THE SWEENEY Filming Locations - Kensal and North Kensington

[@fritzdrybeam]

Brought up in Kilburn. These are my childhood haunts.

[@Azimuth8687]

Made my day when this popped up in my notifications. Oh to be able to wander around 70's derelict London. Massive thanks, again.

[@MartianTom]

@paulking8235 I published a short story a few years back, set on a derelict site in 1970s Battersea, where I grew up. About kids making a den. Can send you a copy if you like.

[@Azimuth8687]

@@MartianTom That's kind of you, thanks very much.

[@fredbloggs8072]

Colin Welland & George Sewell. The show had some outstanding guest stars.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Okay SWEENEY!!!!!!

[@Sweenealogy]

The show was a real "who's who" of great British acting talent. Just one of its many strengths.

[@daz4643]

@@thatguyfromcetialphaV "Earlsfield they said it was close to the cemetery".... "Were all close to that kid" 😂Welland's best line in that episode.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

@@daz4643 As a kid I preferred The Professionals. As I got older The Sweeney's better plots and sparkling dialogue puts it a cut above.

[@daz4643]

@thatguyfromcetialphaV As a fan of both I know what you mean.

[@PresidentGerard]

An absolutely fantastic episode thank you. The research and planning that goes into this channel output is well deserving of an award. It is simply superb.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks, really appreciate the comments :)

[@martinnorth2680]

I dont know how much time you spend researching, filming and editing these, but its worth every second many times over.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you :) The answer is, "a lot"!

[@fuTuRo-Sonic]

Thanks so much for these and please keep them coming. For the last 10 years or so I rewatch the entire Sweeney collection every year. It's not just an appreciation of the trailblazing cinematography, the brilliant performances from the cast or the great writing, it is to see London, my London, the way it was when I was a teenager and living there around a lot of the locations that were used. I would frequently recognise a location and then "street view" how it has changed...your excellent videos have now stopped that! I love what you are doing here and how you are slowly developing your photography and narration skills to make really entertaining, humorous and informative vids. I offer you much encouragement and many thanks for what you have already achieved...keep going!

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks so much :) Yes - Streetview is a great tool, and something I use often in my research.

[@StarBoyyX]

I do that and I’m mid 30s 🤝

[@CovRealist]

Excellent mate. Thanks for your time and effort. 👍🏻

[@gloomyvale3671]

Excellent post, I always dreaded the superb end theme of the show as it was bed time as a kid. The chemistry between Dennis Waterman and John Thaw was electric they knew how to write characters years ago, same with Minder and the Professionals.

[@spidyman8853]

Yea absolutely - Long gone great writers.

[@jeniferallan6693]

Fantastic stuff. You are right. A classic mug of tea and a hearty breakfast in that cafe. Oh England, my Lionheart.

[@jasonhall4734]

Thank you again. Best British program ever made. I grew up in vauxhall and battersea, and lived in shepherd's Bush, big sweeney country.

[@dr.plutonus1496]

A terrific new dollop of Sweeneology is a great way to start the weekend 😁

[@Sweenealogy]

Happy weekend :) Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Spiderwebsider]

Mate, your efforts are really appreciated. I absolutely love these little insights. I left London only a few years after The Sweeney had finished, so I remember it as it was back in the super sleazy sexy seventies when the series was filmed. Cheers from Sydney Australia.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! It's London as I remember it from my youth; and sometimes (often, even) as I wish it still was...

[@rrbh]

I could go didlo and watch these on a never ending loop ! You have a great eye for detail.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks - glad you like them!

[@CovRealist]

I went on a Sweeney Locations Tour on Sunday, I informed at least 3 people of this channel who didn’t know about it, so hopefully you will have some new viewers and an wider appreciation of the time and effort you put in to bring us these videos. Thank-you. 👍🏻

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you, that's much appreciated :) Hope you enjoyed the locations tour!

[@moose6509]

I´ve never lived in London but absolutely love The Sweeney. I also crave the 70´s so your content is nectar for me. Thanks so much.

[@nordic1121]

As others have said great work, it just goes to show how popular that police drama was. You certainly ‘ know thy subject ‘ . Monday nights at 9pm in the seventies was great, so I salute you for showing us all the locations then and now.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@markcf83]

The old bus garage on Middle Row was replaced in 1981 by one about a mile away at Westbourne Park.

