shoot.

Images: Studiocanal