Serious question: In what ways does the portrayal of the Dursleys’ house in Harry Potter reflect, or fail to reflect, the realities of an average British household and lifestyle?
Posted by kitkatbloo@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 326 comments
I’ve been rewatching the movies and I’m curious if this is in any way accurate. What is or what is not?
D0wnInAlbion@reddit
It's a pretty accurate portrayal of middle-class suburban England. The only thing which is a bit far-fetched is Vernon putting bars on Harry's window without a neighbour reporting him.
LeeYuette@reddit
I feel it’s a bit dated? Like the very formal dinner party to close a business deal, the aunt who breeds dogs and whose friend is retired colonel, the descriptions of the furniture. It all feels a few years out of date for when it’s set (which I’m sure is deliberate as the Dursleys are the conservative fuddy duddies). Source: grew up middle class, mostly in the UK, and would have been in the same school year as Harry
TotlaBullfish@reddit
Also most people don’t have completely up to date decor - something period films often get wrong. If it’s the mid-90s, most people’s living rooms were last decorated in the late 80s. And the Dursleys are pretty old fashioned anyway.
Jai_Cee@reddit
Heck we just moved into a house the previous owners have lived in since the 80s, most of the house hasn't changed style since then except for the bathroom / kitchen which is firmly stuck in the 90s.
Rick-Daddy@reddit
Totally this. Know a couple of people bought houses around 2002 and 2010. Previous owners elderly & had gone into care homes. Neither place had been redecorated since the 70s. Also people rarely redecorate the entire house in one go unless just moving in so you get a mixture of ages and styles.
MattGeddon@reddit
I’ve been looking at houses on rightmove and about 90% of the ones that come up in the area I’ve been looking at were last decorated in the 60s or 70s by the looks of them. Guessing the same people have lived there the whole time and never bothered updating.
Jai_Cee@reddit
This was the 90s and it seemed bang on. It had a bit of a 70s/80s feel to it but I think plenty of people would still have had their houses decorated this was and act like this.
Watch some 90s footage on youtube and it will feel like aeons ago. If you are the same school year as Harry then the current time gap is the same as the 50s were when you were a child, think how different that looked.
paul6057@reddit
It is a bit dated, but those movies came out early 2000s, so they're already 20 years old, and the decor is pretty standard early 90s, which is appropriate for people of the age of the Dursley parents, that have a want to be a certain status too.
glintandswirl@reddit
I think mid 90s when it is set sounds about right for a formal dinner party to close a business deal. I’d say my upbringing reflected the Dursleys social class (upper working class/lower middle class). There are people on council estates that breed dogs, the o lot thing slightly far fetched is the retired colonel, but he could be a late entry army officer where promotion is slightly faster for the older guys.
Hellolaoshi@reddit
In the mid-nineties, people like the Dursleys might have had their dinner party to close a business deal. They might then have cringed because Hyacinth🪻Bucket💐 had also been invited.
audigex@reddit
Drive very slowly past number 12 Grimmauld Place, Richard - I want Sirius to see my new hat
slainascully@reddit
Her sister’s the one with a mermaid in the swimming pool, and room for a flying pony
Mackem101@reddit
Mind the owls, Richard.
Gruejay2@reddit
I am so glad you brought this up. Looking back, Petunia may as well have been another sister (right down to her name, in fact).
Express-Motor8292@reddit
I’m sorry, but they in no way appear to be upper working / lower middle class, they’re too wealthy. I know, class is as much culture and outlook in Britain, but they’re also too formal. They come off as slightly less than upper middle class.
latinsk@reddit
Nope. As someone who grew up a few roads away from where they filmed the dursleys house, can assure you they're squarely middle class. Especially for the mid 90s.
Express-Motor8292@reddit
Mission middle vs slightly less than upper is not a big stretch either way. I’m more commenting on the fact that some people are trying to bracket them into the working class which, for me, is ridiculous.
StonedMason85@reddit
The only comment I’ve seen so far putting them as working class is your own comment when you said “they come off as slightly less than middle class” - since working class is one level below middle class, you are making that claim and then saying you’re arguing against it?
Gruejay2@reddit
It's a lot more finely-grained than that. Orwell described himself as lower-upper-middle-class, for example (which was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but he wasn't wrong).
Gruejay2@reddit
They come across as lower middle-class striving to be upper middle-class. It explains the attitude.
Source: family.
queefmcbain@reddit
You're 100% correct, you've just run into people who can't admit they had comfortably middle class upbringings.
My mum was a nurse and my dad worked in manufacturing and we had way less, in a far less affluent part of the country than what Mr Dursley brought in on one income. He was the director of a company for goodness sake.
TeamOfPups@reddit
They want to be upper middle class and they are desperately trying to fit in.
Express-Motor8292@reddit
Aye, pretty much what I’m saying. By most metrics they’re a wealthy family. Not outrageously so, but definitely comfortable.
illarionds@reddit
Wealth has very little to do with it.
illarionds@reddit
No, you're flat wrong here I'm afraid.
Hellolaoshi@reddit
They may have been slightly wealthier, but also living above their means.
Gruejay2@reddit
Yeah, feels very mid-80s transplanted into the mid-00s (or the mid-90s if we're assuming the films were set when the books were), but I'm sure that was intentional.
ApprehensiveElk80@reddit
It looks very 90’s and was set in the 90’s. My grandparents were business like people; affairs like that were par for the course when I was growing up in that era.
WeirdGrapefruit774@reddit
I’m in and out of peoples houses all day for work. Plenty of people still decorate like that and have that sort of furniture! Plenty of people would also consider the Dursley’s house “quite modern” compared to their style 😂
LeeYuette@reddit
Oh lord! 😂
asdfasdfasfdsasad@reddit
People wning their own houses tend to decorate once, and then leave things more or less as they are for a very, very long time.
HungryFinding7089@reddit
It fitted early 90s style in the UK
illarionds@reddit
I think there's a disconnect between these people, and the very ordinary house the Dursleys live in. The Dursleys, at least in the films, look lower middle class at best, while the things you mention more say upper middle class.
LeeYuette@reddit
I agree, the private school with the ridiculous uniform, the tweed clad aunt and her colonel friend lean upper middle, while the extremely suburban house, obsession with what the neighbours think (which comes through clearly in the books as well as the films) screams the middle middle stereotype; thank you for pointing that out
SeoulGalmegi@reddit
Yeah, it's a characterized view of Britain in the 80s/90s.
Aedamer@reddit
It was more a 1980s aesthetic. It probably lingered on somewhat into the very early 2000s.
audigex@reddit
It doesn’t seem too far fetched for the early 90s
Like sure, that kind of formal dinner wouldn’t have been super common - but if Vernon was a little old school at that point and around 50, it doesn’t seem out of question that he would still be doing things he learned in the late 60s and 70s at the state of his career
Fresh-Extension-4036@reddit
I don't think it was out of date, I think it was pretty bang on, and I would be about five years younger than Harry (if he existed). Plus, I grew up in the actual part of the country the Dursleys lived in as well as having family from more rural areas.
sweetluv_143@reddit
Uh, if he existed? 🤔
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
My thoughts exactly
tevs__@reddit
Harry Potter is set in 1991 - 1998 - seemed pretty accurate to me
Hellolaoshi@reddit
But you would have failed the 11+ Hogwarts entry test for witchcraft and wizardry. You and I would have been muggles. You might have done better in our world than the Dursleys did, though.