[@simondavies438]

I literally just found your channel this evening and just binged watched all your episodes which I have found to be superb. The production and genuine narration by yourself is outstanding. As a Sweeney fan I often wondered what some of the street scenes filmed back in those 1970's days would look like today and you are answering those questions in every episode. Brilliant stuff and thank you very much...I'm off down the boozer in the Granada after a hard day chasing villains now...Cheers 🍻

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks so much - glad you're enjoying the videos :)

[@indigohammer5732]

As a Glaswegian, I can confirm that Hogmahghanddy (Gaelic Spelling) is taken very seriously and wholly embraced by the community at large. Although it’s relevance has dwindled over time. Love your work

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks for putting the local stamp of authority on that one :)

[@mirvids5036]

Nice work. Makes me cringe now when The Sweeney is on, neutered, at 7:45 in the mornings. Used to go to school in the morning after the latest episode and we'd all shout SWEENEY and have a fight ! Bring back London town. By the way, some of the old, wrecked plots were still remnants of the war. I totally agree with your sentiments about how those places looked and felt.

[@DavidJones-tw3ov]

Same at my middle school 1978.memories.

[@thomaschapple4749]

brilliant. London has its unique poetry. Loved it in the 1970s loved it in the 80s and 90s.

[@paulgriffin5237]

days before the lefty comunists came a long and made future genarations week and not resilient like in previous genarations

[@gwpee1727]

The Sweeney on ITV 4 this afternoon, then your video this evening, what's not to like

[@paulnolan1352]

Where’s Popeye?, he didn’t make it mr Reagan.

[@markcf83]

A perfect afternoon's viewing.....

[@PaulabJohnson]

Another great episode - thanks! As you can see from the comments there are a lot of us who as Sweeney fans love to see the locations then and now. I've lived in London since 2000 and in that time alone it's changed massively.. getting the train in from Richmond to Waterloo daily I can see all the trackside light industrial units in Wandswoth have been turned into flats - in some ways it's remarkable that quite so much that was shpwn in the Sweeney has actually survived!. What is noticeable is how pretty much any form of light industry has disappeared to be replaced by the ubiquitous blocks of flats. I wonder if people were having the same conversations around the turn of the 19th century!

[@bucksboatanchors3328]

Another brilliant collection of scenes.....excellent job and thanks. Loving the "sartorial splendour" of Jellyneck......people don't dress that way often enough these days. 🙂 What great times with loads of wasteland, abandoned buildings and big Fords tearing about....no 20mph zones there.

[@Sweenealogy]

Many thanks!

[@Steve-gc5nt]

Hard Men is one of my favourite episodes. Thanks for your efforts on this. 👌

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@PaulRoseGuitar]

There's a real reflective sadness to the music of the closing credits. Can't put my finger on it, but it's kind of a crime doesn't pay vibe, but Reagan and Carter still have to deal with the brutal futility of it all. It's phenomenal.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

George Sewell. He was one of those guys who just looked hard without trying to act like it. Trellick Tower was in several episodes of The Professionals as well.

[@Sweenealogy]

Agree; George Sewell had that air about him where he wouldn't even have to say a word or raise a hand - you'd know from just a look that you were in bother if you crossed him. Great actor.

[@markcf83]

Trellick Tower features in the episode The Madness of Mickey Hamilton. As for George Sewell,he was a brilliant actor.

[@DrDSCT]

Alec Norton, James Cosmo and Dennis Waterman - fantastic actors. I always love the way the Granada 2.8 injection S hesitates to start at the station when they pick up James Cosmo before it roars in to life.

[@gilliansmith6595]

Nice one, I love to see where these shows were filmed. Soo much has changed round this area now.👍

[@iancastledine7284]

Thanks yet again... wonderful, I agree with your comments re London and the feel of the place, the buildings etc... I think I preferred it back then, everywhere is so beautified and cluttered now

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it :)

[@andrewyork5620]

Thanks for another great video. These are so enjoyable to watch and looking forward to the next installment. Long live The Sweeney!!

[@xr6lad]

Excellent viewing on this Friday night just before bed (in Melbourne, Australia). Recognised some of those areas on my travels myself (even a fan of those ‘I saw you coming sketches’).

[@bucko321]

Very interesting for Sweeney fans, a good bit of detective work, Jack would be proud of. The car chase scenes filmed on old factory premises will be difficult to locate. Imo

[@Sweenealogy]

Yeah, some of those big old gas / chemical works are either long gone - or if they do still exist, are sites you'd have no [legal] way of accessing - so agreed they'd be hard to film.

