40 years of My Beautiful Laundrette: how the London locations look today
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke, My Beautiful Laundrette broke major ground in its bold exploration of race and sexuality in the Thatcher era. Forty years on, what’s become of the laundrette and the other London locations?
From the Liverpool of Gumshoe (1971) to the London of Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Stephen Frears always had a knack for city-based drama. Urban settings have sparked his most successful films. The most famous of these is still his celebrated 1985 film My Beautiful Laundrette, which turns 40 this year.
The debut of screenwriter Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette follows Omar (Gordon Warnecke), the disappointing nephew of Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey). After the death of his father, and before he heads off to college, Omar is wanting to make his way in the world when Nasser casually offers him the chance to run a down-and-out laundrette in south London, one of many businesses the mogul-ish family own.
A chance encounter with Omar’s secret old flame Johnny (Daniel-Day Lewis), a working-class skinhead, inspires Omar to set up shop and run the laundrette how he sees fit. Initially, the venture is a success, but, amid the racial and sexual tensions of the period, coupled with the dodgy dealings of Nasser’s son Salim (Derrick Branche), how long will Omar’s unusual utopia last?
The London depicted in Frears’ film is bleak and wintry. In spite of the jovial, almost fantastical optimism of its lead character, the locations highlight the brutal, smashed-window realm of the capital in the 1980s, filled with squats, seedy dives and dilapidated housing.
Here are five locations from My Beautiful Laundrette as they stand today.
My Beautiful Laundrette is back in cinemas now, including an extended run at BFI Southbank from 8 August.
The house
Nasser owns several properties around London, and when he finds that one of the tenants is no longer paying the rent, he asks Johnny to help kick him out.
The house is on Bedford Road in Clapham. The street is seen as Nasser walks from his car to the house.
We see the other side of the street when the tenant is booted out, waiting for his things to be thrown out of the window.
After helping on the job, Nasser offers Johnny a flat in the property. The house itself is number 63 and is far more lavish today than the 1980s squat depicted in the film.
Frears also shoots the upper part of the house, specifically when Johnny cuts the power on an annoyingly loud party, leaving them in the dark.
The flat
Salim lives in a flat in Carlisle Place near Victoria. Though we don’t see the full exterior of the flat, we do get a handful of shots from its balcony looking out to the street.
Because of the angle of the shots, this places Salim’s flat as the one directly above the doorway of 41 to 50 Carlisle Flats.
The pub
One of the distinctive features of the street where Omar has his laundrette is an old pub, seen in the background. The pub was The Gladstone and appears variously throughout the film.
The building today is unchanged, though it sadly hasn’t been a pub since the 2010s. These days it’s a William Hill betting shop.
In fact, the whole street has been restructured, as can be seen via a shot highlighting the pub at the end.
Battersea
Omar’s Papa (Roshan Seth) lives far from the luxury of Omar’s uncle. His flat is seen several times throughout the film, mostly taking in the view from its rear balcony. However, when Nasser finally visits his brother, we see a more specific series of shots showing the location of the building. Here, Nasser is walking along Ravenet Street in Battersea with the arches of the railway in the background.
He turns the corner on to Queenstown Road where the flat is located.
The flat is in the first house that connects the corner of the two streets at number 239 A.
Although I was unable to recreate the view from the flat’s rear balcony, the railway at the back leads to Queenstown Road station where we eventually see Tania (Rita Wolf) leave town.
The laundrette
Like The Gladstone, the laundrette was on Wilcox Road. The road is filmed in great detail throughout the film. As can be seen in the photos, the whole block was demolished only recently, replaced with a new ‘luxury’ block.
This shot looking out from the laundrette shows the other side of Wilcox Road, which, thankfully, remains standing.
The laundrette itself was at 25 to 27 Wilcox Road. Unfortunately, all evidence of the original building has gone.
This has only been done recently. The laundrette was standing until 2023 when the block was earmarked for demolition. At least Frears’ film documented the area before such a change occurred.
On the day of the visit, the particular block where the laundrette stood was actually open. Rather like early on in the film, it’s still undergoing work, though it’s doubtful it’ll end up as charming and human as Omar and Johnny’s laundrette.
