Bakehouse Close

Bakehouse Close is a historic close off the Canongate section of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh’s Old Town. The narrow cobbled passage sits beside the Museum of Edinburgh and Acheson House, with stone buildings, arched entrances and an enclosed eighteenth-century atmosphere that has made it especially useful for period productions. The close takes its name from the bakers of the Canongate, who once owned property in the area. Its preserved Old Town character makes it one of the more recognisable screen locations in central Edinburgh, separate from the wider Royal Mile and Canongate street scenes.

Bakehouse Close has appeared in The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005), Outlander (2014–) and Frankenstein (2025). In The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby, the close is used as the exterior of John Gray’s family home. In Outlander, it appears as Carfax Close and the entrance to Alexander Malcolm’s print shop. In Frankenstein, it is used as part of Guillermo del Toro’s gothic Edinburgh setting.

In The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005), Bakehouse Close appears as the exterior of John Gray’s family home. The close is used for scenes around the household connected to John Gray, Bobby and the people around them, placing the story within the narrow closes and stone buildings of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Some of the film’s background architecture was dressed or built for the production, but the passage itself is Bakehouse Close, off the Royal Mile. This makes the location more than a general period backdrop: it represents one of the domestic places in Bobby’s story before the film moves further into the graveyard, streets and public spaces connected to the Greyfriars Bobby legend.

In Outlander (2017), Bakehouse Close appears in “A. Malcolm”, episode 6 of season 3. The close stands in for Carfax Close, where Jamie Fraser runs his print shop under the name Alexander Malcolm. Claire arrives there after travelling back through the stones, and the exterior steps and entrance become the setting for her reunion with Jamie after twenty years apart. The scene is one of the series’ most important Edinburgh moments, with the close used as the approach to the print shop before the story moves inside. The real location is Bakehouse Close off the Royal Mile, while the print shop interior was filmed separately.

In Frankenstein (2025), Bakehouse Close appears as part of Guillermo del Toro’s Edinburgh material. The close is used as a narrow, blood-stained alley leading toward Henrich Harlander’s house, with the surrounding Old Town stonework helping create the film’s gothic city atmosphere. The location appears alongside other Edinburgh sites used in the film, including Canongate, Makars’ Court and West Parliament Square, but Bakehouse Close is the alley setting rather than the larger marketplace or hanging-square location.

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