Back to Hogwarts has left King’s Cross. This year’s free 1 September celebration is at Old Billingsgate by the Tower of London, it’s ticketed, and tickets are being released in batches at 11am every day until Friday.
If you have turned up at King’s Cross on 1 September in previous years for the countdown to the Hogwarts Express, do not do it this time. Warner Bros. Discovery has been unusually direct about it, telling fans there will be no official event, countdown or announcement at the station and advising people not to travel there. The station countdown has not run since 2024.
What’s replaced it is bigger, free, and in a completely different postcode.
Back to Hogwarts: the HBO Max Platform 9¾ Fan Experience
The event runs at Old Billingsgate on Tuesday 1 September, 11am to 7pm, in hour-long timed slots. It’s free but you need a ticket, and you need to register in advance. Nearest stations are Monument and Tower Hill.
The main draw is a first look at HBO’s new Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone series, which arrives this Christmas. Around it: photo opportunities with original props on loan from Warner Bros. Studio Tour, gaming stations running Hogwarts Legacy, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, Hogwarts Mystery and Puzzles & Spells, book giveaways from Bloomsbury, a free audiobook download, and a photo moment marking ten years of Cursed Child. LEGO, The Noble Collection and The Carat Shop are among the partners running activities and prize wheels.
Worth setting expectations: no cast appearances, choir, house sorting or trolley-push have been announced. Those were King’s Cross traditions and they have not been carried over.
How to actually get a ticket
This is the part to act on. Tickets drop in batches at 11am every day from Monday 24 August to Friday 28 August, so there are several chances rather than one scramble. Registration is through Eventbrite.
You’ll need photo ID matching the name on the booking, and anyone under 18 has to come with a parent or guardian. Arrive no earlier than 40 minutes before your slot and no later than 10 minutes before. There’s a bag search on the way in, a cloakroom, a designated quiet room, step-free access and buggies are fine. Photos are allowed.
What the 25th anniversary actually marks
“25 Years of Magic” is a film anniversary, not a book one. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone reached cinemas in 2001; the book came out in 1997, which would make this the 29th year. All eight films are being re-released in cinemas between 27 August and 3 September, with 12 minutes of unseen behind-the-scenes footage attached to the first one, though at the time of writing the confirmed dates cover the US and Canada, so check your local listing before booking.
There’s also a Back to Hogwarts Showcase streaming at 11am on the official Harry Potter YouTube and TikTok channels, promising announcements.
Elsewhere in London on the day
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London in Leavesden is doing its own version: an 11am announcement broadcast across the venue and then repeated every half hour at its Platform 9¾ set, alongside animatronic Hagrid demonstrations, themed food and drink and a quiz in the Butterbeer Café.
The Palace Theatre keeps running Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as normal, with nothing pegged to 1 September, but there is a real deadline attached to it: the two-part production takes its final bookings on 20 September, and a reimagined one-part version of around two hours and 55 minutes opens on 6 October.
The London x London Take: losing the King’s Cross countdown stung, but this is a straight upgrade. A free six-hour event with real props, a first look at the series and no need to stand on a station concourse for three hours is a better proposition than a crowd cheering at a departure board. The catch is that free and ticketed means gone in minutes, so put an alarm on for 11am and treat it like a gig on sale. The trolley at King’s Cross is still there any other day of the year, and it will be far quieter on 2 September.
Need to know
- Where: Old Billingsgate, 1 Old Billingsgate Walk, 16 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DX
- When: Tuesday 1 September 2026, 11am to 7pm, in one-hour timed slots
- Price: Free, but ticketed with advance registration
- Tickets: Released in batches at 11am daily until Friday 28 August, via Eventbrite
- Nearest stations: Monument and Tower Hill, with London Bridge and Fenchurch Street both walkable
- More: harrypotter.com
Looking for more? Our roundup of free things to do in London has plenty that doesn’t need an 11am alarm.