The_Final_Barse@reddit
"Working class" would be a better description.
Nipplecunt@reddit
No it wouldn’t. This is middle class in that area
The_Final_Barse@reddit
Definitely not.
No-one in that street would call themselves "middle class".
Throatlatch@reddit
Is class self-identified, do you think?
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
No. Some people would like it to be but it’s really defined by your occupation and means
Throatlatch@reddit
Then why should we care what they call themselves?
Steppy20@reddit
That is the most stereotypical mid 90's middle class house you'd be able to find. They are absolutely middle class, but trying to pretend they're upper middle class which is why they decorate and show off the way they do.
NotASexJoke@reddit
Almost nobody, especially in that time and place, would call themselves middle class, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t. Those wanting to stick to their roots would still proclaim to be working class. Those trying to appear better off than they are would shy away from talking about the whole topic.
Nipplecunt@reddit
I own a house just like this and I’m middle class
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Maybe here in the US it would be working class? A house that small (only 3 bedrooms, small rooms, tiny plot, only a single car, etc), but I’m learning that is considered a normal sized home across the pond and that area is quite expensive to live in.
RiverGlittering@reddit
I mean, the US is like, 40 times larger than the UK. And you have a population just 5 times larger. Of course we have less land to live on.
But yes, it's a fairly expensive part of the country.
Also, don't forget that many of our houses were built in the 2 up 2 down style. IE 2 rooms downstairs (kitchen, living room) and 2 upstairs (Bedrooms), with a toilet outside. 26% of homes are terraced. They continue to build terraced housing today (though with layout differences, to accommodate things like toilets).
Living in a detached, 4 bedroom house with a garage? That's what my dreams are made of, and that's something I will work 48 years of my life to live in. It'll never happen, but I shall continue to dream.
Steppy20@reddit
Most "small" working class houses would have 2 bedrooms at most. Hell, my dad lives in a nice house with a decent garden but that only has 2 good bedrooms and a 3rd that is used as a home office but can absolutely fit a single bed in it.
What they have is a medium-large house. Honestly most Brits don't care about having enormous houses because they're not necessary, space is at more of a premium here (and has been for centuries), and they're harder to look after.
Express-Motor8292@reddit
It’s a relatively large house for a 3 bedroom, I would say.
TeamOfPups@reddit
Drills are working class, a blue collar interest. Yes Vernon is the boss but he's the boss of something blue collar coded. JKR is absolutely portraying them as middle class wannabes.
NotASexJoke@reddit
I can’t believe the children’s novels I grew up with are now being subject to GCSE level English literature analysis. I can tell from your comment you’re not British, and our cultures were much more different in the 90s than they are now… if only that were still true! So you can’t really apply your experiences and understanding to the situation.
As someone of a similar age to HP with parents of the same generation, they are solidly middle class by the British definition. The type who think they have a higher standing than they do. But still middle class.
TeamOfPups@reddit
Fraid not, I was born in 1979 and grew up in England so I was right there living it. I'm also a sociologist so it is my job to study class.
However - I see my comment was ambiguous because actually I do think he's middle class but aspiring to be more. And I also think that despite having a middle class lifestyle he made his money through a working class coded industry.
NotASexJoke@reddit
Why use yank language then? ‘Blue collar’ is not a British term. And ‘coded’ just oozes American culture war bollocks.
TeamOfPups@reddit
I guess it's just how I talk with the sector I work in. Can assure you I'm English and have always lived in the UK.
We certainly used the terms white/blue collar back in the 90s when I first studied sociology at a UK university and in relation to UK society.
I've certainly noticed some sociology words have filtered through to more mainstream use over time and have got co-opted to have different significance.
TheseThoseThine@reddit
Someone that works with drills is working class something who runs a company manufacturing drills is absolutely not.
TeamOfPups@reddit
He's got money, but he's not the class he wants to be. JKR absolutely chose drills to demonstrate that. He's like a rich builder turned property developer. This is the sort of thing that judgey posh people would've considered crass in the 90s. If she wanted him to seem middle class he'd have worked in a 'clean' white collar job like a bank or at least a factory making something for middle class people like a computer factory.
Dietcokeisgod@reddit
A 4 bed detached house down south? That is not working class.
as1992@reddit
Eh? The Dursleys are 100% middle class, by pretty much every metric imaginable.
And I’m English btw.
-auntiesloth-@reddit
Working class? They're stereotypically middle class. Petunia is an unemployed housewife, Vernon is Director of a company, and they sent Dudley off to a Public Boarding School, equivalent to Eton or Harrow (for context, these schools currently charge over £60k per year)
In what universe is that working class????
EmFan1999@reddit
Who is down voting this? This is a bog standard 3 bed working class house, even down south in the West Country
florzed@reddit
4 bedroom detached house in Surrey with the father director of a company and a privately educated son? That's not working class.
BlakeC16@reddit
Not in a house that big!
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your answer! Is it odd that it doesn’t have a garage?
D0wnInAlbion@reddit
No. Houses with garages aren't rare but they're not particularly common either.
RegularWhiteShark@reddit
About a third of UK houses have a garage, according to homehousebuyers.
CuriousThylacine@reddit
What happens to the number when you take terraces out of the equation?
CuteEntertainment385@reddit
What would happen if you deduct some houses without garages from the number of houses without garages? The percentage of houses without garages would go down.
TheThiefMaster@reddit
It's a reasonable question because the Dursleys house isn't a terrace, and terraces almost never have a garage given a lot were originally built for workers for a local industry that they could just walk to.
something_python@reddit
I live in a terraced house that had a garage when we moved in. Had it knocked down though, because it was a deathtrap.
TheThiefMaster@reddit
Was it at the back opening into the back alley? I've seen one or two of those. Need a small car to make the turn from the alley into the garage though!
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
Quite a few of those in the older parts of inner Sydney here in Australia. They died out in the postwar period though when urban sprawl led to bigger houses.
something_python@reddit
The terraced houses on my street go all the way through to the road behind. So the entrance to the house is at the front, and the entrance to the garden is on the other street at the back. Entrance to the garden used to have a garage on it.
TheThiefMaster@reddit
Well that's a higher class of terrace than we have 'round here!
A garden and everything.
PartTimeLegend@reddit
I’ve lived in almost all the styles of house. Except the kind they have.
As a kid in a semi with no garage.
As a teenager in a semi with a detached garage.
As a young adult a flat with underground shared parking.
As an older adult a terrace with no garage.
A bit older a detached with no garage. Twice.
Now a detached with a detached garage.
On my street everyone has a garage either attached or detached.
Garages are a luxury house item or something. My mother is obsessed with them for some reason. Whenever I’ve shared a house I’m looking at she’s talked about the garage situation.
Space is a premium in the UK due to our size. There’s only so much land after all. As such property is basically ranked (with some exceptions) as Detached with Detached Garage > Detached with Attached Garage > Detached No Garage > Semi Detached with Attached Garage (can be easily converted to larger detached sans garage) > Semi Detached with Detached Garage > Semi Detached No Garage > Terrace with Detached Garage > Terrace with Attached Garage (very rare) > Maisonette > Flat with Underground Parking > Flat with no parking.
