Published on : Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Tourists visiting Shambles have said that they specifically planned to visit York for visiting the historic site, which is now home to three Harry Potter-related shops.
The independently owned The Shop That Must Not Be Named, which regularly has a lengthy queue of people waiting to enter the shop, said that it is witnessing an extremely busy year.
Hannah Wallace, the shop’s manager, said: “Lots of customers say they add York to their stop list to come and see us. Apparently we have been seen on Asian TV channels and we have been approached by Argentinian TV which is amazing. We had one family from Malaysia that showed us a TV episode about York, there was a five minute spot where they had obviously filmed in the shop. People are hearing about us before they hear about the Shambles.”
Tourism chiefs at Visit York are of the opinion that the link between the street and Harry Potter has been perpetuated on social media, with lots of pictures posted on Instagram and Twitter.
Paul Whiting, head of Visit York, said: “The Harry Potter phenomenon and the inspirational link between the Shambles and the film depiction of Diagon Alley is something that has cropped up among visitors for years, especially on social media, recently reignited by the opening of magic and wizardry themed shops in this location. The fictional air of mystery surrounding the location of Diagon Alley and the chance to discover a real-life inspiration on their own journey through the city is absolutely part of the charm for Potter fans visiting York.”
Tourists, especially from China, often head into its information centre to enquire about how to get to the ‘real-life’ Diagon Alley.
Tags: Harry Potter, Visitors, york