With Manchester and its surrounding areas being a hotspot for filming world-renowned films and TV shows, it’s no surprise that the latest big Netflix series, House of Guinness, has used our area to create a cinematic world, with filming locations all over the region. Now available on Netflix, House of Guinness chronicles the famous Guinness family’s trajectory, which led us to the black stuff we still love so much today – Manchester particularly so.
The head of the Guinness brewery is dead. Now his children must navigate power, rebellion and scandal… or risk losing it all. Siblings Arthur (Anthony Boyle), Edward (Louis Partridge), Anne (Emily Fairn), and Ben (Fionn O’Shea) experience ecstatic highs and heartbreaking lows as they work to live up to their birthright of black gold.
Since it’s set to be the next big thing, we’ve collated the locations in and around Manchester that were used in the filming of House of Guinness, most of which you can visit any day.
Northern Quarter
Seen filming extensively in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in autumn 2024, House of Guinness uses the urban sprawl of Manchester city centre as a stand in for 19th century Dublin and New York following the true, if dramatised, story of the infamous Guinness family.
Lever Street, Dale Street and Back Piccadilly were all spotted filled to the brim with props including pigs, market stalls and shopfronts, and luggage and carts back in 2024. A covering of rubble was sprinkled along the streets to give the Manchester concrete that rustic, 19th century New York feel, ready for plenty of the black stuff to be produced and drank in House of Guinness.
Heaton Hall
Heaton Park and the magnificent Heaton Hall which presides over the gardens and grounds have long enjoyed the limelight. A varied portfolio of titles including Coronation Street, It’s A Sin, A Gentleman In Moscow, Bancroft, Traces, Brassic, Red Rose, Ridley and now House of Guinness have all seen the Screen Manchester Team find the perfect locations in the park to bring the word on the page to life on the screen.
The Hall evokes a grand Victorian feel, and the surrounding park makes for the perfect countryside backdrop – so is the perfect spot for House of Guinness.
Ancoats
Equally, Ancoats is packed full of the Victorian canals and mill buildings that would’ve been rife at the time of the House of Guinness events. The famous Anita Street features as the Guinness brewery expands, and factory buildings can we seen left, right and centre, so Ancoats was a pretty perfect filming location for this one. We can just see members of the family walking the cobbles or taking a boat down the canals…
St Philips Chapel Street, Salford
This Grade II listed Anglican parish church in the heart of Salford was the perfect double for 19th century streets in House of Guinness. Both interior and exterior scenes were filmed at St Philips, including those with fake snow, and the church plays a role in plenty of pivotal scenes – so keep your eyes peeled.
Little Underbank, Stockport
In July 2024, the beautiful Underbank area of Stockport was redesigned to become a 19th century Dublin street for House of Guinness. Stockport itself is fast becoming a popular filming destination with Inside No. 9, Everything I Know About Love, Brassic and more choosing to film there in recent years, and with much of that Victorian charm still looming large (and being restored), it’s the perfect filming location for House of Guinness.
Space Studios, Manchester
Aside from the very real locations used in Manchester for filming House of Guinness, the crew also used one of our very best film studios to polish off the Netflix series. Space Studios in Gorton was used for scenes that couldn’t be filmed on location, particularly interior shots and those with special effects – although, that demolition scene with Mr Rafferty walking triumphantly towards the camera was very much done on location – looking at James Norton’s Instagram…
Tatton Park, Cheshire
Although not in Manchester, the beautiful Tatton Park isn’t too far from us, and was also used when filming House of Guinness. The grounds and grand mansion were used as a backdrop for the action and some truly pivotal scenes, specifically the gorgeous library, evoking that Victorian, literary feel that makes the series so rich. Reportedly, the team made every effort to protect the heritage of the building and room, much to the amazement of Tatton Park staff.
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
The National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port is a historic dock on the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire and part of the Canal & River Trust. Filming took place there in October and December of 2024, where areas of the museum site were transformed into 19th century graving docks in Dublin and the toll house became The Angel pub complete with Guinness signage – an instrumental part of the plot.
Liverpool
Multiple iconic locations in Liverpool were also used to build the House of Guinness world, including the outstanding St George’s Hall (which recently doubled as Gotham in Matt Reeves’ The Batman), Collingwood Docks, Tobacco Warehouse and Stanley Docks. Although Liverpool does a very good job of doubling as its neighbour just across the Irish Sea, locals with most definitely be able to pick out the Scouse of it all at certain points.
North Yorkshire
Nestled just outside of Skipton in North Yorkshire, Broughton Hall Estate is a Georgian country house sitting in 3,000 acres of landscaped grounds. This beautiful location has been used in All Creatures Great and Small and plays a key role in House of Guinness too, becoming country retreat St Anne’s House, belonging to Arthur Guinness and his wife Lady Olivia.
You can watch House of Guinness now on Netflix.
