When Harry Potter first discovers that he is a wizard, he starts to learn that nothing in the Muggle world is truly what it seems - and that there is a thriving wizarding world right underneath the Muggle’s noses. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Diagon Alley, a cobbled street right in the center of London, where witches and wizards can get everything they need; from school supplies to robes, to books and jokes, to a lovely meal on a sidewalk patio.
The world of Diagon Alley is explored much more thoroughly in the books (and of course, Pottermore and the Harry Potter games and attractions) than it is in the movies, though. In the films, fans are treated to a few brief glimpses into the shops here, and a few references to others, but the movies barely scratch the surface. Even shops like Eyelops Owl Emporium are given only a brief moment in front of the camera - and there are plenty of incredible places that fans would love to visit that don’t even get that!
Obscurus Books & Whizz Hard Books
While a reasonable amount of time is spent inside Flourish and Botts, where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are able to get their schoolbooks (and meet the loathsome Professor Lockhart for the first time), these are far from the only bookish places in Diagon Alley. Obscurus Books is a publisher, famous for ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’ have their offices here, as do Whizz Hard Books, and the offices of the Daily Prophet can also be found here.
Sugar Plums Sweet Shop
The students of Hogwarts may satisfy their sweet tooths at Honeydukes during term-time, but Diagon Alley has a sweet shop as well. Sugar Plum’s is London’s answer to Honeydukes, where witches and wizards (of all ages) can stock up on Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, and Chocolate Frogs. This must be a magical place during term time, when adult witches and wizards can treat themselves in peace and quiet.
Gambol And Japes
Before there was Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, where did Fred, George and their friends get their pranking supplies? Gambol and Japes, of course.
The joke shop is mentioned briefly, to explain where the boys have been to stock up before heading to Hogwarts, and there’s a fantastic scene in Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, but many fans would have loved a scene in both to compare the two.
Slug & Jiggers
Unlike the bright colors of sweet shops and joke shops, fans can only imagine that Slug and Jiggers looks a lot more like Snape’s dungeons than anything. This shop is where witches and wizards can pick up potion supplies, and would have walls stocked with everything from mysterious jars of ingredients to plenty of plants and strange items that the Hogwarts students don’t learn how to use.
Magical Menagerie
Like some of the other entries on this list, the Magical Menagerie is referenced in the films, but fans didn’t get the scenes from the books that take place in side. The Menagerie is a wizarding pet store, of sorts, and it’s where Hermione first finds Crookshanks (while Ron is looking for medicine for his ailing ‘rat’). Adorable animals? Dancing mice? Magical creatures of all shapes and sizes? This would be a pet-lover’s paradise.
Terror Tours
Sure, a witch or wizard could just go off and explore as a muggle, or head to one of the other known wizarding hot spots… but for the truly adventurous wizarding vacationer, it’s time to head to Terror Tours (at 59 Diagon Alley).
This adventure travel agency promises to put wizards in exciting locations, Bermuda Triangle cruises, vampire-owned castles, all kinds of weird and wonderful wizarding vacations.
Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor
For many book fans, not getting a good look at Florean’s in the films was a crime. The summer that Harry spent at the Leaky Cauldron saw him spooning up sweet treats at the sidewalk tables, and Florean himself had more of a story in the series. However, the movies chose not to focus on the restaurants of Diagon Alley, instead spending time on the specific stores that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would use to get their school supplies (and of course, on Borgin and Burkes, where no Hogwarts student should be shopping!).
Junk Shop (And Second Hand Shops)
Many fans of the Harry Potter world have wondered what happens if witches and wizards don’t discover that they have been left with an enormous pile of gold in a Gringotts vault… new wands, new robes, new books - that must all add up.
However, there are plenty of second hand stores in Diagon Alley as well - where students can pick up what they need for a smaller price. Of course, adult witches and wizards must love these as well - the Junk Shop would be a must for any magical person who would love thrift stores as a muggle…
Madam Primpernelle’s Beautifying Potions
There are plenty of potions used in Harry Potter to do everything from re-grow bones to transform into someone else… but Madam Primpernelle has slightly less lofty goals. Her Diagon Alley shop is all about magical remedies for those witches and wizards who just want to be a little more beautiful. Whether this looks like the wizarding equivalent of a pharmacy or a fancy day spa, fans would have loved to get a glimpse of this corner of the wizarding world (and to know that even magic can’t always give someone exactly the look they want).
Rosa Lee Teabag
There is one other tea shop that gets more of a mention in Harry Potter: Madam Puddifoots. However, this place is described as a painfully frilly tea shop, the kind of place where wizards go for cloyingly cute dates or where elderly witches have afternoon tea. Rosa Lee’s tea shop may have been something a bit different, however. The name is likely a play on the cockney rhyming slang for tea (rosie lee), but that is all that has really been revealed about it. Perhaps this is a tea shop that focuses more on the reading of tea leaves, a place where Professor Trelawney would feel right at home… and that stocks magical teas, as well as the classic British cuppa (which is magical in its own right).
