Love at First Sight Filming Locations (in London and New York)
Last Updated on 20th September 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
This post may contain affiliate links. Please check out my privacy policy and disclosure for more information.
A Romantic Drama that charmed and enthralled Netflix users upon release in September 2023, Love at First Sight is a delightful romance movie featuring two young adults, Hadley and Oliver, who meet quite by happenstance as the result of a missed flight. The movie is predominantly set within London and New York and so here are some of the Love at First Sight filming locations you can check out for yourself.
I recently had the pleasure of watching this romantic film on a flight between NYC and London, which was certainly a great coincidence considering that the two main characters meet on a flight between the very two same cities!
The film is actually based on the 2012 novel The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. Haley Lu Richardson, Ben Hardy, Dexter Fletcher, Rob Delaney, Sally Phillips and Jameela Jamil all play pretty significant roles in this movie which was largely filmed in 2021.
The film is set around the Christmas period, which only adds to the cosy ambiance of watching this movie. Please note that the following article may contain spoilers if you haven’t already watched the movie!
Love at First Sight filming locations
Thanks to the enviable setting of the movie in two of the most important cities in the world, throughout the film you’ll be able to spy plenty of B-roll featuring iconic locations such as The Statue of Liberty, The Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus, Kew Gardens, and the New York City skyline.
Stansted London (doubles as John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City)
The very first spot where we meet the two main characters is at JFK International Airport which is in Queens, New York City. It is one of the main airports serving NYC, but the producers actually chose to shoot the scenes which were filmed here at Stansted airport in London.
If you look closely in the 4th minute of the film, when Hadley is trying to find an empty plug socket to charge her phone, then you can see the type G charger at the work station (the type which is used in the UK). The plane scenes themselves were filmed in a studio.
Stansted airport is then featured again after the plane scenes, only this time it features as itself. You can see the baggage collection area, as well as the neon-green entrance/ exit to Stansted airport terminal 3 when Hadley steps out into London for the first time.
Shoreditch, London
A hip and trendy area of East London, Hadley heads directly to the Shoreditch area from Stansted in order to attend her father’s wedding. Hadley’s Father’s wedding is at St Luke’s Church, which was constructed in 1733.
Rather interestingly, the church closed in 1959 and then stood abandoned and roofless for around 40 years before it was transformed into a music venue. It is now a Grade I listed building and can be hired out for wedding receptions.
The Bloomsbury Hotel to stand in for the Spitalfields Hotel
The very first place we see in Shoreditch is when Hadley is dropped off in front of what is meant to be the Spitalfields Hotel. The actual location is just outside of Christ Church, which is directly opposite the Spitalfields market, a food and gift indoor covered market place which has been in operation for hundreds of years.
In reality, there is no Spitalfields Hotel. I did a little bit of searching, and found that the exact hotel which was used as a filming location to stand in as the Spitalfields Hotel and it is the Bloomsbury Hotel.
This four-star hotel is actually located in London’s West End and the entrance was used, as well as one of the blue panelled bedrooms which is set off by a red headboard (it is the room where Hadley’s father is getting ready in prior to his wedding).
The absolutely stunning Coral Room of the real life Bloomsbury Hotel features in the movie as the location where Hadley and the other bridesmaids prepare for the ceremony. In reality, this room is actually a wine and cocktail bar. For more details, check out how to book a room here.
Asylum Chapel to stand in for Peckham House
While Hadley is attending her father’s wedding, Oliver is attending his mother’s living memorial in a venue which is called Peckham House in the movie. In actuality, there is no Peckham House venue for hire.
Instead, the interior that was actually used for filming looks pretty similar to Asylum Chapel in Peckham (which I think was probably what was used, though I’m not 100% sure), which is a former church transformed into a venue that can be rented out for filming and weddings.
Though Peckham House is meant to be in Peckham, the movie depicts the outside of the venue as having direct access onto the River Thames, which would be geographically impossible!
Regent’s Canal
When Hadley leaves Peckham, she somehow ends up walking along Regent’s Canal (there’s no explanation given as to how she reaches the water, only that she is lost and looking for directions).
Now, this canal actually stretches for 8.6 miles, though you can walk as much or as little as you like due to the presence of plenty of paths leading off to the above streets every few hundred metres or so.
Ezra Street Market
Ezra Street is a gorgeous street in East London which is located right next to the Columbia Road Flower Market. In the movie, Hadley ends up at the street visiting a night time street market.
Unfortunately, no such market exists and Ezra Street is not used to film this filming location. In fact, it looks like Camden was the inspiration for this market and was probably also the movie filming location to stand in for Ezra Street.
After the wedding ceremony, the evening reception in Love at First Sight is allegedly held at the Old Naval College in Greenwich (this is what it says on the invitations). However, the majority of the exterior shots of the building illuminated in pink are actually of the Queen’s House.
Greenwich is located to the east of central London and is a lovely leafy area which is famously kwnon for being home to the Meridian line, from which all time in the UK is calculated.
You can visit The Royal Naval College for a fee (book a guided tour here in advance) and you can head into the permanent collections of the Queen’s House (including the tulip stairs) for free.
I found another location: The scene where Hadley is walking through Peckham and asking directions to Peckham House, was filmed at Copeland Park & Bussey Building, 133 Industrial Park, Copeland Rd.
I found the location where the outside scenes at ‘Peckham House’ were filmed: The Master’s Shipwrights House, Watergate st, SE8 3JF
The scenes for the mother’s living memorial is not in Peckham, both the outside are and the inside of the building was filmed in Battersea Arts Centre
I love this guide! It’s such a lovely idea! I visited the set for the Memorial a couple years ago and I think, looking at the balcony in the film it may have been filmed in Wilson’s Music hall.
Hi, just to give you a couple of more specific locations: The Ezra Street scene was filmed at Three Mills Island (in front of the The House Mill) near Bromley-By-Bow E3 3DU and the stretch of Regent’s Canal was a couple of miles away next to Mile End Park (E3 4QA)