A Fictional Football Coach Is Reshaping a Real London Suburb
Goldlaner.com – Twenty minutes by train west of central London, Richmond-upon-Thames has spent centuries earning its reputation through royal history and pastoral scenery. The area’s crown jewel, Richmond Green, once hosted jousting tournaments for visiting monarchs, while the Tudor-era Richmond Palace anchors the suburb’s architectural heritage. Deer wander the parkland, and the Thames stretches along its banks in what locals consider the river’s longest continuous waterfront within the capital. Yet in recent years, a very different kind of visitor has flooded the cobblestone lanes: fans of a television comedy-drama about an American football coach who stumbles into English soccer.
Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” now deep into its fourth series, uses Richmond as its primary filming ground. The show follows the eponymous coach, portrayed by Jason Sudeikis, as he attempts to rebuild a struggling English football club armed with nothing but relentless optimism and a gift for the well-timed quip. His boss, Rebecca, is played by British actress and singer Hannah Waddingham; the ball-hog-turned-team-player Jamie Tartt is brought to life by Phil Dunster; and the pub-keeper Mae Green is embodied by Annette Badland. Roy Kent, the gruff assistant coach, is played by Brett Goldstein, while Juno Temple appears as Keely Jones.
A Global Audience, a Local Postcard
The fourth season’s premiere last month broke viewing records, becoming the largest single launch in Apple TV+ history. That surge of attention has translated directly into foot traffic on Richmond’s streets. Local hospitality operators have noted a doubling of American visitors since the show first aired, a trend tracked by the New York Times. Fans travel from Brazil, India, Singapore, Mexico, and across the United States to walk the same lanes their favourite characters inhabit.
“I just love it,” Natalia, a visitor from Brazil, said outside The Prince’s Head, the pub known in the series as the “Crown and Anchor.” “The first time you watch it, you think the series is about football. But the culture, the messaging — it’s about so much more.”
Natalia’s observation captures why the show transcends its sports setting. Coach Lasso famously never warms to English tea (calling it “garbage water”), yet millions of viewers have embraced the programme’s warmth, humour, and emotional honesty. The narrative threads — Lasso’s evolving relationship with Rebecca, his mentorship of Tartt, the slow-burn romance between Roy Kent and Keely Jones — give audiences reasons to revisit the locations where those stories unfold.
Walking the Map: Key Locations
The most photographed spot in the suburb sits just outside The Prince’s Head, a seventeenth-century pub where Mae Green keeps tabs on her patrons during match nights. There, fans queue for a snapshot beside Coach Lasso’s signature thinking bench, the wooden seat where the character processes defeat, doubt, and triumph in equal measure.
A short walk down Paved Court — a narrow lane lined with window shopfronts including a delicatessen and a millinery — leads to the exterior used as Lasso’s apartment. A few doors further, the official “Ted Lasso” merchandise store sells the red-and-blue AFC Richmond kits alongside shortbread labelled “biscuits for the boss.”
Directly opposite the pub, Richmond Green offers the same tree-lined picnic-and-stroll experience the coach enjoys in-episode. Visitors can settle in with a coffee, watch a casual kickabout, or simply absorb the parkland that has sheltered royalty for centuries. The waterfront, meanwhile, provides the setting for Roy Kent and Keely Jones’s first date: a slow amble along Richmond Bridge, underscored by buskers playing on the towpath. A puppet-theatre barge drifts nearby, and one riverside pub sits so close to the waterline that it floods at high tide — complimentary gumboots are kept at the door.
For those extending their day, the Richmond Theatre, operating since 1899, hosted Rebecca’s charity gala in season one and remains a fitting evening destination. It is worth noting, however, that the team’s home ground — referred to in the show as “the dog track” — does not exist in Richmond. Match footage is shot at Selhurst Park, the Crystal Palace stadium in south London, meaning fans seeking a full stadium experience must travel further afield.
The Tourism Economy and Local Friction
Since the show’s debut, multiple tour operators have launched Richmond-based itineraries. Ted Lasso Tours, founded in 2022 by local resident Emmy Mac, runs private and group excursions covering 27 filming locations. Mac reports a clientele dominated by American visitors but also welcomes fans from across Asia and Latin America.
Not every resident welcomes the influx. Steve Lloyd, who has called Richmond home since 1992, says he has lost count of how many tourist photographs feature him unwittingly in the background. His own relationship with the programme is, to put it plainly, lukewarm.
“I tried to watch it — got 15 minutes in and thought, ‘this is crap,'” Lloyd admitted.
Yet even sceptics acknowledge the economic and cultural ripple. A suburb long associated with quiet weekend walks and royal history now shares its identity with a globally streamed comedy about belief, failure, and second chances. Whether that transformation proves durable or fades with the final episode remains an open question — but for now, the thinking bench outside The Prince’s Head stays occupied, and the cobblestones of Paved Court keep filling with visitors who arrived for a fictional football coach and stayed for something considerably larger.
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