Also with houses having a driveway is more luxury. Many people in the UK have nowhere to park their cars on their own land.
I’m from Liverpool and we have lots of areas with no off road parking and streets are lined with parked cars.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
I assume detached means the house isn’t touching another house. What is semi detached? Also, what is a terrace house? Is that similar to a detached house?
PartTimeLegend@reddit
Terrace is a row of houses with shared walls between them. Sometimes called a mews now.
Semi detached is two houses with a shared wall between them both that is structural.
Detached is a stand alone house with no shared walls.
A shared wall is commonly referred to as party wall.
The addition of garden space is also considered. Many people have no outside space of their own. So having a garden is luxury. Not all have front and back gardens, some have only one or the other.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
What is a terrace house?
PipBin@reddit
A terrace is a row house. So you share the wall at either side of the house with a neighbour. They are tiny, the last one I lived in was about 10 feet wide!
Olista523@reddit
Some more modern terraces aren’t that bad, lived in a 3-4 bed terraced with a garage, the downstairs was tiny but the upstairs extended over the garage and the loft had been converted.
weaseleasle@reddit
A row of houses that share walls on both sides. Semi detached are 2 houses that share 1 wall.
Demostravius4@reddit
Terrace houses used to have garages down the road, or behind the houses in a seperate area.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Wait, can you explain this to me? What do you mean the garage would be down the street?? Is this like an American apartment complex where your garage is a row of garages across from the parking spots?
Demostravius4@reddit
Basically yes. You may have a row of houses, then behind the gardens are a seperate area with all the garages. Or where my nan lives they are all together about halfway down the street.
It's quite an old fashioned design that's not really done amymore afaik.
PipBin@reddit
It’s called en bloc. So you would have all the flats or terrace houses together in one street and then down the end of the street you would have a block of garages. It never really works.
Tom_FooIery@reddit
A lot still do. Here up North at least.
Demostravius4@reddit
All the ones I know down south/midlands are used for storage now rather than vehicles. Whilst looking for a house we found a fair few which I don't think a modern car would fit in!
EmFan1999@reddit
Lots of terraces have garages at the back, down here in the West Country anyway
Hamsternoir@reddit
Not common?
Certainly for properties built before cars such as terraced housing or flats but the majority of houses on estates built since the 60s will have them.
Older houses that have the space will also usually have them added.
TarcFalastur@reddit
Whereabouts in the country are you? I grew up in Herts Bd live in Beds now, and garages are still only sometimes added to post-60s houses here. Even the new builds which have gone up in the last year often don't have them. They require about an extra 50% extension to the land parcel but don't increase the value of the house by 50% so they're not really economical to add unless you're trying to build a 4-bed where it'd be expected.
Hamsternoir@reddit
Grew up in the west country, live in the midlands now.
New build going up not far from me and 100% of houses going up have them, the only ones that don't are the blocks of flats.
TarcFalastur@reddit
Yeah. I think there may be quite a difference in houses inside the London commuter belt and outside of it.
utukore@reddit
A lot of garages are being converted back into living space now though as they won't fit modern cars in them.
Been house hunting this year and seen so many ex garage playroom/gym/offices.
TheThiefMaster@reddit
Our house had its garage labelled as a "motorbike garage" on the listing because it wouldn't fit a car (and I think the previous occupant did in fact have a motorbike). As it's behind the house and the neighbours have extended sideways into what presumably used to be a shared access, you might struggle to get a car to it, even if it was a smaller older car that would fit inside!
Thankfully the front has been paved so we have enough driveway for two cars and a trailer regardless.
Steppy20@reddit
Not especially. Most detached/semi detached homes will have a drive way but not necessarily a garage.
We don't really care that much about keeping our cars inside so most people use their garage for general storage space. In my life we've only ever used them for keeping motorcycles, tools, gardening stuff and bicycles.
YelenaShadow@reddit
I've lived in 7 houses, only 2 of them had a garage
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
That’s so interesting to me! I’ve lived all over the US and I’ve always had a garage. Even the apartments I’ve lived in had garages.
This is one of the things I adore about Reddit - learning about different social norms across the world.
Outside-Parfait-8935@reddit
I've never lived in a house with a garage. I've lived in houses and a flat, all in London, no garages. Having a garage in London is not that common, I guess due to space being expensive. I've got a driveway now.
barrybreslau@reddit
Our house has a garage that is too small to fit modern cars in
ProgrammerFickle1469@reddit
Garage and driveway twenty years at this house the car has never seen the inside of the garage. It's storage space.
barrybreslau@reddit
I'm thinking about fitting proper double glazing and removing the garage door.
Randa08@reddit
There is a street I walk down to my kids school one side is semi detached houses that all have drives too small for modern cars, they all have to park on the street.
BaldyBaldyBouncer@reddit
Same here. House was built in 2020 but won't fit a car built this century.
CrazyPlatypusLady@reddit
Same here. But we also have both a driveway and no loft so yay, car gets somewhere to sit and we have storage.
The54thCylon@reddit
Angela Rayner in the chat here
Ok_Anything_9871@reddit
I grew up in 2 semi-detached houses with 'car ports' on the side (an open car shelter); then 5 flats with no parking; 2 terraced houses with no parking. We do have a car now, parked on the road.
It will vary a lot by area and housing type so people probably get a very different impression of how 'normal' they are depending on where they live.
Mammyjam@reddit
I've lived in 13, 2 had a garage including my current 300 year old house where the old stables has been converted into a garage. I've never parked a car in either though.
weaseleasle@reddit
Multi car garages are quite unusual. The majority of homes have no garage. Multi car is n extravagance given the value of land. Most people park on their driveway.
PipBin@reddit
It does have a garage, but that’s not a common thing to have. 50 years and 10 houses and I’ve never lived in one with a garage.
antiquemule@reddit
How tf can you get downvoted twice for a simple statement of fact?
PipBin@reddit
God alone knows. Fact one, the house in the film has a garage. Fact two, having a garage is not that common in U.K. houses, (approx 1/3 have garages) it’s not uncommon but it’s not usual, you don’t expect it. Fact three, I have never lived in a house with a garage. But somehow downvotes.
Fuzzy-River-2900@reddit
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted for this just because you thought it didn’t have a garage
Breakwaterbot@reddit
That's a garage on the side of it
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/EFEC/production/_91302416_privet4.jpg
VirtualMatter2@reddit
It does have a garage. The brown square thing on the right is the garage.
Ashgenie@reddit
It has a garage.
Organic-Can7856@reddit
More working class I would say. Also by the time their children are high school age most people will have moved onto a larger house.
as1992@reddit
How many working class families own a 4 bed detached house in Surrey?
boyfromtheblackwater@reddit
Their whole way of life is decidedly middle class and suburban, I thought that aspect of satire was most of the point of their existence
jimmyswiggings@reddit
They also send Dudley to Private School. If people don't think the Dursleys aren't immediately recognisable as middle class I'm not sure what they think middle class is
-auntiesloth-@reddit
Not just any private school, a Public school. Smeltings is meant to be the HP Universe equivalent of Eton or Harrow.
-auntiesloth-@reddit
How many working class families send their kids off to Eton?
The_Final_Barse@reddit
You're right.
Too many yanks are using the phrase differently than reality in the UK.
Ew_fine@reddit
How is it different, US vs. UK? A genuine question.
