Is Victoria Street the Real Diagon Alley? Harry Potter Myths in Edinburgh
Looking for Diagon Alley? Start in Edinburgh
I'll bet you've dreamed at least once about wandering down Diagon Alley: that impossible little street where witches and wizards buy broomsticks, potion ingredients and wands. Well — it exists. Sort of. And it isn't in London, as most people assume. It's here, in Edinburgh.
In the books, Diagon Alley is described as a cobbled street that winds out of sight. And as it happens, Edinburgh has one street that fits the description to a tee: Victoria Street, probably the most photographed street in all of Scotland. You see it once, and you understand instantly why half the world swears it came straight out of the books.
Why Victoria Street Looks Like Diagon Alley
It sits right in the heart of the Old Town, two minutes from The Elephant House and Greyfriars Kirkyard. Funnily enough, two stops that show up on any Harry Potter route worth its salt. It curves downhill, cobbled, full of colour, with that very Edinburgh way of stacking one street on top of another. And then there are the shops. That's where it gets interesting.
Well — there were. Because not all of them have survived. For years, one of the most photographed was Aha Ha Ha, a joke shop with a giant nose hanging off the front; the nod to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes (or Zonko's, for the purists) was instant. Today, sadly, it's gone the way of half the street: turned into a souvenir shop for tourists.
Thankfully, other oddities are still standing. A few doors down is The Cadies & Witchery, which boasts the smallest museum in the world, with a single exhibit: a wallet made of human skin. Specifically, the skin from the left hand of William Burke, one of the most notorious (and macabre) serial killers in Scottish history. Now think of the dark-arts shop from the books, over in Knockturn Alley: Borgin & Burkes. Burkes… Burke. I'll leave that there for you to draw your own conclusions.
We come now to our favourite shop — the only Harry Potter shop we personally recommend in the whole city: Museum Context. For over a century, that unit was a genuine handmade broom-and-brush shop. Founded by Robert Cresser, it stayed open from 1873 to 2004. Which means that when you walk in to buy a wand, you're literally standing in an old broomstick shop. If that isn't "Quality Quidditch Supplies," you tell me what is. Today it's a shop made by fans for fans, with magical touches in every corner. There's even a basilisk head mounted over a mirror reading "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened again." The perfect place to blow your savings and take a thousand photos.
More nods? Back when Rowling was writing, at the top of the street there was a Bank of Scotland branch that more than one person read as Gringotts (going by its location, at least). It closed after lockdown, so that one only lives on now in the locals' memory. What is still open is the little bookshop, John Kay's — stick a Flourish & Blotts sign on it if you fancy.
Right — so what has J.K. Rowling actually said about it?
This is where we get out the Revelio Bureau magnifying glass. The answer might sting more than one fan.
In July 2022, J.K. Rowling put it in writing, no hedging, on Twitter (now X): "No real street inspired Diagon Alley, I'm afraid. It came out of my head! I've never seen 99% of the places that claim to be the inspiration and I'd never seen Victoria St when I created DA (I have since, obviously, as it's in Edinburgh, where I live)." You can't get much clearer than that.
And the Diagon Alley from the films? That doesn't point to Edinburgh either. That set was created by the great Stuart Craig, production designer on all eleven films (the three Fantastic Beasts included), drawing on a few English streets: The Shambles in York, Cecil Court and Goodwin's Court in London, and Leadenhall Market (which was even used to shoot the exteriors around the Leaky Cauldron). Of Victoria Street, not a single stone.
That said, do look online for the photos we can't reproduce here (copyright) of the Diagon Alley set in the new HBO series: there's a whiff of Victoria Street to it. In fact, the making-of documentary "Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic" opens and closes with drone footage of Victoria Street.
So is Victoria Street the real Diagon Alley or not?
Clearly, no. We've established that.
Even so, Edinburgh is the city where Rowling wrote a great chunk of the seven books — pram beside her, hour after hour in cafés in the early days. The author still lives here thirty years on. Victoria Street may not be the official inspiration, but it's pure Harry Potter: in the atmosphere, in the shops, in the people who come to take a photo in their cloak and wand. You don't need a street traced straight from a novel to feel the story could be happening right there. And on Victoria Street — take it from me, I walk it every day — you feel it. Harry and Hagrid could come round any corner.
Come and See for Yourself
One last game: open Google Maps and search "Diagon Alley." See which Edinburgh street comes up pinned. It's no accident; it's fan love (with a bit of mischief). If you're up for it, come and visit it with us and we'll show you where the myth ends and the facts begin. Just in case, bring a few silver sickles in your pocket. You never know.
Sources
- J.K. Rowling on Diagon Alley (X, Jul 2022): https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1545728876223266817
- STV News — Rowling denies the Victoria Street / Greyfriars connection: https://news.stv.tv/east-central/jk-rowling-denies-harry-potter-connection-to-edinburghs-victoria-street-and-greyfriars-kirkyard
- The Scotsman / Edinburgh News — same denial: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/jk-rowling-denies-edinburgh-locations-like-victoria-street-and-greyfriars-kirkyard-inspired-harry-potter-books-3763870
- Stuart Craig and the design of Diagon Alley: https://artinsights.com/remembering-stuart-craig-oscar-winning-harry-potter-production-designer/
- The Leaky Cauldron — Remembering Stuart Craig: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2025/09/12/remembering-stuart-craig/
- Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic (HBO, 2026): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt41368989/
- Edinburgh World Heritage — Victoria Street history: https://ewh.org.uk/victoria-street/
- Historic Environment Scotland — Victoria Street listing: https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB30002