Filmed September 2017 to January 2018 · London and Hertfordshire
Live Aid was rebuilt on a wartime runway. The family home was filmed across London because of the planes. Almost every building in the film is playing another one. Hold for plane
Feltham · under the Heathrow approach
The film’s story starts at Heathrow, with Farrokh Bulsara handling luggage. The real family lived a short walk from the airport, in Feltham, and the house is still there with a blue plaque. The crew could not record there: flights into Heathrow. Try it. Roll sound, and see how long you last.
The film opens in 1970 with him handling luggage at Heathrow.
The family moved to the house in 1964; he washed dishes at Heathrow; the blue plaque.
Not filmed in Feltham because of flight noise; the exterior shot on Malyons Road instead.
Gladstone Avenue, Feltham
Sound reportBohemian Rhapsody · the family home
Outside the Bulsara home, Gladstone Avenue, Feltham. Roll sound.
Gladstone Avenue, Feltham
The family moved here in November 1964, after leaving Zanzibar. English Heritage put up a blue plaque in 2016.
While he studied at Ealing he washed dishes in the kitchens at Heathrow Airport, close by. The film shows him handling luggage there.
The film did not shoot here, because of the noise of flights into Heathrow.
A private home with an English Heritage blue plaque. Named by its street, not pinned; the photograph shows the street.
Malyons Road, Ladywell
Across London, a street without aircraft. Print a take to open it, or find it in the guide.
Bovingdon · Hertfordshire · runway 02/20
The old Wembley Stadium was demolished in 2002. So Queen’s whole Live Aid set was rebuilt as a giant set on the main runway of a former bomber base, and computers built the stadium round it.
The airfield’s history and US Air Station 112.
Bovingdon Airfield Studios: history of filming at RAF Bovingdon
Runway size; the Live Aid stage built and filmed on it.
The whole Live Aid performance filmed at the former RAF Bovingdon.
Old Wembley demolished; computer graphics extended the set; the pub scene.
Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, HP3 0GH
Plays Wembley Stadium, 13 July 1985
Queen’s whole Live Aid performance was filmed on a giant set here, at the former RAF Bovingdon.
The studio says the Live Aid stage was built and filmed on its Main Runway: 950 metres long and 45 metres wide.
Computer graphics extended the set into a full stadium.
The airfield was built in 1941–42. As US Air Station 112 it flew combat missions and trained B-17 crews, and kept General Eisenhower’s own B-17.
Films have been shot here since The War Lover in 1961, among them 633 Squadron, Fast & Furious 6, Rogue One and 1917.
A working film studio on private land, with no public access. Enquiries go through the studio.
Wembley, north-west London
Queen’s Live Aid set began at 6.41pm on 13 July 1985 and lasted 21 minutes, in front of 72,000 people.
The old stadium was demolished in 2002, so the film rebuilt it on an airfield.
The film’s world premiere was at Wembley Arena on 23 October 2018.
The stadium was rebuilt on the old one’s ground. Tours run on most days; check around match and concert dates.
Wembley, London
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium on the ground where Queen played Live Aid; a VIP tour goes further.
Book a tour
57 Brook Road South, Brentford
Plays A pub watching Live Aid
The pub crowd watching Live Aid on television was filmed here.
It is also in the football film Green Street.
A friendly corner local a short walk from Brentford’s old Griffin Park ground.
A corner pub with a small beer garden. Closed on Mondays; open from noon the rest of the week.
Brentford · the Great West Road
Most of the film’s rooms were built inside one Art Deco factory. Its tower has a clock face on each side. Turn the tower: each face opens a set.
Face 1: The Bulsara family home. The family’s rooms, rebuilt indoors. The outside was filmed on Malyons Road.
The four sets built in the Gillette Building; Kenny Everett on Capital Radio in the story.
Movie Locations: Bohemian Rhapsody filming locationsWikipedia: Bohemian Rhapsody (film)
A clock face on each side of the tower.
Syon Lane at the Great West Road, Brentford
Plays Four rooms, from Feltham to Rio
Most of the interior sets were built inside: the Bulsara family home, the Capital Radio studio, the Top of the Pops studio and Freddie’s hotel room in “Rio de Janeiro”.
It is listed Grade II: built in 1937 to designs by Bannister Fletcher, with a very tall central tower and a clock face on each side.
Seen from the pavements of Syon Lane and the Great West Road. The building itself is not open to visitors.
