The Elephant House Coffee Shop to Open in the Philippines

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Located in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Elephant House (which suffered a fire in 2021) is a coffee shop and restaurant well-known to the Harry Potter fandom. As a sign outside the front door proclaims, the café is often called the “birthplace of Harry Potter“; the back room is where the books were first penned, and it’s now considered a mandatory stop on any Potter-centric tour of Europe.

This December, the café is getting its first international location, reports ABS-CBN News. Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan, Metro Manila, will become the new home of the Elephant House, giving fans in the Philippines a piece of Potter history in their own backyard.

“Greenhills Mall has always supported the many interests and hobbies of our shoppers, and the Harry Potter fandom will soon experience the magic themselves,” said Arch. Renee Bacani, vice president of Ortigas Malls, in a statement Friday. The new location results from a collaboration between the Elephant House, retailer Museum Context, and Philippine restaurant group Visum Ventures.

Harry Potter isn’t the only series to find its start at the original Elephant House. According to the cafe’s website, Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) and Ian Rankin (the Rebus novels) are also frequent customers, as are many other writers – giving the Edinburgh location a reputation as a known authors’ café.

Abby E

I’ve been writing ever since I was a kid, but I like to think I’ve improved some since the third grade. I’m a big believer in the power of fictional worlds and characters to change lives, and you can usually find me writing some sort of ill-advised self-insert fanfiction, or encouraging others to do so! When I’m not writing about people who don’t exist, I’m reading, listening to (or writing!) fanmusic, or participating in fan-led activism.