Kings Oak was filmed in and around Tanworth-in-Arden, it became the main village location in 1970. Prior to 'Tanworth' villages near Birmingham City Centre were occasionally used for location shots, such as Bournville, Yardley, Sutton Coldfield, Handsworth and Alvechurch. For most of the 1960s, the outside of the village was often no more than an 'in-studio' set or a still photograph of one of the above villages.

Bristol Road in Selly Oak was also used as part of Kings Oak; it was - due to the buildings being similar to the ones at Tanworth-in-Arden - used as the main shopping street. They also used parts of Cannock for surrounding areas of the village - including the canal at Cannock.

The idea for Crossroads came from a sign advertising one of the first UK motels - 'The Open Country Motel' at North Gorley, Fordingbridge – which was noticed by Peter Ling when traveling.

The first motel was located, according to original director on the soap Alan Coleman, in Oxford: "All of the exterior shots for the motel were actually filmed at the Longshoot Motel in Oxford."

At the time of Crossroads launching there were only three motels in the UK; all original outside shots were recorded at the Longshoot however due to budget limitations often the in-studio version of the exterior was used for ‘outdoor’ scenes - as was the case for most serials at that time.

Later outdoor scenes were recorded at the Cherrytrees Motel located in Alcester, Warwickshire. The complex was demolished in 2001 and now the Cherrytrees Care Home stands on the former motel site.

In 1982 the Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham was used for outdoor shots. This hotel is practically the same as it was when Crossroads was filmed there.

From 1985 to 1988 the most fondly remembered location appeared. The Golden Valley became the "back entrance" to the motel and the frontage (supposedly in the script the same building with just the reception area moved) was now the Penns Hall Hotel in Sutton Coldfield. The TV crew actually used the fire exit of the hall as the fictional main entrance in order to avoid disruption to the real hotel reception. In 2006 the canopy was “revamped” and now looks more like something out of the third spin-off series of Crossroads.

Penns Hall was also used in 1984 as the 'Heathbury Manor Hotel' - for this location the real entrance to the building (with an entirely different style canopy) was used for that exterior.

The Crossroads Motel boasted the fact it had its own runway, with the character of Meg Richardson seen teaching Diane Lawton how to fly small air crafts from this setting in the early 1970s. (Noele Gordon had a pilots license and could actually legally fly planes.)

The Crossroads private runway was the long demolished Penderford airfield in Wolverhampton.

When the motel foyer was burned down in 1981 the set was taken to the Half Penny Green Airport (Now Wolverhampton Airport) and placed on a disused runway, where it was ignited. This airport was also used to build a fake graveyard, where Meg Mortimer’s fake funeral was filmed – all in order to mislead the newspapers who wanted to know how Noele Gordon’s character was leaving the series.

The Crossroads Garage was mainly studio based, but the actual garage floor was in the 1980s filmed at a real car repair service centre - "L.M. Motors". The Crossroads Leisure Centre appeared in 1985; The House Of Robin Leisure Centre in Bournville doubled as this setting.

Ed Lawton's farm was filmed at a College and Farm Institute in Shropshire. This location actually was used because of its size and various buildings, as numerous farms in the programme over the years.

The Barnhurst Farmhouse also appeared in the programme when countryside scenes were called for. This was the manson house that in the storylines was located on land adjacent to the motel.

St Laurence's in Kings Oak was actually The Parish Church of St Laurence, Alvechurch, Worcestershire. This was used for the wedding in 1980 of Kevin Banks to Glenda Brownlow, the funeral of Arthur Brownlow in 1982 and in 1983 the blessing of Jill Harvey's marriage to Adam Chance. Hagley Hall was the setting for the wedding reception of Jill and Adam.

The other main Kings Oak church was St Mary's. The exterior of the main Kings Oak church in the 1960s was St Mary's in Aston, not far from the Alpha TV studios; later this 'house of God' was the church of St Mary Magdalene in Tanworth In Arden. The interior of this church was also used - previously, up until 1971, the church's inside had been a - rather convincing - studio set.

The Kings Oak Canal, which housed Jill Harvey's longboat, was the Worcester-Birmingham Canal which runs through the City Centre of Birmingham - the section used in the programme was directly behind the rear of the former ATV studios. The canal side home of the Harvey family is also located on this section of the waterway. It is now a public house.

Fairlawns was spoken of during the entire run of the series as the rival hotel near Crossroads. It had a bigger role in the early years, but during the course of the 1970s and 1980s it was simply spoke of as a place to send guests if Crossroads was fully booked. Also in the 1980s Valerie Pollard often "escaped" from Crossroads to stay at Fairlawns to avoid her husband - motel part owner - J. Henry. But back in the early 1960s the hotel was part of a number of major storylines, including the management trying to close Crossroads down. It was seen rarely from the outside.

The building that was used as Fairlawns is now the "Liberty" club on Hagley Road, Birmingham. Liberty is listed by ‘Carling.com’ as being one of the most upmarket venues for an affluent mainstream crowd. Within this large venue there is a piano bar, a gourmet restaurant and disco. Fairlawns was supposed to be on the same road as Crossroads, leading to the town of Heathbury.

The Droitwich Hotel featured a number of times in the programme; famously when Hugh gave Meg an engagement ring there in 1973 and of course they held their wedding reception in the hotel two years later. This location is still open and remains practically unchanged from the days when Crossroads used the building. Although it looks like its set in miles and miles of countryside the real-life Droitwich Hotel is the Chateau Impney Hotel - just a few miles south of Birmingham City Centre.

The ‘Impney’, built in 1875, is styled in the classic French Chateau architecture of the period. Commissioned by Staffordshire businessman John Corbett – who made a fortune by running a salt works that produced 160,000 tonnes of salt per annum – the ‘Impney’ was built as a present to his French governess wife who was fond of the French Chateaux in the Loire Valley.

Whenever a wedding took place that wasn't a church affair the Birmingham Registry Office was more often than not used, it was first featured in 1965 for the wedding of Tom Yorke and Ruth Bailey in the series and then appeared many times after including for Diane and Vince Parker's ceremony and of course Meg and Hugh Mortimer's too. The office closed down in 2006. Birmingham City Centre rarely featured, although in 1975, the City’s Cathedral played host to the highest rating episode, when Meg and Hugh’s marriage was blessed there. St Philips is the smallest Cathedral in the UK. Work to build it took place between 1705 and 1725. It became a Cathedral in the early 1900s. The stained glass windows are world famous, designed by Edward Burne-Jones.

Other Locations used in the series, were the Speedway Track in Wolverhampton which featured in a storyline in the late 1960s. The Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School in Bournville was used as one of the Kings Oak schools in the late 1980s. Coventry City Centre and the Cathedrals featured in a 1972 story. Two pubs, which had their exteriors altered for Crossroads were the Tanworth Arms and The Bell Inn, both becoming pubs of Kings Oak.

There were many other locations used over the years, and we haven't been able to locate them all. So if you have any information on Crossroads locations missing from this page then we'd be grateful for This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Also any photographs you think may be of use are also welcome.

With thanks to: Peter Raven for the Harvey House photograph of 2008 and Jonathon LF for the Penns Hall 2006 image and Scott Curtis, Survivor, Elizabeth Bowman and Crossroads director Alan Coleman for location details.

© Crossroads Appreciation Society 1988-present

Written by Mike Garrett. Click This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to email us.