In the UK, is “middle class” considered higher or lower than it is in the US?
EmFan1999@reddit
Middle class isn’t about income here. It’s about upbringing. It’s not comparable with the US really. It’s like posh old money v common rough labourer thing. More like white v blue worker
Demostravius4@reddit
I love that you're doubling down on this so hard despite having no argument presented.
It's suburban Surrey. The house owner is a Director of a company as a white shirt worker. Earns enough for a stay at home wife. His child goes to a public school.
What more do you want?
TarcFalastur@reddit
Would they? I grew up in a middle class family in Hertfordshire - not too dissimilar to Surrey - and I grew up in a very similar house that in a family which also had two kids. Most of my friends had similar sized houses or smaller. Only one or two people i knew with moderately wealthy parents had a bigger house than that.
Patch86UK@reddit
It's a four bedroom detached house in the suburbs. That's definitely middle class.
The whole point of the satire is that they treat Harry terribly even though they don't have to. They make him sleep in the cupboard even though they have not one but two spare bedrooms. If they were working class and living in a small house without enough room for Harry, it would cast them in a much less malicious light.
johnny_briggs@reddit
Middle class?
Bwunt@reddit
Also 1980s...
johnny_briggs@reddit
Still a blue collar house in Newcastle. A bit like Brookside.
Bwunt@reddit
Fair.
Mooniemuk@reddit
I always think the age of the house as depicted in the films was too modern compared with the book.
e1-11@reddit
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/04a8d2d0-c1fe-45bb-9183-12b505731cb1
Here is the right move listing for the house used for the outdoor shots in the first film, I believe. The house is located in Bracknell, which is a typical sleepy small British town near Reading. I believe the house was chosen due to its unremarkableness. It is what is termed a link-detached house, where the house next door is attached to the garage. Standard new (ish) build 3 bed house with downstairs toilet.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Two things: 1) That is the tiniest, cutest oven I’ve ever seen! I didn’t know an oven under a cooktop could be made into two tiny ovens! How clever!
2) The listing used the term cloakroom! Like a wizards cloak?!
Seriously, thank you for sharing this. You are truly amazing! 🥰
Snoot_Booper_101@reddit
Cloakroom is just estate agent (Realtor in USian) speak for a downstairs toilet. It almost always has nothing to do with actual cloaks.
cool_chrissie@reddit
That’s for that! I definitely thought it meant coat closet.
Gruejay2@reddit
It comes from the fact that cloakrooms in middle-class houses (which were usually glorified cupboards crammed in under the stairs) were often converted into downstairs toilets in the mid-20th century. They're typically a very tight squeeze, but the dedicated ones in newer houses are a little better.
scorpiomover@reddit
Another name for a toilet is a “water closet”.
cool_chrissie@reddit
I do know that one!
Cloakroom is just as strange as calling it powder room in the US.
FreeKatKL@reddit
To be fair, American ovens (and washing machines, and dryers, and refrigerators) are HUGE.
InevitablyCyclic@reddit
As has been pointed out cloakroom is used to mean downstairs toilet. Presumably related in some way to the old habit (We're talking medieval castles) of keeping cloths in the toilet room (the garderobe) as a way to keep moths out of them.
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
I actually wonder if it’s because toilets used to be outside, and when old houses were converted to have indoor plumbing, actual cloakrooms were converted into toilets?
quartersessions@reddit
Good theory. Very possible.
quartersessions@reddit
I've lived in the UK my whole life and while I've seen some toilets off cloakrooms, I'd expect a house with a cloakroom to have... a cloakroom. The house I grew up in had one, and it was essentially a small room or large cupboard with coat-hooks, a little window and a bench.
Tea_Ve@reddit
My folks have a cloakroom, it’s a place to hang coats. It’s known as a cloakroom from wearing cloaks. Go to an event anywhere (or even a decent club) and you leave your coat or shawl or indeed your cloak, at the cloakroom
Ghotay@reddit
Yes that oven is entirely normal for the UK. My oven is almost identical
TeamOfPups@reddit
Standard oven. Feels weird that people might think it tiny and quaint.
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
It looks standard sized (60cm) to me (Australia/NZ) as well - the only odd thing is how the oven part is split into two equal sized ovens, ours usually have one large one with possibly a small warming drawer at the bottom. Some people do have the larger 90cm cooktops and oven though.
PiercedX123@reddit
The top part of the oven is also a grill. It’s quite normal here. Cloakroom is an old term that’s stuck around since the days when people did wear cloaks. More often than not it’s been converted into a downstairs toilet.
JohnnyRyallsDentist@reddit
For OP, "grill" = Broiler.
PiercedX123@reddit
Is that what a broiler is???? I’ve seen the word so many times in books and just assumed it was some form of barbecue (BBQ)
JusticeForTheStarks@reddit
Americans would call our barbecuing “grilling” whereas the grill for us is a broiler for Americans. It’s thrown me off as well. It’s just like we might heat a bowl over water and call it a Bain Marie, but Americans call it a double boiler.
Indigo-Waterfall@reddit
I went to look just because of your oven comment. Disappointed to see a normal grill / oven combo lol. How big are your ovens?!
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
This is a typical American oven/stove.
Gruejay2@reddit
Used to live in a house nearly identical to that one, bizarrely enough. They must have a few templates and cookie-cutter them everywhere.
cool_chrissie@reddit
How does ownership work if they’re attached like that? Where does one property end and the other start?
Also, what is a refitted cloakroom?
e1-11@reddit
Just means the sink and toilet are new and the room has been repainted and tiles above the sink replaced.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
e1-11@reddit
It is what is legally termed a ‘party’ wall. See above link for a long winded, boring explanation, which can be basically summarised as - get agreement with your neighbour before any major building works involving said wall👍
scorpiomover@reddit
Very early 80s suburban house.
The attitudes to dinner are reminiscent of the 1970s.
The parenting seems more like the 1950s.
Doesn’t reflect average. Suburban. Middle class. The majority were working class.
mxsfitss@reddit
I rewatched the films recently, and I will say one thing that immediately stuck out to me is an opening shot of what looked like miles of copy and paste new builds like one of those dystopian aerial photos of Dubai or subarban America (I'm aware it was probably deliberate to cheaply fill the screen space). Whilst the houses themselves/everything else was pretty accurate, our new build estates are definitely not where near as big as that and the streets aren't in a grid/as repetitive a formation as that opening shot would lead you to believe
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
I know what shot you’re talking about and it definitely looked off.
GarageIndependent114@reddit
It's because the film directors for the early films were American and Mexican but a lot of the suburbs just outside London by the motorway actually do look a bit American like that in ways that the average neighbourhood looking like that doesn't (it's like comparing central London to Bluewater).
tevvintersoldier@reddit
A lot of answers aren’t mentioning the fact the series is set in the 90s, where house prices were significantly cheaper. A 3 bed house for the Dursleys in that time wouldn’t have been a “starter home” bc it left enough room to have the 2 kids a nuclear family like the Dursleys likely would have strived for (given their portrayed morals and personalities). The wrench in that plans comes in the form of Harry, which is likely why they didn’t have their own second child.