[@wirksworthsrailway]

These are sublime and it's lovely to know that you and so many of us still adore The Sweeney.

[@Darius-v7v]

I absolutely love these. Loads of Sweeeeeeeney memories. Keep them coming 🙂

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! Will do my best.

[@MartianTom]

Agree about the junk and litter you see now. The huge upsurge of fast-food joints since then - plus the effects of a throw-away society. People lose their sense of history and common respect for their environment and each other. Great times they were, back then. Tough, but still better. Another great vid.

[@DarkStar-wu9nq]

Your filming skills are absolutely superb - I watch a few like this with films and other programmes and you are by far the clearest and best filmer of the lot Sweeney is my favourite Thanks for doing this it’s much appreciated

[@Sweenealogy]

Wow, thank you!

[@gaugeonesteam]

Great stuff! The Sweeney was a such a great TV series. I particularly liked the "Incidental" music. a bit of percussion, electric piano and bass guitar. that added a lot of tension to the whole thing.

[@Sweenealogy]

Yeah, the music was great. Much of it was "library music" that they chose to fit the scene, but whomever it was did a great job - as you say, really ratchets up the tension in the right places. There's a CD out, "Shut It! The Music of The Sweeney" - highly recommended if you haven't already got a copy.

[@blueshed-oq7qd]

The Golborne Road scenes bring back memories. My aunt & uncle ran the newsagents there, and some filming was done out the window of their living room on the first floor. They even used their bedroom on the floor above as Thaw's dressing room for the day. (My aunt kind of gave guided tours of these rooms to interested mums whenever my cousins had birthday parties.) And the doorway Thaw emerges from is the front door to their house next to the shop.

[@Sweenealogy]

Amazing, thanks for the recollections 😊

[@asdeaff]

It's with melancholy that I view the Westway in the background of the last scene, having left behind a London life and people of whom I have very fond memories. I'm sure that one day I'll return to explore the places I lived and perhaps even bump into someone with whom I once shared laughter and jokes, all those years ago.

[@CasinocrazySlotschannel]

*What A Great Channel Just Subbed I Loved The Sweeney* 🙂

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! Hopefully will be getting the next video done soon, taken me a while this one as have had a busy summer

[@CasinocrazySlotschannel]

@@Sweenealogy 👍 keep up the fantastic work mate 😁

[@yensabi]

Another great video with locations near to where I live , I loved the 70’s… Cheers 👍

[@cjcadventures]

Fantastic video really enjoyed all your hard work 👍

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks 👍

[@edwardburek1717]

Fantastic video, meticulously researched. Indeed, this is worthy of the Flying Squad itself.

[@Sweenealogy]

Much appreciated!

[@boker3]

These videos are absolutely brilliant. Just to add - the Venus Restaurant can be seen in the video for Madness's "Return of the Los Palmas 7", including the interior with shots of the regulars and some bangin' fry-ups!

[@Sweenealogy]

Nice! I'm going to go and look for that video in a sec.

[@lawrencehomer5682]

Absolutely brilliant as usual..I also totally agree about the old and abandoned buildings. I think they often gave the period its identity and feeling. Literally cannot wait for next episode ps Hard Men in my top 3 episodes

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@threethymes]

Fascinating documentary with an eloquent commentary.

[@ap5824]

Welcome Back , Fantastic Mate.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! I do these as quickly as I can - but they take a bit of time and effort in and around my day job, family life etc. Appreciate your patience :)

[@Stephen.C.]

That was great. They get better and better. Thanks.

[@Bigaitch500]

I love these clips . The comparison is fascinating , thank you compiling these and sharing them . I watched another Euston Films production recently, The Knowledge, and am fascinated as to where many of the places filmed are. Some obvious ones but many which are not.

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@SixStringSteve]

Fantastic work ✨

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you! 😊

[@stulincoln4874]

Loved the Sweeney, love your films. Great work mate, keep em coming.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks, will do!

[@psmiddx2096]

Amazing, well done, big fan of yours, thanks for doing them for us all to see! Always remember, it being shown on a Monday night, which would usually have been after dreadful school, but lightened by the series!

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you're enjoying the videos :)

[@alunsworth6792]

Brilliant!!! Hard Men possibly my favourite episode.... electric soup.... Waiting for your episode on Night Out.... super! Thank you

[@Sweenealogy]

I've been to The Warrington taking still photos, but definitely need to go back with the video gear. It's on the (admittedly long) list!

