Beauford Street, Bath, Guía del visitante y qué hacer cerca

Beauford Street, which leads to Beauford Square (often spelled Beaufort Square), is a small Georgian corner of Bath, Somerset, tucked just behind the Theatre Royal. It is a short, quiet stretch of street and a pleasant grassy square, and it is best known today as a filming spot for the Regency drama Bridgerton.

The story behind it

The square sits beside the Theatre Royal, one of Bath's long-standing playhouses, and the building facing the grass was once part of the theatre's frontage. Bath has been a city of entertainment since the eighteenth century, when visitors came to take the waters and then filled their evenings with plays, concerts and balls. This corner belongs to that social world.

The area also carries the marks of the Second World War. Bath was badly hit in the Baedeker raids of 1942, which killed 417 people in the city, and many buildings around the centre were damaged. Some houses on the square have since been modernised behind their older facades, so the street scene you see is a mix of survival and repair.

In recent years the square has found a second life on screen. The short length of road and the grass in front of the building were dressed for Bridgerton, with trees placed there temporarily for filming. The road was used again and again for carriage scenes, cut together to suggest long journeys across London.

What to look for

• The grassy area at the front of the square, where trees were temporarily set up for the Bridgerton shoot, and which now looks quite ordinary.
• The old theatre frontage facing the square, which hints at the Theatre Royal's long history as part of Bath's social life.
• The rows of houses to one side, where the facades have a Georgian look even though much has been rebuilt or modernised behind them.
• The short, narrow road itself, easy to picture as a carriage route once you know how often it was filmed.

Tips for your visit

• Allow ten to fifteen minutes. It is a small spot, best enjoyed as one stop on a longer walk.
• Visit in the morning or on a weekday for the quietest, clearest views of the facades without crowds.
• It is an open public square and street, so you can see it from outside at any time. Check current opening hours if you want to visit the Theatre Royal itself.
• It is close to Bath's main sights, including the Abbey and the Roman Baths, so it fits easily into a walk through the centre.

See it on a quest

You reach the square on foot as one stop on Scandals & Suitors in Bath, Will You Be the Diamond of the Season?, a self-guided Regency-flavoured route through the city. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so you look closely at the street instead of passing through. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.