Why are Primrose Hill locals clashing with Paddington movie tourists?

Chalcot Crescent, with its idyllic Regency townhouses, has long attracted visitors to Primrose Hill.

But North London streets are now attracting a different type of visitor: movie tourists.

It appears in Paddington – the film series uses a house there as the home of the fictional Brown family.

“I’ve seen people take selfies in front of someone’s living room window and you think, if that was me, I’d be a little pissed off putting my living room directly on Instagram,” Matt Primrose Hill’s Labor Party Councilor Cooper told the BBC about the large number of tourists visiting the area.

A row has erupted between local residents and Airbnb, which is running a competition to put three families in a house in Chalcot Crescent to mark its launch. Paddington in Peru in November.

The holiday booking site told them it would spend two weeks renovating the hotel to mimic the three-day stay in the film – painting the exterior blue, blocking off five parking spaces and bringing in noise for a week interference.

Some residents protested in letters to Airbnb, claiming competition would exacerbate overtourism problems the street already faces.

Cooper said the row appeared to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

In response, Airbnb told the BBC it had not revealed the location of the home and was making a “significant donation” to Primrose Hill Community Association.

This isn’t the only movie location travel dispute in recent years, and other incidents may tell us a thing or two about how to resolve them.

Scottish glenfinnan viaduct Best known for starring in Harry Potter.

Its striking arches cut through the striking West Scottish Highlands and are used as part of the Hogwarts Express route.

But the influx of Harry Potter fans into Glenfinnan, a small village of just 150 residents, has prompted some complaints. According to the National Trust for Scotland, nearly half a million tourists visited the viaduct in the first 10 months of 2023.

One local resident told the Mirror in July that traffic was “totally at a standstill”, while others told The National last year that a lack of adequate public toilets led to some visitors urinating in public.

A similar story unfolds in the Oxfordshire village of Bampton, famous as the setting for Downton Abbey.

Some residents said swarms of tourists arrived in 2019 to film scenes for the hit ITV period drama and then left, spending little money on the local economy.

It was reported that an agreement was later reached with coach companies to resolve parking issues in the area.

In Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, some locals complained last month that there had been an increase in stag and hen parties since the BBC crime drama Pleasantville became popular in the town.

Dr James Cartledge, senior lecturer in film at Oxford Brookes University, said that in addition to the broad issues associated with tourism such as overcrowding, littering and parking issues, film tourism also brought its own specific issues.

“Visitors may experience a huge excitement when a movie is released or shortly after it is released, but then the excitement may quickly fade,” he explains. “So it’s very difficult to plan for and mitigate.”

This does not appear to be the case in Primrose Hill, where people have become accustomed to visiting the local Bridget Jones film set and Primrose Hill Park, which offers sweeping views of the London skyline.

It’s not all doom and gloom – sometimes filming on real streets, rather than behind the closed doors of a studio, can boost local trade.

Film-related screen tourism to the UK from other countries was estimated to be close to £900m in 2019, including increased spending on attractions, hotels and restaurants, according to a 2021 report by the British Film Institute (BFI).

That year, high-end television-related tourism also brought almost £500 million to the economy.

No wonder residents of the South Wales island of Barry seem to welcome the recent filming Gavin and Stacey’s Christmas Specialdue to air on Christmas Day.

The photo showed throngs of onlookers on the street as stars including James Corden, Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon arrived for the shoot. “Every time they come here, it’s always a buzz,” local resident Marco Zeraschi told Barry & District News.

Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, about CBeebies new series show Balamory It is expected to bring growth in tourism. VisitScotland said it was looking forward to seeing the possible impact.

Dr Cartledge said the key to achieving a happy balance between locals and cinema visitors was for councils and tourism groups to be proactive, such as planning ways to spread visitors out into small areas.

Dr Peter Robinson of Leeds Beckett University points out that the situation tends to be worse in smaller filming locations and where tourists have fewer ways to spend their money.

He compared Glenfinnan to Highclere Castle, where parts of Downton Abbey were filmed – where there are more spending opportunities to help boost local income.

Back in Primrose Hill, Airbnb insists temporary renovations to the home for the winner of the competition will be back to normal “within weeks”.

“We respect the community and the homes within it,” a spokesman said, adding that the company had met with locals and was in contact with them.

While the controversy may pass after the Airbnb scheme ends, the street is unlikely to shed its association with Paddington, and the selfie-lovers that come with it.