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Twenty years ago this week zombies took over London in Edgar Wright’s rom-zom-com classic ‘Shaun of the Dead’. Specifically, on March 29, 2004, when the movie premiered at Vue West End.
If you haven’t seen it – and you really, really should – Wright’s second film, co-written with Pegg, follows two slacker Londoners, Shaun (Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost), as they slowly twig that those groaning, shuffling, bloodshot figures outside aren’t commuters. A zombie apocalypse is unfolding and only their favourite pub, The Winchester, offers sanctuary – and possibly a pint or two while they wait for it all the blow over.
An endlessly funny, self-aware, affectionate homage to George R Romero’s zombie flicks, it’s also a riff on the London romcom that Pegg and Wright initially pitched as ‘Richard Curtis shot in the head’. Since its release, it’s taken a leaf out of Shaun’s book and matured into a fully fledged member of the film canon, scoring a place on our list of The Greatest Comedies Ever Made and a claim to one of the greatest ever London comedies. Heck, even Tom Cruise is a ‘Shaun’ superfan.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary – and just because we love it a lot – we took a trip back in time to visit its key London locations, where Wright and his cast and crew shot the film in the spring of 2003. Watch it below.
Shaun’s house – Weston Park, N8
Shaun’s house in the film, shared, uneasily, with Peter Serafinowicz’s pissed-off Pete, is located at 83 Nelson Road, about ten minutes walk from Crouch End Broadway. His local newsagent – Weston Park Grocery, run by Nelson – is located just across the road, a hungover journey that he makes to buy a strawberry Cornetto and a Diet Coke when the zombie apocalypse begins in earnest. The house is still there, albeit with a smart new gate, and the newsagent is now a Londis.
Liz’s flat – Cunningham House, Highgate
Liz’s (Kate Ashfield) flat, shared with David and Di, is found on the Hillcrest Estate in Highgate. The post-war estate was built in 1948 and has a reputation for paranormal sightings by residents. An apt spot, then, for Shaun to do battle with a small horde of blood-thirsty zombies.
Shaun’s electrical shop – High Road, North Finchley
As his day job, Shaun works in an electrical store, trying to manage the obnoxious Noel (Rafe Spall) and keep his white goods emporium in some kind of order. The location used in the film is Garland Electronics on the High Road in North Finchley.
Barbara’s house – 37 Abbots Gardens, East Finchley
Shaun’s mum Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and his stepdad Philip (Bill Nighy) live in an unspecified leafy suburb in the movie. The actual location is a leafy, tucked-away suburb of East Finchley, about ten minutes walk from the Tube station. The house has changed a bit in the intervening years, with the garage now gone. Presumably because Philip’s Jag didn’t make it through the apocalypse.
The Winchester – 39 Monson Road, New Cross
‘Shaun’ may be a north London film, but its key location is found south of the river. The Duke of Albany pub, a hard bitten boozer in New Cross frequented by Millwall fans, was given a makeover and turned into The Winchester Tavern for the film. Boarded-up windows had to be replaced to film its exteriors, while the interior scenes were shot at Ealing Studios. The Duke of Albany closed in 2005 and the building has been a residential development since 2009 – although the words ‘fictionally The Winchester’ on its sign is a nice nod to its on-screen past.
‘Shaun of the Dead’ to ‘Withnail & I’: the 32 best London movies.
Simon Pegg on ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Mission: Impossible’ and being a Londoner.