Being a single income household at the time the events are set was entirely feasible, especially with Vernon in the type of company he was in. Not only had he been at his company 10+ years at the time of the first book, but he was at the very least middle-high management due to securing deals with extra companies. Petunia would have had no problem with being a SAHM/wife bc that’s the sort of thing she grew up around and was expected of her at the time. Petunia and Vernon likely would have been born in the 60s, and depending on their parents, would have had the values of “working husband, stay at home mother” ingrained at a young age.
I saw your other comments about a garage/double garage, and that just wasn’t the style of U.K. housing at the time, and has only recently started coming into the zeitgeist this decade. My in-laws have only a single garage, which is attached to their and their neighbours house (called a link-detached property) which would have been highly more likely around the time the houses in Privet Drive were built.
In terms of layout, a lot of British homes are “closed concept” with a separate lounge, kitchen, and dining area. Open concept started coming into fashion in the late 00’s. Small gardens were more the style as portrayed in either book 2 or 3 for the types of neighbourhoods like Privet Drive.
Overall I’d say it was an accurate depiction of the household and lifestyle for the time the books were set, and taking into account the upbringing of Petunia and Vernon plus their ages.
In terms of children in the household, it’s shit to say but the abuses Harry faced would likely have gone unreported, even if the neighbours found out. There was (and still partially is) a huge culture of “don’t tell me how to parent my kids” and “that’s a domestic/parenting issue” when it came to that sort of thing- especially in the mid-late 80s when Harry would have suffered a majority of it. Schools were not as hot on safeguarding and rarely did anything about bullying, so Dudley getting away with his antics was highly likely. In terms of Dudley attending a private secondary school, I refer back to my point about Vernon’s job. They would have been able to afford that. State school is free in the U.K., and at the time the series was set, they were more lax on where school uniforms came from- nowadays you have to buy them specifically from the school and they’re fucking expensive lol. School supplies are provided by the school.
I might have missed a few things, but I hope this answers some questions you had!
Fyonella@reddit
There is a downstairs toilet at 4 Privet Drive which is what I’d call what you’re referring to as a ‘half bath’. In fact there’s even an en-suite & a family bathroom upstairs too.
I reckon it’s a mid to late 1980s new build too, so a bit later than your estimate.
It does have a separate detached garage on the right hand side.
snarkycrumpet@reddit
we had a new build in 1988 and the whole estate had downstairs loos, serving hatches to the dining room and fetching oak cabinets.
Queen_of_London@reddit
The real house it was filmed at? They probably added both later. In the 90s they wouldn't have had a downstairs loo and definitely wouldn't have had an en-suite. The cupboard under the stairs might well be where that house now has a downstairs loo.
Fyonella@reddit
Lots of houses had downstairs toilets, long before the 90s. Not sure where you’re getting your information. It would be just inside the front door, most likely. Hell, I live in a house built in 1968 and it has a downstairs toilets, always has had!
Ditto en-suites. So called ‘Executive’ homes were being built with en-suites as early as 1980.
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-united-kingdom-september-13th-2014-2473956943
The small window to the right of the front door is the downstairs toilet.
Queen_of_London@reddit
I'm getting my information from my own experience, which happens to be backed up by facts. Your 1968 house is unusual - a quarter of homes at the time didn't have an indoor WC or bathroom *at all,* let alone two. And today 73% of homes only have one bathroom, so having that extra WC is still an outlier even now, let alone in the 1990s.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/sep/06/en-suite-mania-homebuyers-in-britain-going-bonkers-for-bathrooms
https://www.webuyanyhome.com/cash-house-buyers/en-suites-value/
The Harry Potter house having an extra loo in 2014 isn't really relevant.
Fyonella@reddit
Oh for fucks sake. What’s wrong with you?
I grew up in a house built in 1957. It absolutely had an indoor bathroom and separate toilet. I do not know where you’re sourcing your views!
My grandfather had a house built in the 1880’s - indoor bathroom upstairs. Outdoor ‘privy’ alongside the coal shed in the garden.
Queen_of_London@reddit
What? I literally included two sources - there are more, but I'm not writing a thesis here.
Some homes have two bathrooms, yeah, but I'm not making up the stats, and most homes still only have one bathroom. But nowhere did I say that no homes had second bathrooms. You're arguing against a point I didn't make.
We're just disagreeing about a minor point - we're literally chatting shit, heh - and it's not worth getting angry about.
BeagleMadness@reddit
I was about to say, the house is pretty similar to the one I lived in as a kid. That was built in 1982. We had a downstairs loo under the stairs, and my parents had an en suite shower room. But they had those added in the late '80s to avoid morning arguments over the bathroom, they weren't originally part of the house.
tevvintersoldier@reddit
Ahhh so it does!! I never clocked the downstairs loo 😅
namtaruu@reddit
Just to add about downstairs loos for people not knowing the UK housing stock: in many households where there are no toilet downstairs, owners refit it into the under stairs area. Even though Vernon's house has it, it makes Harry's "room" placement even more revolting.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Omg, I had no idea
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
This is the most helpful answer! Thank you so much! (I wish I could give you an award 🥇)
CuriousThylacine@reddit
The books are set in the 90s. There's nothing in the films to tell us when they're set.
tevvintersoldier@reddit
This is very true! I guess bc I knew the setting I assumed that other people would know when watching the films 😅
Demostravius4@reddit
They collapse the millinium bridge at one point.
Sibs_@reddit
I think that the Dursley family dynamic is very accurate and similar to my own childhood (I grew up with the HP books). My dad had a well paid job and my mum stayed at home to raise me & my siblings, later working part time. Almost everyone I knew in primary school was the same, I can’t recall knowing anyone who had both parents in full time work.
kh250b1@reddit
“House prices were significantly cheaper”.
And so were salaries.
TheLookingGlass-@reddit
Proportionately though, houses were cheaper as a percentage if average salaries so they were, objectively, cheaper.
Gain-Outrageous@reddit
Tiny nitpick- the Dursley's have a 4 bedroom house. 1 for the parents, 1 guest room, Dudley's room, and Dudley's 2nd bedroom which later becomes Harry's room
appleandwatermelonn@reddit
It was a 4 bed in the books! It does look like a 3 bed in the films, but in the books there’s Vernon & Perunia’s bedroom, Dudley’s bedroom, Dudley’s second bedroom where he stored his junk (aka Harry’d bedroom) and a guest bedroom.
P5ammead@reddit
Fantastic answer - although I’d suggest that Petunai and Vernon were more likely born in the late 40s / early 50s. It’s summer 1991 when we first meet them, and at that time I’d guess they’re early forties in age; so ‘prime boomers’ (but back when that wasn’t a pejorative word of course!).
tevvintersoldier@reddit
That’s a very valid point! I was going off a rough timeline of Harry’s parents dying in ‘81, them being 21-ish at the time. I wasn’t sure how much older Petunia was than Lily. 😅
appleandwatermelonn@reddit
I actually think Petunia is very close in age to Lily but Vernon is quite a bit older.
The scenes in Deathly Hallows make it seem like she’s only a year or two older (playing on the swings with a 9-10 year old Lily, calling her parent Mummy, tried to apply to go to hogwarts when Lily was 11), but Vernon was a company director by 1981 in the first chapter, so he would probably be older than her 22-23.
Satelliteminded@reddit
Not OP, but I love how detailed this response is, thank you! Never knew how much I would enjoy learning about 90s housing in the Uk.
tevvintersoldier@reddit
I’m glad my random knowledge is able to entertain someone 😂❤️
Tight-Ad@reddit
Jesus.
