Much more than just the show that Steven Knight snuck in between creating Peaky Blinders and writing Bond 25, Netflix’s new period saga House of Guinness is a barrel’s worth of salty and salacious 19th century history. Filled with sex, violence, romance and scheming, the eight-part drama hits the streamer this week with a packed cast, opulent costumes, vast sets and bustling 1860s Dublin and New York locations.
Except none of the series was filmed on the Emerald Isle or in America. Read on to find out the secrets behind Netflix’s ‘Succession with stout’ from production designer Richard Bullock.
What is ‘House of Guinness’ about?
The story centres on the Guinness family at a key moment in its history: patriarch Benjamin Guinness, the Dublin stout’s answer to Logan Roy, has died and his four adult children await his will. The boys from the black stuff, Arthur (Anthony Boyle), the younger Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) and Edward Guinness (Louis Partridge), must bury their rivalries to maintain the brewery’s pre-eminence. Daughter Anne (Emily Fairn), inevitably, is to be omitted from the patriarchal business.
The series is backdropped by the rise of Republican sentiment amongst the so-called ‘Fenians’, who are torn between tearing the brewery to the ground and trying to exploit the Guinness’s power to help fuel the independence movement. In America, meanwhile, a self-appointed representative of the company stirs up trouble. The only one cheers’ing any of these developments is ruthless family fixer Sean Rafferty (James Norton), a man who instinctively knows which way the Irish Sea wind is blowing.
Where was ‘House of Guinness’ filmed?
The Steven Knight period drama turned to the northwest of England to recreate 19th-century Dublin and New York. ‘Liverpool became our Dublin,’ says Bullock, ‘and Manchester [was] our New York, because they’re distinct-looking cities. But it was important that it felt real. We were very conscious that it’s going to be watched in Ireland and we wanted to do it justice.’
The Guinness brewery was filmed at Stanley Dock, Liverpool
You can’t have a Guinness saga without a brewery and House of Guinness found its industrial plant in two locations. Liverpool’s Stanley Dock was ‘the only place that could come close’ to replicating the brewery, says Bullock. ‘We were in there for about three months before we filmed, doing a full dress and a partial build inside this derelict warehouse.’ Rotherham’s Magna museum stood in for the factory floor and the mash tun room.
Iveagh House was shot at Croxteth Hall, Liverpool
This Grade II* listed estate in Liverpool provided the exteriors for the Guinness’s Dublin home, Iveagh House – as well as interiors at Judes Tavern, where Cochrane hangs out, the probate office where Benjamin Guinness’s will is discussed, and Temple Bar.
The Iveagh House ballroom was constructed at Manchester’s Space Studios
The show also used a Manchester production hub that was once home to Peaky Blinders. The studio’s 85,000 square feet of sound stages were transformed into Iveagh House’s opulent interiors and ballroom, hosting the big society wedding in episode 4.
The Fenian protest was filmed at George’s Hall in Liverpool
An early episode sees a group of Fenians gathering in Dublin’s College Green to protest the execution of fellow Republican Michael Barrett in London – a real event that took place in 1868. ‘Liverpool is remarkable for having this grand Georgian architecture that still has some kind of rough edges,’ says Bullock. ‘We looked at lots of photographic reference of the period. Hopefully people will be convinced.’
The Flowing Tide pub was actually The Vines in Liverpool
After hearing his dad’s will, tearaway Guinness son Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) tears away to the nearest inn to drown his sorrows. The Flowing Tide in the scene is actually a real Liverpool pub: The Vines. ‘It’s a fabulous pub – and they know it as well’, says Bullock. ‘They’re very expensive! We were like, “Maybe we should have built it [on a stage].”’
The botanical garden was shot at Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool
A brief scene sees the closeted Arthur Guinness having a clandestine meeting with a soon-to-be-ex lover. It was filmed among the foliage and palms of this famed Victorian glasshouse in Liverpool’s picturesque Sefton Park.
📍How to visit Sefton Park Palm House
St Anne’s House was Broughton Hall in Yorkshire
Arthur Guinness’s country retreat, St Anne’s House, was filmed at Broughton Hall, a Georgian country house close to the Yorkshire Dales. ‘That was a really stunning house on the edge of really wild country,’ remembers Bullock.
Ashford Estate is Penrhyn Castle, Wales
The Guinness family’s grand country pile, Ashford Estate, a Victorian and medieval castle on the west coast of Ireland, came into the family when Benjamin Guinness purchased it in 1852. In House of Guinness, it’s where the serious-minded Edward Guinness (Louis Partridge) heads to ponder his troubles. North Wales’s Penrhyn Castle stands in for Ashford in the show.
📍How to visit Penrhyn Castle and Garden
The New York chase scene was shot at Manchester’s Northern Quarter
The buzzy Manchester neighbourhood of Northern Quarter was redressed as post-bellum New York for the show. Here, the sketchy but entrepreneurial Byron Hughes (Gleeson) sets about exporting Guinness via the city’s Republican networks. ‘It was really fun researching New York at the time,’ says Bullock. ‘This melting pot with all these different influences and different cultures meeting.’
The Galway village of Clooboo was filmed in Wales
House of Guinness isn’t just noisy cityscapes, clanking breweries and grand salons. Anne Guinness stumbled upon the poor, rural community of Cloonboo and decides to make rural uplift her new purpose while her brothers churn out their godless stout. Those scenes were actually filmed in Gwynedd, Snowdonia. ‘The landscape in far west Wales feels very similar to parts of Ireland,’ says Bullock. ‘We really fought to include Cloonboo [in the series], because it gives a broader sense of the world we’re showing and adds a spiritual dimension.’
The Imperial Hotel was filmed in an old Manchester University building
Dublin’s famous old Imperial House plays host to parlaying and tea in the show. Aunt Agnes Guinness (Dervla Kirwan) and Anne meet in the elegant salon, as do Edward Guinness and his Fenian crush Ellen Cochrane. ‘This used to be the main building for Manchester University,’ reveals Bullock of the real location. ‘It’s been mothballed.’ So how closely does the set resemble the actual Imperial Hotel, destroyed in the 1916 uprising? ‘It’s The Imperial Hotel of the mind, rather than the actual Imperial Hotel,’ jokes the production designer, ‘but we’re authentic in spirit’.
Who stars in the show?
Norton is the biggest name on the cast list as Rafferty, the Guinness family’s not-strictly historical consigliere, but Anthony Boyle, Louis Partridge, Fionn O’Shea and Emily Fairn occupy the central roles as the four Guinness siblings dealing with the future after their father’s death. You might recognise O’Shea as Marianne’s uni boyfriend in Normal People.
You’ll definitely spot Jack Gleeson – Game of Thrones’ hissable Joffrey – as maverick Guinness exporter Byron Hughes, who takes the story to American shores. The show may not have been filmed in Ireland but it’s not short on Irish talent: David Wilmot (Michael Collins), Niamh McCormack (Netflix’s Everything Now), Danielle Galligan (Shadow and Bone) and Ondine’s Dervla Kirwan. Northern Irish actor Seamus O’Hara (Blue Lights) plays passionate Fenian Patrick Cochrane.
When is House of Guinness streaming?
All eight episodes land on Netflix on Thursday, September 25.
Is there a trailer?
Yes indeed. Watch it below.
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