1937
The factory went up for the razor maker in 1937, to designs by Bannister Fletcher. Eighty years later it held a family kitchen, a radio studio, the Top of the Pops studio and a hotel room in Brazil.
Crouch End · Bromley
Between them, two civic buildings play four places. Hornsey is Biba, where Freddie meets Mary Austin, and the EMI office of an executive the film invented. Bromley is Ealing Art College and, later, the clinic.
The Broadway, Crouch End
Plays Biba, and EMI
It plays two places: the Biba store, where Freddie shops in the ladies’ department, and Ray Foster’s office at EMI.
Ray Foster is invented for the film.
Queen, still billed as The Queen, played here as a support band on 19 February 1971.
After restoration it reopened with a public launch on 6 December 2025.
The aparthotel inside has 68 serviced studio apartments.
Reopened in December 2025 as an arts venue, with an aparthotel in the building. Walk into the square; check the venue’s listings for shows.
Crouch End, London · 68 studio apartments
An aparthotel inside Hornsey Town Hall, the building that plays Biba and EMI: 68 serviced studio apartments, with a cinema, an assembly hall and a rooftop bar in the complex.
See the hotel
Court Street and Tweedy Road, Bromley
Plays Ealing Art College, and a clinic
It plays Ealing Art College, where the band’s early gigs are filmed, and the clinic where Freddie is told he is ill.
The foundations were laid in 1906 and it opened in 1907. David Bowie’s wedding was held here.
Since May 2023 it has been Brama, a 23-room hotel; the restaurant, Dorothy and Marshall, is in the former courthouse.
Now a hotel, Brama, with a restaurant in the old courthouse; you can walk in for a meal.
Bromley, London · 23 rooms
A 23-room hotel in Bromley’s Old Town Hall, the building that plays Ealing Art College and the clinic, with the Dorothy and Marshall restaurant in the old courthouse. Opened in May 2023.
Read about the hotelThe film places Freddie’s diagnosis before Live Aid in 1985. It is not known exactly when he learned he was HIV positive; Jim Hutton, his partner from 1985, said it was April 1987.
The film’s timing; Jim Hutton’s date of April 1987.
TheWrap: Bohemian Rhapsody fact check, by Jeremy Fuster (2 November 2018)
Monmouthshire · Hertfordshire
Queen began “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Rockfield, a studio built on a Welsh farm, on 24 August 1975; Ridge Farm in Sussex was part of the story too. The film folds the two into one farm and shoots it by the canal near Rickmansworth, because Rockfield, still a working studio, was not suitable for filming.
Recording began at Rockfield on 24 August 1975.
Brian May (official site): on this day in Queen history, 24 August
Rockfield and Ridge Farm merged into one film farm; Rockfield not suitable for filming.
Rockfield, near Monmouth
On 24 August 1975 Queen began recording “Bohemian Rhapsody” here.
Charles and Kingsley Ward built it on their family farm: the world’s first residential recording studio.
It still works as a studio, but was not suitable for filming, so the film used a Hertfordshire farm.
A working studio on a private farm. Tours are by arrangement with the studio, and the Coach House can be rented to stay.
Rockfield, Monmouthshire
Self-catering accommodation at the studio farm where “Bohemian Rhapsody” was begun in 1975: seven bedroom suites, for up to 16 people.
Check availability157 kmas the crow flies
Stockers Farm Road, Batchworth, Rickmansworth
Plays The recording farm
The farm where the band make “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the film was shot here.
The film merges the two real places, Rockfield in Monmouthshire and Ridge Farm in Sussex, into this one farm.
The farm is also in 28 Weeks Later and Children of Men.
Private property. The photograph is taken across the water beside it; keep to public ways.
Three London postcodes
A riverside pub where the band meet the manager who takes them on. A street in Bankside that plays New York. And a Victorian church hall, now a recording studio, where the band come back together before Live Aid.
15 Lower Mall, Hammersmith
Plays Where the band meet John Reid
The band meet John Reid, who becomes their manager, here.
The pub dates from 1849; rowing sculls hang from the ceiling and benches out front face the river.
A riverside pub on Lower Mall, open daily from 11am.
London
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Outside the Print Rooms, 164–180 Union Street, Bankside
Plays New York
Southwark plays New York: Reid being thrown out of the limousine was filmed outside the Print Rooms.
A public street in Bankside.
Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead
Plays A rehearsal room before Live Aid
It plays the rehearsal room where the band come back together before Live Aid and Freddie tells them he is ill.
The hall was built as Lyndhurst Congregational Church, by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of the Natural History Museum.
AIR moved in around 1991. The hexagonal hall, about 300 square metres, holds a full orchestra and choir.
A working recording studio, not open to the public. See the building from Lyndhurst Road.
Lake Geneva · after the film ends
The film stops at Live Aid. Its closing words say Freddie Mercury died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991, and that his death led to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. The places it leaves out are on this lake: the studio Queen owned in the Casino, where he recorded his last vocals, and the statue the town put up by the water.
The band’s own World, with Rockfield, Garden Lodge and more of Montreux, is Freddie Mercury & Queen. The real Live Aid set is in Queen at Live Aid.
The closing text; the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Last vocals at Mountain Studios; the exhibition opened for the Trust.
Queen Online: Queen The Studio Experience, Montreux (press release, 14 November 2013)
Casino Barrière, Rue du Théâtre 9, Montreux
Mountain Studios was in the Casino. Queen first recorded there in 1978, bought it a year later and kept it until early 1993.
In his final months Freddie recorded his last vocals here; the exhibition keeps the control room, the microphone and his chair.
Brian May and Roger Taylor opened it on 2 December 2013 for the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Inside: handwritten lyrics, instruments, costumes, tape boxes, and a desk where you can mix Queen yourself.
Free, open daily 9am to 9pm, through the Casino’s Rue du Théâtre side.
Montreux · Free · daily 9am–9pm
The Mountain Studios control room where he recorded his last vocals, his microphone and chair, and a desk where you mix Queen yourself. Donations go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Plan a visit
Place du Marché, on the lakeside, Montreux
Irena Sedlecká’s three-metre bronze was unveiled on the lakeside promenade in 1996.
It shows him microphone in hand, fist raised, in his pose from Wembley in 1986.
Fans from all over the world leave flowers, letters and photographs on the pedestal.
Free, open all year, on the car-free lakeside promenade.
Cast, in order of appearance
Rami Malek played Freddie Mercury, with Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor and Joe Mazzello as John Deacon; Aidan Gillen played John Reid, Allen Leech Paul Prenter, and Mike Myers the invented Ray Foster. Bryan Singer has the directing credit; Dexter Fletcher took over in December 2017 to finish the shoot. The singing mixes Malek, Mercury’s own recordings and the Canadian singer Marc Martel.
It premiered at Wembley Arena on 23 October 2018, took $911.1 million worldwide, and won four Oscars: Best Actor for Malek, film editing, sound editing and sound mixing.
Cast, direction, vocals, premiere and box office.
The four Oscars.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: the 91st Academy Awards (2019)
Which building played which.
13 places you can visit: 8 in London, 2 in Hertfordshire and 3 further afield. The airfield, the farm, Rockfield and the two studio buildings are seen from outside. The two family homes are private and are not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The stadium was rebuilt on the old one’s ground. Tours run on most days; check around match and concert dates.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from the pavements of Syon Lane and the Great West Road. The building itself is not open to visitors.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A corner pub with a small beer garden. Closed on Mondays; open from noon the rest of the week.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Reopened in December 2025 as an arts venue, with an aparthotel in the building. Walk into the square; check the venue’s listings for shows.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now a hotel, Brama, with a restaurant in the old courthouse; you can walk in for a meal.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A riverside pub on Lower Mall, open daily from 11am.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street in Bankside.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working recording studio, not open to the public. See the building from Lyndhurst Road.
Wembley, north-west London
Queen’s Live Aid set began at 6.41pm on 13 July 1985 and lasted 21 minutes, in front of 72,000 people.
The stadium was rebuilt on the old one’s ground. Tours run on most days; check around match and concert dates.
Syon Lane at the Great West Road, Brentford
Most of the interior sets were built inside: the Bulsara family home, the Capital Radio studio, the Top of the Pops studio and Freddie’s hotel room in “Rio de Janeiro”.
Seen from the pavements of Syon Lane and the Great West Road. The building itself is not open to visitors.
57 Brook Road South, Brentford
The pub crowd watching Live Aid on television was filmed here.
A corner pub with a small beer garden. Closed on Mondays; open from noon the rest of the week.
