Hamburg 1978 · Zagreb 1983 · Drammen 1985 Played with the fingers, no pick
Six strings across three photos from the first seven years. Pluck one.
A first gig powered by extension leads behind a Deptford council block. Six weeks of rain on Montserrat, a steel guitar held up to the sky, and two shows at Wembley on the same night.
Put the pick down ↓John Illsley, Mark Knopfler, Pick Withers and David Knopfler in Hamburg, 28 October 1978. Mark Knopfler in Zagreb, 12 July 1983. John Illsley and Mark Knopfler in Drammen, Norway, 22 October 1985. Photos: Heinrich Klaffs, Zoran Veselinović, Helge Øverås.
Crossfield Estate, Deptford · 1977
Dire Straits’ first hit rested on Mark Knopfler’s fluid, finger-picked guitar style. Louder / Classic Rock Pluck the six strings the way he does, thumb on the low three, index, middle and ring on the top three, and each one opens part of the flat where it started.
Six strings, low E at the top. Drag across them, or press a string below.
Nothing plucked yet. The first string is the flat itself.
The building behind the band at their first gig on the Crossfield Estate in 1977 is today’s Cockpit Arts. Its Love Over Gold mural was designed in 1989 by Gary Drostle with local primary-school children, and commissioned partly by Dire Straits.
A building of craft studios, open to the public on open-studio days. The green behind Farrer House is a short walk across the estate.
Nassau · Manhattan · Montserrat · Oxford Circus
The cover photograph happened by accident: Deborah Feingold, shooting the band in Montserrat, took a couple of test frames of her assistant holding Knopfler’s 1937 National resonator guitar up to the sky. Tilt the body and the light runs across the nickel; four studios where the records were made slide into the reflection.
1978 · West Bay Street, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas
Communiqué, the second album, was recorded in December 1978 at Compass Point Studio, Nassau.
The studio stood across the street from the Compass Point resort, and was owned by Chris Blackwell of Island Records.
The resort’s cottages are on West Bay Street; the studio was across the road. Look from the street.
In the steel: Compass Point, Nassau, 1978.
Wembley · 13 July 1985
Money for Nothing came out on 28 June 1985, the day the tour reached Britain, with a computer-animated video by Steve Barron. Illsley remembers it being very expensive. Build the place the same way: flat-shaded triangles, doubling pass by pass, until the photograph comes through.
Pass 1 of 5: 6 × 5 cells, 60 flat triangles.
Rebuilt on the same site. Take a stadium tour, or go to a match or a show.
Wembley, London HA9
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium on the site where Dire Straits played Live Aid on 13 July 1985. Standard and VIP tours; check the booking page for prices and days.
Book a tourSalem, Montserrat · 1979 to now
Still to fall.
Still to fall.
Still to fall.
Still to fall.
Still to fall.
Still to fall.
The studio in 1979, clean and white. Let a year fall.
The observation deck looks over the volcano, the Belham Valley and Plymouth.
Open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm; entry is free and the film is EC$10 (US$4) for adults.
Montserrat
Live marketplace results for Montserrat day trips and volcano tours, many from Antigua. None goes into AIR Montserrat, which is a private ruin; check each itinerary.
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Compare toursMorar · Pennan · Newcastle · 1983
Local Hero, in 1983, was Mark Knopfler’s first credit as a film composer, and earned him a BAFTA nomination. The film’s village is on the other side of the country, at Pennan.
Two coasts and a city, as the crow flies.
Camusdarach, south of Morar, Highland
Camusdarach, just south of Morar, starred in Local Hero as Ben’s beach.
On the skyline are Eigg, the jagged hills of Rum and the Cuillins of Skye.
Park half a mile north of Camusdarach Campsite, cross the wooden footbridge and walk a quarter of a mile through the dunes.
Pennan, Aberdeenshire
Pennan’s red telephone box became famous after it featured in Local Hero, and visitors still come to make a call from it.
The Pennan Inn, next to it, was in the film too.
On the seafront, next to the Pennan Inn.
Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne
Going Home, the theme from Local Hero, has welcomed Newcastle United onto the pitch since the early 1990s.
In 2024 it was re-recorded by Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes, with Sting, Sam Fender and more than 60 others, mostly at British Grove in West London, for the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America. It was first played here before the Wolves match on 2 March 2024. Knopfler was born in Glasgow in 1949. The family moved to Newcastle in the 1950s, and both brothers went to a grammar school in Gosforth.
Newcastle United’s ground. Classic tours run every day; on match days, listen for Going Home as the team comes out.
Pennan, Aberdeenshire
The inn beside the Local Hero phone box, in the film itself. Three rooms named after the film’s characters, two with sea views, above an AA Rosette restaurant cooking fish landed that day at Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Macduff.
Book a room or a tableBarrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne · From £24
The players’ tunnel, the home dressing room, the media suite and a high view of the ground that walks out to Going Home. Adults £24, concessions £19, juniors £13; weekdays at 12.30pm and 2.30pm, five times on weekend days.
Book a tourFirst gig to last · 1977 to 1992
Mark Knopfler and John Illsley were the two who stayed from the green behind Farrer House to the last night. Both are still playing.
