The past several months have proved a bit of a mixed bag for Jason Sudeikis. While it was announced last November that the actor and his longtime love, Olivia Wilde, had split after nine years and two children together, his professional life conversely hit some definite highs including a February Golden Globes win (his first!) for his portrayal of the titular Ted Lasso on Apple TV+’s surprise 2020 hit. Based on a character Sudeikis created in 2013 for an NBC Sports promo highlighting the network’s broadcasting partnership with the Premier League, the comedic series follows Lasso, a perenially positive Kansas football coach who becomes famous after a video of him celebrating with his team goes viral and is subsequently plunked from the U.S. and hired to lead AFC Richmond, a fictional London-based football club.
Calling it one of the best TV shows of 2020, Salon deemed “Ted Lasso” “10 episodes of pure, unfiltered good feeling.” Joyous and full of heart, the series hit the small screen in August 2020 when the world at large was facing vast uncertainty and chronic lockdowns amid a global pandemic, and soon proved to be just what the doctor ordered! Audiences ate up the positivity and sheer happiness that Ted gleefully projects with a spoon! The show proved so popular, in fact, that it was renewed for a second season only a few days after its debut and was soon picked up for a third season, as well.
As Ted quotes Walt Witman in episode eight, “Be curious, not judgmental.” And curious I was about the series’ locations. Set and shot in the U.K., a few spots utilized include the SkyEx Community Stadium in Hayes and Selhurst Park Stadium in London, which are blended together to portray the AFC Richmond headquarters. Most filming, though, takes place in Richmond, an idyllic town located about ten miles southwest of London. It is there that the exterior of Ted’s apartment can be found at 11a Paved Court. (Interiors were filmed on a set.) The Richmond Theatre, just down the street from the apartment, is where the annual charity gala is held in episode four, “For the Children.” (Only the exterior was featured. Interior gala scenes were filmed about 15 miles away at the Rivoli Ballroom located at 350 Brockley Rd. in Crofton Park.)
And The Crown & Anchor, the neighborhood pub that serves as Ted’s regular hangout as well as the unofficial meeting place of the AFC Richmond players, can also be found in Richmond. As purported on the show, it is just around the corner from Ted’s apartment at 28 The Green. Known as The Prince’s Head in real life, the watering hole exudes warmth and charm, so it is no surprise it wound up onscreen.
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Image Credit: The Prince's Head Situated across from the picturesque Richmond Green park, The Prince’s Head dates back to 1705 when it operated as The Duke of Ormonde’s Head, named in honor of the 2nd Duke of Ormonde, James Butler.
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Image Credit: The Prince's Head Butler became popular after his role in the Battle of Vigo Bay during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702 in which he led an assault on a Spanish treasure fleet and secured a large victory for the Grand Alliance. By 1715, though, the once-celebrated Duke had fallen seriously out of favor with the Crown, was impeached for high treason for supporting the Jacobite rebellion and forced to live out the remainder of his years in exile. As such, his name was dropped from the bar’s moniker and it was rebranded as simply “The Duke’s Head.” It finally became The Prince’s Head in 1778, which the bar’s official website speculates was in honor of “The Prince of Wales [George II], who had moved into the Duke’s home following his exile for treason.”
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Image Credit: The Prince's Head For a time during the early 1900s, the bar was owned by renowned cricketer Thomas Richardson, who, as detailed on The Prince’s Head website, was panned for “allowing ‘disorderly women’ on the premises – an offense described as an ‘evil’ temptation to soldiers.” As such, the pub lost its liquor license, which caused the next owner to ban the fairer sex from the premises entirely. The watering hole is much more inclusive presently, with the website announcing, “These days, we’re a little more with the times. Everyone is welcome here at The Prince’s Head – come and join us under our ancient roof sometime soon for a pint and a bite to eat.” For those who do happen to find themselves in Ted Lasso’s neck of the woods, the establishment is open and taking bookings in line with the current coronavirus guidelines.
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Image Credit: The Prince's Head The Prince’s Head serves up a wide array of gourmet pub food culled from fresh, local ingredients. The menu is a mix of chicken, beef, fish and vegetarian options, and alcohol offerings include beer, wine and “artisan soft drinks.” Also on tap at The Prince’s Head? “A warming pot of tea,” which Ted would certainly not approve of!
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Image Credit: The Prince's Head As depicted on the series, The Prince’s Head is indeed a spot to gather and watch soccer. Alas, there are no dartboards on the premises, though.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Studios -
Image Credit: The Prince's Head The Prince’s Head first pops up as The Crown & Anchor in “Ted Lasso’s” pilot, as some AFC Richmond fans are shown at the bar watching Ted’s first press conference. It then goes on to appear in almost every episode of the series that follows.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Studios -
Image Credit: The Prince's Head Run by spunky proprietor Mae (Annette Badland), the watering hole is cozy and inviting with a bougainvillea-covered exterior and wood-paneled walls and a fireplace beckoning inside – an ideal spot for Ted and his assistant coach, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), to while away their evenings.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Studios -
Image Credit: The Prince's Head Only the exterior of The Prince’s Head is featured on “Ted Lasso.” Because the watering hole is one of the series’ main locations, shutting the place down for regular, extensive filming would not have been feasible, so a set was instead built at West London Film Studios for all interior scenes.
Of the various sets created for the show, production designer Paul Cripps told the GoldDerby website, “It’s not just a work-based comedy, it’s really about character. So I felt that the environment had to feel real and you had to kind of buy into the belief of that. And then you would allow the comedy to come through the characters and the script rather than through the set, as it were.” As such, he strove to make the series’ backdrops as authentic as possible, including the interior of The Crown & Anchor which was painstakingly modeled after the real-life inside of The Prince’s Head.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Studios -
Image Credit: The Prince's Head The fact that a set was utilized to represent Ted’s local hangout has not deterred fans from descending upon The Prince’s Head. Cripps told GoldDerby, “We never actually shot in the real pub. We shot the outside, but the rest of it is my set. But I found out that on the night the finale premiered, people had booked to sit in the restaurant or sit in the pub and have a beer or have a meal whilst they watched the last episode, which was really sweet.”
Whether anything was shot there or not, considering the exacting measures Cripps utilized to re-create the interior of The Prince’s Head onscreen, visiting the pub certainly feels like stepping into Ted’s world. And as fans have learned, that’s a pretty jubilant place to be!