Shaftesbury Avenue

• Type: Muggle Street / Entertainment District
• Location: West End of London, England, Great Britain
• Owner/Residents: N/A (Public thoroughfare)
• Key Features: Numerous theatres, bustling nightlife, significant Muggle population

Shaftesbury Avenue is a major, real-world street in the West End of London, famous for being the heart of the city's theatre district. In the wizarding context, it is known primarily as a location familiar to Hermione Granger from her Muggle upbringing. Her dentist parents used to take her to see plays there, making it a place of personal significance and a memory tied to her life outside the magical world. Because of its strong association with Muggle culture and its lack of any known magical significance, Hermione considered it a safe and unlikely place for Death Eaters to search for them, leading her to choose it as an emergency escape destination.

Shaftesbury Avenue serves as the first refuge for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger after they are forced to flee the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. When the Ministry of Magic falls and Death Eaters attack The Burrow, Hermione's quick thinking leads her to Side-Along Apparate with Harry and Ron to this busy London street. Upon their chaotic arrival in the middle of the night, still in their dress robes, they startle several Muggles. They quickly duck into a dark side street where they change into normal Muggle clothing that Hermione had stored in her handbag, which was enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Seeking a place to collect their thoughts, they enter a small, dingy, all-night café. This location becomes the site of the trio's first battle as fugitives. Two Death Eaters, Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle, who were searching for Harry Potter in the area, track them to the café. A short, violent duel erupts, which ends with Harry stunning Dolohov with a Full Body-Bind Curse and Hermione wiping both of the Death Eaters' memories of the encounter. This incident underscores that nowhere is truly safe for them and introduces the danger of the Taboo placed on Voldemort's name, which they later deduce is how they were found. After the fight, the trio flees the area and takes refuge at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

• All-night café: A small, “dingy” café located just off the main avenue where the trio stopped to rest. It was here that they were ambushed by Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle.
• Side-street: An unnamed, dark side-street or alley where the trio changed from their wedding robes into Muggle clothes immediately after their Apparition.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the trio's arrival is depicted more dramatically. They Apparate directly into the path of a double-decker bus at Piccadilly Circus, which is adjacent to Shaftesbury Avenue, rather than onto the avenue itself. The subsequent café scene, known as “The Tottenham Court Road Café” in the film's production, is also portrayed differently. (film)