Covent Garden, WC2
Covent Garden was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy in 1972 – his first London-based film since Stage Fright in 1950. At the time it was one of the capital's three great produce markets: Billingsgate for fish, Smithfield for meat, Covent Garden for fruit, veg and flowers. In 1973, the whole operation moved to a new purpose-built facility at Nine Elms, south of the Thames near Vauxhall, and the old market buildings have been titivated to become home to terrace cafes, boutiques and ubiquitous living statues. Frenzy has become a valuable record of the market as it was.
No mention of My Fair Lady? Well, despite what some guides may tell you, although the famous musical was set in Covent Garden (in front of St Paul's Church) not a frame of the movie was shot outside of the Warner Bros soundstages in Burbank – not even the Ascot scene, which saw real horses galloping full pelt through open doors and across the floor of the film studio.
Trivia: Covent Garden is a corrupted reference to the old convent garden which once stood on the site. When it was still a market, it was one of the few places in the UK where the stringent licensing laws were officially relaxed, allowing market porters to down a pint at the civilised hour of six in the morning.
Frenzy (1972, dir: Alfred Hitchcock)
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