CaffeinatedSatanist@reddit
I don't remember seeing a scene where Harry has to read a meter or flip some breakers from his little cupboard
Itchy-Gur2043@reddit
The Dursleys are a caricature of the Daily Mail reading, conservative middle class. As caricatures they are perhaps exaggerated in some respects but I've met people with homes and attitudes almost exactly like them.
MercuryJellyfish@reddit
The house is a real house. That the Dursleys are portrayed as living in a house that size, and yet let Dudley have two bedrooms is odd. They’d literally be giving him more space to himself than they do for themselves. The books suggest that they give Dudley everything and Harry nothing, but there’s not the implication that they give him inordinately more than they give themselves. I actually knew a kid when I was a kid (40 years ago) who was Dudley Dursley to the life. His parents giving him two bedrooms included. But they had a much larger house overall. They totally did spoil him though, the whole 36 birthday presents thing was absolutely plausible. How
The parents relationship - working breadwinner, immaculate housewife, seems very outdated, fairly outdated when the book was written, hopelessly outdated 30 years later. But when the book was written, they at least read as a plausible old-fashioned attitude. Interesting thought; Richard Griffiths was 42 years older than Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Melling. Fiona Shaw is 31 years older than them. So we’re portraying a couple who are older parents, and he’s much older. So you would definitely think that with him somewhat dominating the household, an old-fashioned attitude like this is quite plausible. The casting supports the somewhat stereotypical old-fashioned characterisation.
probablyeek@reddit
I don’t think Dudley having two bedrooms is that odd. The parents have the whole house - living room etc. I grew up middle class and a lot of people I knew had a playroom which was essentially another room for kids toys and stuff(usually shared, but obviously the dursleys weren’t letting Harry share
Holiday-Nectarine813@reddit
They upper middle class and posh aswell I'd say tbh. Definitely not the average British home in my opinion but that's maybe just me
MaskedBunny@reddit
It's unrealistic. In all the houses I've been in, the room under the stairs is so full of shit that you couldn't store a child in there.
TeamOfPups@reddit
Oh my god so true. I need that space for my hoover, ironing board and ten million bags for life.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
It seems to be a detached 3 bedroom house, but it lacks a garage. I would assume it has 2 or 3 bathrooms. So, in my American mind, this is a small starter home for a young family. Is that accurate at all?
rayoflight110@reddit
Definitely not, a detached 3 bedroom house with more than one bathroom would be considered middle class in most areas of the UK and not considered a starter home for the vast majority of Brits.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
What would a starter home consist of?
Froomian@reddit
A starter home could be the same size but in a less desirable area, for example an ex-local authority house. For our first home we looked at ex-council places and they were a pretty similar size to the more expensive house we ended up in later on.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Could you explain exactly-local authority houses and ex-council places?
Froomian@reddit
Council houses are local government owned homes that are rented out cheaply to people on low incomes. They are sometimes sold off and enter the private sector. When this happens they tend to fetch less than typical market rate since lots of homeowners don’t want to live near social housing tenants.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Thank you, that is helpful
moist-v0n-lipwig@reddit
My first house was in the 90s and was definitely a starter house, probably even on the small side for that. Had a living room and kitchen downstairs, no hallway so front door was straight into the living room and stairs were in the living room. Two bedrooms upstairs and bathroom. Certainly no garage and drive was only big enough for two cars, and you had to shuffle them to get them out if they weren’t in the right order.
rayoflight110@reddit
It's really difficult to say to be honest. For the majority though a small starter home would be a two bedroom apartment in the suburban area of a city. If you were from a more affluent background and had help from your parents you might be able to afford a two bedroomed house with a garden. It really just depends on the individual circumstances, but a 3 bedroom detached house with multiple bathrooms would certainly not be the norm for a starter home for the vast majority of Britons.
No_Election_1123@reddit
This is a post war starter home where the mother was still expected to stay at home and raise the kids but a man as the sole provider could afford to buy a house like that on 3x his wage
If you look at 70s sitcoms like Terry & June, Rings on their Fingers, Good Life, Reggie Perin. They’re all women staying at home while husband works yet living in homes similar to the Dursleys
CrazyPlatypusLady@reddit
However I'm 1991 when the first book was set, this absolutely was the norm.
Littleleicesterfoxy@reddit
Agreed, I bought my first home in 1996 with my first husband and we were both modestly salaried and were able to afford a 2 bedroom three bath bed semi with a garage and a garden close to Dorking for £77,000. Today that same house is worth over £430k which is ridiculous to be honest,
CrazyPlatypusLady@reddit
Exactly. My parents bought theirs in very early 92 in mid Essex for £59k. 3 bed, two car driveway, massive back garden, decent schools, close to the A12. Sold it for £98k in 99.
skibbin@reddit
No longer a thing really. There aren't really any cheap places to use to get on the property ladder, that first step is too high for vast numbers of people to get on. People might live in a flat whilst they are professional, then move to a house when they start a family.
skibbin@reddit
For reference the house from Harry Potter sold back in 2018 for £435k. Not because of its fame, but because that's how much houses on that street cost
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Wow - thanks for sharing this information!
CrazyPlatypusLady@reddit
Didn't want to jump Infront of the other commenter, but starter homes do kinda still exist. However they're not family homes, they're more single person or couple homes.
I've of my friends had one, there were 4 in the block, one of each corner. Downstairs was open concept with tiny kitchen area (still had space for a washing machine) and upstairs had a single bedroom and a small bathroom. There was a communal green space, and it had allocated parking in a small lot near to the houses. There were a few blocks of the same kind of starter/commuter home on that estate.
You could just about fit a standard UK double bed (4ft 6 x 6ft ish) with room to walk around it, and I think it had a fitted wardrobe.
It was basically a pokey apartment set over two floors but because it was house shape, they could get more money for it. It was also easy commuter distance from London so again, price hike.
This is slightly bigger, but similar geographical area and style.
To put that price in context, a little further south and a little closer to London, a two bedroom terraced house with pretty decent space inside, its own garden, garage and driveway and sitting closer to commuter links than the little one is around £310-£320000.
Sasspishus@reddit
These day, a 1 bedroom flat most likely. But the economy was different for the older generation, so that house may well have been their first house, but they'd likely stay in that home forever.
davus_maximus@reddit
One of my friends has a relatively new-build terrace house (early 1990s build, so by British standards, brand new) which is 1 room and tiny kitchenette downstairs, one bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. That's it. It has a tiny conservatory and a garden the size of a squash court. It has an allocated parking space which is luxury nowadays! It'd still sell for over 250k today.
tomtink1@reddit
Look up 2-up 2-down. They are really common in the UK. Not necessarily start-homes but to give you an understanding that a 3 bed detached house is a really decent sized house in our minds.
RevolutionaryAd581@reddit
A typical British starter home (if such a thing were to exist) would be what was called a 2 up 2 down... referencing the number of rooms these would be terraced properties (lots of houses attached in a row) with 2 rooms downstairs, a reception room and a kitchen, and 2 bedrooms upstairs... going was back these would have an outside toilet, but more recently a bathroom would be attached on the back of the ground floor... resulting in the strange situation where you would enter the home into the lounge, pass into the kitchen, then the bathroom would be off the kitchen! 😂
Wootster10@reddit
Really does depend on what area of the country you're talking about.