[@CharlesDeVere-m7o]

Thanks so much for your efforts. I still watch the Sweeney in afternoon. The very best possible series ever made. You have done us proud. DeVere of Lancashire.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you 😊

[@seanytobs]

Brilliant as usual! Thanks 👍

[@gregorylawson8346]

Once again, a superlative presentation of our favourite show. Thank you. I also like your appreciation of brutalist architecture. As do I. They built them in, say, 1970, thinking this is how we would live in 1995. It was the future.

[@philipwaite6898]

Great stuff. Scene in Middle Row has the old LT bus garage in the background with the blue doors which closed in 1981 when Westbourne Pk bus garage replaced it.

[@AliasMrHackenbacker]

Absolutely brilliant, this is high quality stuff. I really look forward to seeing more, your attention to detail is second to none. The Sweeney was and still is one of my all time favourite TV shows

[@gavinbroad1743]

Another excellent vid. Please do keep them coming. 👍🏻

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks, will do!

[@gavinbroad1743]

@@Sweenealogy 🙏

[@nessiediamond]

Fabulous!! Thank you so much for all your videos. I'm a huge fan of 'Then and Now' comparisons, especially of London. I love The Sweeney, and your knowledge of locations and storylines is superb. All very appreciated. Best wishes.

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you like them!

[@skdinterceptor2828]

Great video....i remember the sweeney as a child in the 70s.

[@nickhaag7803]

Brilliant stuff. Thanks for doing this, the best thing on KZbin!

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you :)

[@clairependrous4512]

I love it, another fantastic video. Great research, many thanks.

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@21whosonthethrone]

Nice one Guvnor👌👍👍

[@Sweenealogy]

Cheers!

[@maltesetony9030]

Superbly researched!

[@CycolacFan]

Lovely work. I barely recognise certain areas of London anymore, it’s changed so much and so fast.

[@speakertreatz]

thanks very much for uploading

[@alantheskinhead]

Another excellent video of a by-gone era. I can clearly remember my late father and my still alive 90 year old mother letting me run riot around the old bomb sites in Whitechapel and Commercial Road. She lived on Turner Road just off Commercial Road and that was lettered with old board up housing. Now it's all sterile flats. What young kids don't realise even now that it was only up until recently that large swathes of London were basically bomb sites and full of derelict buildings often with no roofs. My Auntie Daisy lived "out west" as we called it and she never left the Paddington or "The West" for 86 years other than a trip to my parents other house in Leicester for three days! We used to visit her and her late husband was a proper hard man docker who alas got killed in a train shunting accident in Wapping. I could babble on the old days, but now I am suffering an attack of nostalgia again. If you are going to do a documentary on 70's London sites do it in a proper geezer sweeney accent! These videos are just utterly legendary and keep The Sweeney alive along with the Old Smoke!

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks so much for the comments & the great recollections from back when :)

[@jeffsparey9585]

They destroyed the pubs when they gave into the supermarkets money and allowed them to sell alcohol,,it caused the closure of all off licenses aswel ,then the smoking ban topped it off

[@haydoncooper3744]

Brilliant thank you for posting.

[@davidprice6994]

Just joined your channel, lots of memories there from watching this classic series when i was a young boy living in north London Islington at the time. The Venus café is also featured in a Madness video from January 1981 the return of the loss palmers 7

[@michaelcarlos8686]

Great as usual. That last pub still has customers leaving a bit unsteady on their feet by the sounds of it.😂

[@Sweenealogy]

Haha, I see what you did there :)

[@TallysVids]

Fantastic as always guv. I really look forward to your videos, so much research and planning, amazing job.

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks :)

[@muzzy1978]

Another brilliant episode. Your work is much appreciated, and many thanks for pointing out the Leone reference in the framing of 'Hard Men'. As a fan of the great Italian director I must admit I'd never noticed the similarity before so top job there!

[@gareththompson538]

Fantastic! The canal at Ladbroke Grove next to Sainsbury's was also used as a filming location in The Professionals episode "Blind Run"😊

[@paulvalentine8172]

Love these videos, thank you for your hard work putting these together.

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you like them!

[@Grrr2048]

Great job!, I remember the title sequence has the underpass of the west way flyover just by little venice

[@atkinsx]

Late to this party, but just wanted to say love your work, and thanks for helping me solve the mystery of where the snack bar in that Madness video was!