Singer, songwriter, guitar
Before the band he was a cub reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds, where one of his first jobs was Jimi Hendrix’s obituary in September 1970. Louder / Classic Rock
He walked off stage in Zaragoza at 10.10pm on 9 October 1992, the last night of Dire Straits on the road. Louder / Classic Rock
Bass
He grew up in rural Leicestershire and was studying sociology at Goldsmiths when he shared the Deptford flat with David Knopfler. Louder / Classic Rock
Live Aid, he says, was a unique privilege for all of them, and has become a fabulous memory. Louder / Classic Rock
11 places you can visit. 1 Farrer House is a private flat, so it is named and left off the map; the Power Station, Compass Point and the AIR Montserrat ruin are seen from outside.
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. A building of craft studios, open to the public on open-studio days. The green behind Farrer House is a short walk across the estate.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A shop now. Walk in from Oxford Street; the studios were on the fourth floor.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Rebuilt on the same site. Take a stadium tour, or go to a match or a show.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working arena across the square from the stadium. Buy a ticket for any show.
18–22 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8
The building behind the band at their first gig on the Crossfield Estate in 1977 is today’s Cockpit Arts.
A building of craft studios, open to the public on open-studio days. The green behind Farrer House is a short walk across the estate.
214 Oxford Street, Oxford Circus, London W1
AIR’s London studios were in an old banqueting hall on the fourth floor of the Peter Robinson department store at Oxford Circus.
A shop now. Walk in from Oxford Street; the studios were on the fourth floor.
Olympic Way, Wembley, London HA9
Just after 6pm on 13 July 1985, Dire Straits went on at Live Aid, between U2 and Queen.
Rebuilt on the same site. Take a stadium tour, or go to a match or a show.
Arena Square, Engineers Way, Wembley, London HA9
Dire Straits played twelve nights in a row at Wembley Arena, from 4 to 16 July 1985, with guests including Pete Townshend, Sting and Hank Marvin.
A working arena across the square from the stadium. Buy a ticket for any show.
Stay
The Pennan Inn, in the Local Hero village, with rooms named after the film’s characters.
Pennan, Aberdeenshire
The inn beside the Local Hero phone box, in the film itself. Three rooms named after the film’s characters, two with sea views, above an AA Rosette restaurant cooking fish landed that day at Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Macduff.
Book a room or a tableGo there
St James’ Park and Wembley Stadium tours, and marketplace day trips to Montserrat.
Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne · From £24
The players’ tunnel, the home dressing room, the media suite and a high view of the ground that walks out to Going Home. Adults £24, concessions £19, juniors £13; weekdays at 12.30pm and 2.30pm, five times on weekend days.
Book a tourWembley, London HA9
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium on the site where Dire Straits played Live Aid on 13 July 1985. Standard and VIP tours; check the booking page for prices and days.
Book a tourMontserrat
Live marketplace results for Montserrat day trips and volcano tours, many from Antigua. None goes into AIR Montserrat, which is a private ruin; check each itinerary.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
The building behind their first gig opens its doors this winter.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
An original poster from the last tour from our store, John Illsley’s book, and four records tied to these places.
An original 1992 concert poster from the last Dire Straits tour, art by Gary Grimshaw. 13 × 19 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterJohn Illsley
The bassist’s own story, from the Deptford flat onwards.
Find the bookDire Straits · LP, Vertigo 9102 021, 1978
The first album, made at Basing Street after the Deptford demo, with Sultans of Swing on it.
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Find a copyDire Straits · LP, Warner Bros. BSK 3480, 1980
Made at the Power Station in New York.
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Find a copyMark Knopfler · LP, Vertigo 811 038-1, 1983
His first film score; Going Home closes it.
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Find a copyDire Straits · LP, Vertigo VERH 25, 1985
Recorded on Montserrat, overdubbed at the Power Station, mixed at Oxford Circus.
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Find a copyDates, 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.
12 of 12 places · 17 of 17 Moments
Crossfield Estate, Deptford
Mark, David and John share a council flat in Deptford.
The Cafe Racers play the Crossfields Free Festival on extension leads from the flat.
Written after a rainy night in a near-empty pub; demoed in July and played by Charlie Gillett.
PRS marks the flat where the band began.
18–22 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8
214 Oxford Street, Oxford Circus, London W1
Six days on an SSL console at AIR, Oxford Circus.
Olympic Way, Wembley, London HA9
Two songs between U2 and Queen, then across the car park to the Arena.
Arena Square, Engineers Way, Wembley, London HA9
Money for Nothing comes out with Steve Barron’s video as the tour reaches Britain.
441 West 53rd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Dire Straits record at the Power Station in New York.
Final overdubs in Manhattan.
West Bay Street, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas
The second album is recorded in Nassau.
Friths Road, Salem, Montserrat
Six weeks of rain, a small room, a digital recorder and Sting down the beach.
Test frames of the 1937 National become the album cover.
The studio is damaged beyond repair and closes.
Flemings, Salem, Montserrat
The Soufrière Hills volcano buries Plymouth and the airport.
Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Knopflers move from Glasgow to Newcastle; both boys go to grammar school in Gosforth.
The re-recorded Local Hero is first played at St James’ Park.
Pennan, Aberdeenshire
Camusdarach, south of Morar, Highland
Knopfler’s first film score; the beach and the village sit on opposite coasts of Scotland.
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