But for many it would have been some form of two two down terraced house.
This means two rooms downstairs, kitchen and living room, and two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom.
In other areas it would be a small flat.
wordswithanemones@reddit
Probably worth mentioning that middle class means different things in the UK and US. I'm not entirely sure what the Americans actually mean by it but it's different for sure.
PipBin@reddit
Just to put this into context, back in the day I used to watch Rosanne and wonder why they complained about being poor when they had such a big house with so many bathrooms.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
That’s so amusing! They were definitely a poor, blue collar family in a smallish blah home.
42p2n314k3@reddit
I would say it's quite an aspirational house and probably the ultimate house most middle class British people would be able to buy in any suburban area...
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Thank you for answering. I’m honestly so curious about this. What would a “normal” middle class home look like? What size are they?
Present_Program6554@reddit
Middle class in the UK is not the same as in the USA. Most Americans who call themselves middle class would be considered working class in the UK.
CrazyPlatypusLady@reddit
We have started to get trailer parks in the UK in the last 30 or so years though. So that's an interesting shift. They've existed for decades as holiday homes, but some have been reclassified and it's still kind of jarring to see them pop up on Rightmove.
Sasspishus@reddit
One of my parents is middle class. They moved to a cheap area of the country from an expensive area. Its a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom detached house with a double garage and a garden. I'd say that's probably towards the higher end of middle class. Most middle class homes would be a bit smaller, maybe only 3 bedrooms and a single garage, but otherwise similar.
We don't have the mass of sprawling suburbs of gigantic houses like they do in the US, our houses are all much closer together and built of more expensive materials like brick and stone.
minty_tarsier@reddit
It's probably worth saying that "middle class" has quite a different connotation in the UK to its meaning in the US. If I understand it correctly, in the US it means 'normal/average', whereas in the UK it means something more like 'halfway to upper class' i.e. more posh than the average person.
I think the Dursley's home is a pretty accurate normal middle class home. It depends very much on whereabouts in the country they live, though.
Fyonella@reddit
It does have a garage and 2.5 bathrooms. I wouldn’t call it a starter home, those are usually 1-2 bedrooms.
linden214@reddit
It's been a while since I've seen the movies, but the books make it clear that there are 4 bedrooms: the master bedroom, Dudley's bedroom, Dudley's second bedroom (later Harry's), and the guest bedroom.
VirtualMatter2@reddit
It has a garage.
atomicsiren@reddit
No. The vast majority of Brits live in modestly sized houses.
Atheissimo@reddit
For context, Surrey is in one of the most expensive parts of the UK because it's within commuting range of London which has the highest salaries. Houses can be double or more the cost of houses elsewhere, it's like living in Westchester County, NY or Long Island.
Having any kind of detached house with a garage in a wealthy suburb like that would be middle class for the area, but in the north east of England you'd expect a double garage and a larger garden for the equivalent house.
Just about all houses in the UK are smaller than you'll see in the US because land is so much more expensive. You do get big houses of course, but the average is 900 sq ft vs 2000 sq ft in the US.
Rumple-Wank-Skin@reddit
The dursley house isn't solid middle. It's upper working - lower middle.
Dudley had all the presents and in the end went to smeltings but his family were still on a cookie cutter new build estate.
PiercedX123@reddit
Vernon is def middle - he went to boarding school and his son is going to boarding school. He is a middle manager at a factory. Petunia is probably lower middle. We’re not told a lot about her and Lily’s parents but they seem to have done okay. Seem to have come from a Cotswold village type of place.
ThrowRA_ociation437@reddit
I feel like people forget that middle class things cost middle class money.
If they could afford more, they wouldnt be middle class.
sage1314@reddit
He's a director of the company, not a middle manager in the factory!
Atheissimo@reddit
In Surrey though?
bad_dancer236@reddit
Yes - although it would have still been a more expensive part of the country it was still way cheaper than now - my auntie and uncle lived in a similar house in Surrey on a secondary teacher’s wage (my auntie worked part time in a shop).
as1992@reddit
Your family is also middle class.
Rumple-Wank-Skin@reddit
I think It's harder to be in the middle in Surrey. Perhaps I put more emphasis than I should on the property rather than the cash value.
as1992@reddit
Of course it’s middle class, 100%. How many working class families own a 4 bed detached house in Surrey?
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Thank you for taking the time to answer. You rock!
Employ-Personal@reddit
About 30% of the countries housing stock broadly matches the Dursleys home and circumstances. This data can be found in the relatively recent government survey entitled ‘Evaluating H Potters Built Environment - The Dursley Effect’ (Digby Committee 2007 - available from HMRO, £26)
Peppl@reddit
it might've reflected them in the 80's, not when the books were written
incenseguy@reddit
A very 70s style house
Hihi315@reddit
The Floo network is depicted 100% accurately. I forgot to add that.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
This comment wins 😂
MsDragonPogo@reddit
Is this an essay for a homework assignment?
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Nope, I’m just honestly curious
atomicsiren@reddit
I had a friend at school who used to sleep in a cupboard (albeit not under the stairs), so that bit is certainly true.
Indigo-Waterfall@reddit
I grew up sleeping in the box room that was essentially the size of a cupboard lol
Studrockwb@reddit
I used to make a reading den in the cupboard under the stairs, loved sleeping there.
AlternativePea6203@reddit
My friend, renting in central London, dreams of a cupboard.
SaltySAX@reddit
My first room by myself (after growing up sharing a room with my older sister) was in a coat cupboard. I remember loving it. We moved soon after and I got my own proper bedroom, but I was fond of that cupboard for sure as it was cosy.
Englishbirdy@reddit
Privet Drive is scarily typical of a British suburb and gives me the Heebie Jeebies about the thought of ever having to live in England again.
LoudCrickets72@reddit
Why is that? Other than the Dursleys being complete assholes to Harry, the house and the neighborhood seemed nice.
Englishbirdy@reddit
It’s so cookie cutter soulless.
Deadrobot1712@reddit
los angeles???
Englishbirdy@reddit
No not LA, Privet Drive.
RevStickleback@reddit
It's a real house. 12 Picket Post Close, in Bracknell, so it's accurate in that sense, and reflects the look of a lot of new builds in the 90s. New builds now tend to be even smaller though.
I_will_never_reply@reddit
It always reminds me of Hyacinth Buckets house
Visible-Traffic-5180@reddit
I experience the most curious mix of revulsion and nostalgic affection for the Bucket house 😂
I_will_never_reply@reddit
Floral sofas, deep brown mahogany effect psuedo antique furniture, brass clocks with rotating balls, an array of china that you can't touch, curtains with frilly pelmets at the top....need I go on
InternationalRide5@reddit
It's an exact replica of the one at Sandringham House.
TeamOfPups@reddit
This is exactly it. Like Hyacinth Bucket they are portrayed as having 'ideas above their station'. Desperately trying to tell the world they are middle class.
SilverellaUK@reddit
"Lady of the house speaking."
International-Bed453@reddit
Well, we all knew someone who lived in the cupboard under the stairs.
Hihi315@reddit
😂
Hihi315@reddit
Really enjoying this thread!
