{"id":600096,"date":"2026-05-23T17:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/600096\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T17:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:01:11","slug":"in-search-of-londons-real-amandaland-just-dont-call-it-so-ha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/600096\/","title":{"rendered":"In search of London\u2019s real Amandaland \u2014 just don\u2019t call it So-Ha"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every underdog of British comedy needs a stomping ground. Del Boy had Peckham, David Brent had Slough and Amanda, of the BBC hit\u00a0Amandaland, has So-Ha.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Amanda\u2019s rebrand of south Harlesden in northwest London, to the unacquainted. Or, as Amanda\u2019s much-trampled friend Anne describes it, \u201cthat area around Wormwood Scrubs Prison\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the show, Amanda is a blonde, middle-class mummy who finds herself swapping her Waitrose life in Chiswick for a Tesco Metro one in south Harlesden after an acrimonious divorce.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarling, let me in before I get mugged,\u201d says Amanda\u2019s mum, played deliciously by Joanna Lumley, when she arrives at the door of her daughter\u2019s house claiming the whole area \u201csmells like buses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harlesden actually has a Tesco Express, rather than a Metro, but when I went down there last week few residents had even heard of the show. So-Ha drew blank expressions whenever it was mentioned. \u201cWhat, South Hampstead?\u201d one replied.<\/p>\n

The truth is that \u201cSouth Harlesden\u201d is a confected, impossible location (possibly deliberately so as not to offend anyone); most people simply call it Harlesden, as the south of the neighbourhood is home to never-ending HS2 works and an industrial park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ABEN MONTGOMERY FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

Residents\u2019 ignorance of their newfound fame may partly be down to the fact the show wasn\u2019t filmed there. Shooting for Amandaland took place around Muswell Hill, Islington and parts of Newham in east London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amanda\u2019s house is in Ferntower Road, which the journalist and resident Harry Wallop says is on \u201cthe scruffy side of Highbury\u201d in Islington. It still wasn\u2019t scruffy enough for Harlesden apparently, because the production crew artfully distressed the street with rubbish bags and an upturned shopping trolley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FerntowerFerntower Road in Islington, where the exterior of Amanda\u2019s house is filmedGOOGLE<\/p>\n

But is the real Harlesden, once known as the gun-crime capital of London, as gritty as the TV version? Matthew Davis, 53, says the area has been \u201cup and coming\u201d since he moved there in 2004. Like most people who buy into the area, he was living nearby but in need of more space on a budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur generations\u2019 parents had enough money to live in Queen\u2019s Park or Muswell Hill, but we couldn\u2019t afford it anymore, so this is the last stop along the northwest corridor,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n

It may not be affordable for long. Davis bought his four-bedroom house in Wendover Road for \u00a3380,000 and now it\u2019s\u00a0on sale\u00a0for \u00a3950,000 (after extensive renovation work). Harlesden is also set to benefit from \u00a320 million of investment over the next ten years, as part of the government\u2019s Pride in Place funding to revitalise \u201cleft-behind\u201d neighbourhoods. It will be hooked up to the Elizabeth Line via the upcoming West London Orbital and, one day, HS2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are roads branching off the high street where average house prices are over \u00a31 million, largely due to surprisingly spacious period houses, links to the Tube and some good schools. Harlesden Gardens is a prime example; a tree-lined road that is next to Maple Walk, a small independent prep school. Louis Theroux is rumoured to live nearby and was once elected \u201ctown champion\u201d by the local council.<\/p>\n

Eric Haendler, 56, who owns an architecture practice, moved from Maida Vale to Harlesden Gardens in 2015 with his partner and children. Like most incomers, he likes the mix of people in the area but chooses to shop and dine in Kensal Rise or Willesden Green. \u201cThe high street is a real issue,\u201d he says. \u201cIt lacks coherence, there is not enough parking and there\u2019s a lot of heavy traffic through a residential area. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s crime-ridden, but it doesn\u2019t feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HomeEric HaendlerBEN MONTGOMERY FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

\"HarlesdenHarlesden Gardens leads towards some of the area\u2019s more valuable homesBEN MONTGOMERY FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

There certainly isn\u2019t a kitchen shop Amanda could \u201ccollab\u201d with here. Overpopulated with fast food and betting shops, the high street is \u201capocalyptic\u201d when the sun goes down, according to one resident, Danny, who has lived in Harlesden all his life. Shoplifting is blatant and people with complex mental health needs congregate around the Crisis centre in the middle of the high street at night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are beloved veteran businesses, such as One Stop Caribbean and Sam\u2019s Chicken, where Amelia Dimoldenberg filmed Chicken Shop Date<\/a> interviews with Billie Eilish and Lando Norris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But energy prices and high business rates, on top of the crime, mean many are struggling to survive. Mohamed Ramal, 42, who works in Hastee Fresh Fish, says the area is \u201cnice but there are a lot of crackheads\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FishmongerMohamed Ramal of Hastee Fresh FishBEN MONTGOMERY FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

He used to sell six fish for \u00a310 but now he has to sell four for the same price. \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult time,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to explain to the customers there\u2019s a war and that means the prices go up, but some believe you and some don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other businesses are more optimistic about the area\u2019s future. Robert Garfield, 56, opened Tia Liah\u2019s, a Brazilian caf\u00e9 selling hearty traditional dishes, 18 months ago and it\u2019s off to a \u201cflying start\u201d, he says. He lives in Finchley and set up the caf\u00e9 with his Brazilian sister-in-law Leah after friends told him the area was undervalued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I told friends who don\u2019t live around here that I got a coffee shop in Harlesden, they immediately went on Amazon and started sending me photos of stab vests and things like that, joking that I was moving to the Wild West,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Garfield of Tia Liah\u2019sBEN MONTGOMERY FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

While he is also struggling to keep prices down, he is spotting more and more affluent owners from the bigger houses coming in to mingle at the weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find that the vast majority of people are friendly and just want to get on with their lives,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a lot of street life, but I think that\u2019s true of all of London. I\u2019d like to think that some areas can improve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every underdog of British comedy needs a stomping ground. Del Boy had Peckham, David Brent had Slough and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-600096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}