The Broadway, Crouch End
It plays two places: the Biba store, where Freddie shops in the ladies’ department, and Ray Foster’s office at EMI.
Reopened in December 2025 as an arts venue, with an aparthotel in the building. Walk into the square; check the venue’s listings for shows.
Court Street and Tweedy Road, Bromley
It plays Ealing Art College, where the band’s early gigs are filmed, and the clinic where Freddie is told he is ill.
Now a hotel, Brama, with a restaurant in the old courthouse; you can walk in for a meal.
15 Lower Mall, Hammersmith
The band meet John Reid, who becomes their manager, here.
A riverside pub on Lower Mall, open daily from 11am.
Outside the Print Rooms, 164–180 Union Street, Bankside
Southwark plays New York: Reid being thrown out of the limousine was filmed outside the Print Rooms.
A public street in Bankside.
Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead
It plays the rehearsal room where the band come back together before Live Aid and Freddie tells them he is ill.
A working recording studio, not open to the public. See the building from Lyndhurst Road.
Stay
A hotel in each of the two town halls, and the Coach House at Rockfield.
Crouch End, London · 68 studio apartments
An aparthotel inside Hornsey Town Hall, the building that plays Biba and EMI: 68 serviced studio apartments, with a cinema, an assembly hall and a rooftop bar in the complex.
See the hotelBromley, London · 23 rooms
A 23-room hotel in Bromley’s Old Town Hall, the building that plays Ealing Art College and the clinic, with the Dorothy and Marshall restaurant in the old courthouse. Opened in May 2023.
Read about the hotelRockfield, Monmouthshire
Self-catering accommodation at the studio farm where “Bohemian Rhapsody” was begun in 1975: seven bedroom suites, for up to 16 people.
Check availabilityGo there
Wembley Stadium, the Studio Experience in Montreux, and walks from the marketplace.
Wembley, London
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium on the ground where Queen played Live Aid; a VIP tour goes further.
Book a tourMontreux · Free · daily 9am–9pm
The Mountain Studios control room where he recorded his last vocals, his microphone and chair, and a desk where you mix Queen yourself. Donations go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Plan a visitLondon
Live marketplace results for Queen, Freddie Mercury and film-location walks in London. None is about this film; check each itinerary.
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The jazz festival on the lake, a walk from the statue.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
The film’s album, and two lives of Freddie Mercury.
Queen · CD, 2018
The soundtrack album, released on 19 October 2018, the week before the premiere.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyPeter Freestone
A memoir by Peter Freestone, who worked for Freddie Mercury (Omnibus Press, 2001).
Find the bookLesley-Ann Jones
A biography by the journalist Lesley-Ann Jones (Simon & Schuster, 2012).
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 18 of 18 Moments
Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, HP3 0GH
The whole Live Aid set is restaged on a runway, and computers build the stadium round it.
Stockers Farm Road, Batchworth, Rickmansworth
The band make “Bohemian Rhapsody” on a farm that merges Rockfield and Ridge Farm.
Wembley, north-west London
Queen’s real Live Aid set: 21 minutes from 6.41pm.
The film’s world premiere, at Wembley Arena.
Syon Lane at the Great West Road, Brentford
The family home, Capital Radio, Top of the Pops and a hotel room in Rio, all built inside one factory.
57 Brook Road South, Brentford
A pub crowd watches Live Aid on television.
The Broadway, Crouch End
Freddie meets Mary Austin, who works at Biba, and shops in its ladies’ department.
An invented EMI executive refuses to release “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a single; the worry was its length.
Court Street and Tweedy Road, Bromley
The band’s early gigs, set at Ealing Art College.
Freddie is told he is ill.
Gladstone Avenue, Feltham
The film’s story opens in 1970 with Farrokh Bulsara handling luggage at Heathrow.
Malyons Road, Ladywell, Lewisham
The Bulsara home, seen briefly from outside; Malyons Road stands in for Feltham.
15 Lower Mall, Hammersmith
The band meet the manager who will take them on.
Outside the Print Rooms, 164–180 Union Street, Bankside
Reid is thrown out of the limousine on a “New York” street.
Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead
The band come back together and Freddie tells them he is ill.
Rockfield, near Monmouth
The real recording begins at Rockfield.
Casino Barrière, Rue du Théâtre 9, Montreux
In his final months he records his last vocals in Montreux.
Place du Marché, on the lakeside, Montreux
Montreux puts him on the lakefront, fist raised.
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