TV & Showbiz

Viewers notice that the Happy Valley cafe scene was actually filmed in Bolton

This one wasn't getting passed the eagle-eyed fans.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 17th January 2023

Eagle-eyed Happy Valley fans have pointed out that the intense cafe scene from the latest episode was actually filmed in Bolton.

In case you aren’t caught up, the latest episode in the third series of the smash-hit BBC drama Happy Valley hit our screens on Sunday night, (here’s your spoiler alert warning…) and it opened where the last episode left off – in cafe that was supposed to be in ‘Sheffield’.

During the episode, Sarah Lancashire’s character Sergeant Catherine Cawood confronted her sister Clare – who is played by Siobhan Finneran – for taking her grandson Rhys to visit his evil dad Tommy Lee Royce in prison without her consent.

Fans were gripped with tension and left in utter shock after the episode’s dramatic cliffhanger – in which Catherine saw a vision of her late daughter Becky, before silently sobbing as she left the cafe where she’d had the row with Clare in.

Viewers notice that the Happy Valley cafe scene was actually filmed in Bolton / Credit: BBC
Sarah Lancashire’s character Sergeant Catherine Cawood confronted her sister Clare in the cafe / Credit: BBC

During and after the episode, fans and famous faces were taking to social media in their thousands to praise Lancashire and Finneran for producing some of “the best TV ever” and some even calling the former the “best actress in the world”.

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The cafe scene also already appears to be on its way to becoming iconic too, with some branding it “as good as seen in any movie”.

Despite being told during the episode that the cafe the two sisters had it out in was in Sheffield, eagle-eyed viewers and those familiar with Greater Manchester boroughs noticed that the scene was actually filmed in Bolton town centre.

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The scene itself was filmed inside one of the town’s hugely-popular cafes – Amico Café.

Viewers were told during the episode that the cafe was in Sheffield / Credit: BBC
Eagle-eyed fans pointed out that it was in Bolton town centre’s popular Amico Café / Credit: BBC

For anyone unfamiliar with Bolton, or who hasn’t had the chance to make down to Amico Café before, it’s an independent family-run business that opened its doors back in February 2018 right in the town’s centre across the road from the Market Place shopping centre.

Named after the Italian word for ‘friend’, Amico Café has since become a popular hotspot for local coffee lovers and those looking to tuck into a spot of brunch or lunch, or enjoy a sweet treat.

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Amico Café says it’s a place where people can “escape the daily stress of life”.

The popularity of Amico Café was proven by the fact that so many Happy Valley fans spotted that the tension-filled cafe scene was filmed inside its four walls, and took to Twitter to point out that they had noticed it wasn’t in Sheffield.

Not only that, but some of the shots after Lancashire’s character Sergeant Cawood left the cafe showed the outside of the building and the surrounding streets.

This meant that anyone who knows Bolton well could tell it was unmistakably filmed in the heart of the town’s centre.

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The owners of Amico Café said on Instagram that they were “happy we could be a part of this”.

Featured Image – BBC