[@Sweenealogy]

I genuinely never put 2 and 2 together with the Sweeney episode and the Madness vid till I started doing all this ☺️

[@Mike20216]

Love these and this is another gem of a episode, Thank you for uploading much appreciated

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@michaeledwards427]

Great video, my love of the Sweeney comes from my late dad, thanks dad, thats another reason I'm forever happily in his debt. Have you ever covered the locations for definitely my favourite thing to come out of the Sweeney stable, Sweeney 2, the film? Think about it seriously, don't forget that some of it was filmed in Cyprus. (if i remember correctly) What an excuse for a holiday!!!!

[@Sweenealogy]

Haha, great idea - I'm sure the wife won't mind when I tell her I'm off to Cyprus for a week's 'research' :D And to answer your question - yes I definitely intend to do the movies and the pilot as well, time allowing.

[@PositiveCoaching1508]

I absolutely loved and still love The Sweeney. Thank you so very much for posting. I'm turning 66 this year and for me, Jack Regan and George Carter were real Police officers. I can't believe I said that out loud...🙈🤪 Please don't send the men in white coats for me...😁

[@Sweenealogy]

Hah, no danger there - I think anyone watching (or creating!) this channel probably shares that opinion :)

[@johnklimcke8875]

Absolutely brilliant viewing again please keep these videos up. Nothing beats the sweeney well done 👏🍻

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you - much appreciated :)

[@minderDOTorg]

Another 15 minutes of my life gorn thanks to the wonders of Sweenealogy.

[@bostaffterrier7293]

Fantastic.....God do i love the 70s everything seemed to be gearing up for the best decade ever the 80s

[@steve_colwill]

“Okay, SweeNEEEY!” 🤣 Blinding! Thanks for posting, excellent as always. 👍🏻

[@Sweenealogy]

Thank you - glad it was worth the wait :)

[@markandrewberry]

Brilliant work! Great production and thoroughly engaging commentry. Really impressed with your success at 'panning' some of your shots to match the original!

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks! I always think I could nail those pans just a little better each time, but I do my best :)

[@PaddyWV]

It's a stunning thought how much derelict land there was in London in the Seventies. Much of it left over from wartime bombing. If you srand still in London for too long these days someone will pin a planning notice on you!

[@Sweenealogy]

Hah - so true!

[@harry2.01]

Great work, just watched I Want That Man on ITV4. Was it really nearly 50 years ago.

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

I get your take on the old abandoned buildings, they do ooze history and stories.

[@nicholasswift2480]

Superb content! well researched and presented, many thanks for all your then and now The Sweeney episodes.

[@joanne26]

Another informative then and now Many things have changed in London but are these changes any better. Yes perhaps James Cosmo had many acting roles in all sorts of series both as a ‘good guy’ and bad 😍😍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿😎😎👍 👍

[@triumphstu]

If it's a Morris mini it's a Traveller Excellent vid!

[@Sweenealogy]

Many thanks! It's always nice to have these little extra historical details.

[@capcompass9298]

I saw Tel and Anthony Valentine in a ditch in Battlebridge, King's Cross. It was the episode where Valentine was gambling in Camden Town.

[@Sweenealogy]

Minder? Cool :)

[@nuttyboy7164]

Venus Cafe was also used in the Madness video, Return of the Los Palmas 7

[@Sweenealogy]

So a few other people have mentioned 👍 I went and watched the vid, hadn’t seen it in donkey’s & had no memory that The Venus was in it

[@1Z64]

Great work as always, but you're a bit out with the wasteground at 3:05. The houses in the background are in Barlby Gardens and the foreground was disused railway land that later became part of the Eurostar sidings and has now reverted to disused. I posted this info to the old Sweeney Lounge, but it wasn't properly recorded and I never bothered to correct it. The coordinates are: 51.52432855758309, -0.21786360631256796

[@Sweenealogy]

Nice one, thanks. I knew I wasn't in the right location exactly - you can tell by the angle / distance of the buildings; but the production notes gave it as 'Canal Way' so that's where I focused. Maybe one to re-visit for a future video.

[@rd250dx1978]

Thanks for all your hard work. 👍👍

[@GiantmanUK]

Very well put together

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks!

[@TPerry2828]

Really enjoyed that, thanks so much for making these fascinating episodes 👍

[@Sweenealogy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@dercoss]

Great stuff. Keep them coming..

[@Sweenealogy]

Thanks, will do!