Picture this: it is the early 1990s and you have taken refuge in a nearby café to escape the bitter Edinburgh cold. To your right, at her usual antique table, sits a young woman nursing a cup of tea and scribbling so furiously at her notebook that sparks appear to fly from her pen. Only when you return to this café years later, and see it branded as the “birthplace” of Harry Potter, you realise you had been sharing your coffee with none other than J. K. Rowling—whose name has been inscribed into the very table you once sat so close to. During my visit to the Elephant House Café, this was what I envisaged amidst the various placards proudly reminding me I was sharing this space with a literary genius. However, I am not sure this was quite enough to reconcile me to the £6.95 I paid for the Butterscotch Beer that Harry and his friends enjoy in the books, and can only hope inflation was less hard-hitting in the Wizarding World.
Although Rowling claims that “all locations in Potter are entirely imaginary bar one” in response to a fan on X, it is hard to imagine how Edinburgh, where Rowling resided in 1993, could not have provided inspiration for the magical universe she created. From its Hogwarts-esque architecture to its cobblestone streets, resembling that of the infamous Diagon Alley where Harry first buys his wand, the Elephant House Café is one among many businesses capitalising on the Harry Potter fandom which draws millions of tourists from across the world to this magical city.
After suffering a devastating fire forcing its closure in August 2021, the café’s owner David Taylor explained how he had managed to salvage the table where JK Rowling would write the earlier Harry Potter novels in a BBC interview, expressing his relief that “this bit of history has been retained.”
Alongside this precious literary artefact thousands of fans come to visit, a painting of Rowling casting her eyes over the part of the newly restored café called the “writer’s room” presents a deification of the author. However, whilst the fame this charming coffee shop has received in connection with Rowling, and the cult following it has accumulated is commendable, for those aware of her offensive comments regarding transgender rights, it is hard to ignore the “Elephant” in the room during your visit when she is staring you right in the face.
Photo by Teya Taylor for The Student