I grew up in the south of England in the 90s and agree that a 4 bed on a new build estate can cover upper working class/lower middle/middle. The Dirsleys don’t seem strapped for cash though, and sending a child to a minor private school means middle to me, but they are given a strong ‘nouveau riche’ vibe because they care so much about what the neighbours think. Class in England often doesn’t align with income, but has a lot to do with the sense of who your family were a few generations ago. E.g. Aristocratic families who live in castles that are falling down and can’t afford the renovations.
Totally disagree with suggestions Dursleys are upper middle for this reason, because although the British class system is irrational and hard to explain, upper middle either means you are living in a fancy big house (not on a housing estate) or you are from old money so have upper middle cultural capital even if you don’t have the money to back it up. If anything, the Weasley’s ramshackle house in the countryside is indicative of a historically slightly more upper middle background, but one which has fallen on hard times, because there is a sense their house has been passed down through generations and is very unique.
Hihi315@reddit
It is hard to know exactly how the magical class system works though
Visible-Traffic-5180@reddit
I'm British, and went to the Warner brothers Harry Potter tour in Japan. I didn't know there's an exact replica of the Dursleys house there... It was 100% accurate, of the averagely sized lower middle/upper working class style houses I grew up knowing.
It was really jarring to suddenly encounter such a "British" building lol, complete with brown leaded uPVC windows and prissy little boring garden and conservatory, in Japan 😂
Visible-Traffic-5180@reddit
... pressed post too soon. It also perfectly captures the way boomers here tend to decorate; beige and a little out of date but they generally stick with it and don't seem to follow trends.
My own mum's is like that, once she achieved it all how she wanted it (semi fancy crockery, built in cupboards, huge flatscreen TV, overcrowded fitted kitchen) it's just remained like that. And it will until she dies lol (I didn't have to sleep in a cupboard).
Heavily British, of that class and era. Privet drive would have been an annoying and shallow place to live, full of busybodies covertly monitoring you if the grass got 0.4mm too long and wasn't immediately mowed at 8am every Sunday by the man of the house.
I had a friend with a house and parents just like this when growing up. They flaunted their mid range matching cars and perfect square of boring lawn, but also counted the slices of bread and no one was allowed to take one, nor sit in the "good room", nor flush the toilet before 7.40am etc. It encapsulates that particular unhappy cloying Britishness very well to me.
Express-Motor8292@reddit
I’m not sure where in the UK that would be considered any form of working class, it looks prosperously middle clsss to me.
onlysigneduptoreply@reddit
House prices in the north means that's higher working. Think brookside in the 90s similar houses
brideofgibbs@reddit
I walked into the Dursley’s kitchen in Japan and screamed because I’d gone back in time to the 1980s. It’s absolutely how we lived then.
Visible-Traffic-5180@reddit
Absolutely. My mum had the EXACT same kitchen doors/cabinets! It was very mundane yet utterly surreal, in a country that's generally full of mundane surreal, haha.
InkedDoll1@reddit
My mum is 73 and redecorates every few years, much to the chagrin of my dad. She loves that clean grey and white look you see in modern influencer homes. I on the other hand love maximalist trends and, well, clutter 😆
HatOfFlavour@reddit
I hope you also enjoy dusting.
Ornery_Crab@reddit
Hah! I had the same experience, I had to explain to my kids (Japan born and mostly raised) why I was so freaked out. It was like I’d suddenly been transported back 30 years into my childhood. They really got it spot on.
allywillow@reddit
And all the features in the kitchen were on the nose! The awful splash back tiling, the chicken egg holder…. Brought back so many 90s memories of my first house
NotASexJoke@reddit
ITT: Teaboo Yanks answering with what they think is true, and kinds who were born 20 years after the books are set and don’t remember the class system before the mid 2000s.
CuriousThylacine@reddit
They're at the upper end of the middle-class bracket (but not in the upper-middle-class bracket, that's something different). It's a pretty good representation. Vernon is managing director of a power tools manufacturer though, so in real life he'd probably have a larger house of the "McMansion" variety.
PiercedX123@reddit
We don’t know how big a firm they are though, it’s not Black and Decker level, may only be a small producer.
RobPez@reddit
If there's one thing the upper middle class can't stand, it's working class people having money. The Dursley's great crime in Rowlings eyes is that they're working class, vulgar, and well off. The Weasleys are poor but middle class, and therefore 'ok'. The whole franchise stinks politically.
TeamOfPups@reddit
Not sure why you're getting down voted, this is bang on. The Dursleys are trying to fit in with the middle classes filling their house with chintzy frills and furniture that's too big for the space they have. Drills are working class, a blue collar interest. Yes Vernon is the boss but he's the boss of something blue collar coded. JKR is absolutely portraying them as vulgar wannabes.
Mumique@reddit
That is...not a realistic take. I mean sure, the upper middle class can't stand working class people having money. But the Dursleys are slap bang middle class. Middle class job, attitudes, aspirations and a desire for respectability. Vernon went to private school. Definitely not working class.
tb5841@reddit
Rowling wrote Harry Potter while desperately poor. Portraying her as 'upper middle class' is weird, she was nothing of the sort.
tomtink1@reddit
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/search.html?searchLocation=Leeds%2C%20West+Yorkshire&useLocationIdentifier=true&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E787
Why don't you have a nose on Rightmove? Maybe try chucking in Bristol (because that's where I know. For reference it's not quite London prices but it's a much more expensive area of the UK) and setting the price slider to 200k-400k. That's what I would consider sort of middleclass-ish. But I am very willing to be corrected. Maybe other people will suggest other areas and price ranges that they would consider relevant from their own experiences.
kitkatbloo@reddit (OP)
Thanks for sharing this website. I’ve never heard of it and it’s fun looking at all of these UK homes!
TarcFalastur@reddit
Privet Drive is in Surrey so the Home Counties are the best place to look. I'd argue aim for a 10 mile ring outside the M25.
germany1italy0@reddit
Even easier look at zoopla and Rightmove listings (current and past) in Martins Heron, Bracknell.
Others have already posted the listing of Harry Potter’s house …
misimalu@reddit
The film version was very Hyacinth Bucket style late 80s/early 90s middle class with lots of chinz and Laura Ashley Furnishings. But IKEA launched a big advert in the mid 90s and by the all the chinz was definitely seen as passé. Your house was either Dursley or more of a John Lewis/Habitat/Ikea house. Habitat had an absolute hold on my mum so ours was more like that (I’m a 1980s baby who grew up in Surrey so exactly Harry’s age)
misimalu@reddit
Oh and the dinner party is accurate af. The scene where Vernon tells Harry to stay upstairs and be quiet was actually triggering lol!!! And once my parents skimped on a babysitter and left me in the car on the driveway asleep in the car when they went to someone else’s!!!!!!
Spank86@reddit
I cant fit a bed under my stairs. Other than that pretty much spot on
Kj539@reddit
Remembering that Harry moved there is 1981, yes it’s accurate for a home/lifestyle of a lower/middle class family.
Sarahspangles@reddit
I’m a similar age to JKR and think the house is spot on. I could probably tell you what’s in the fridge, where they buy their sheets, and what the paperboy delivers.
I think the Dursleys themselves are aspiring middle class. Vernon is certainly stupid, but not necessarily unintelligent, and may have got a scholarship to Smeltings. He seems ambitious for the company he manages, but the company doesn’t have his name, so he’s worked to get that too. As Petunia can’t follow her sister‘s path, she wants to fit in with him and suburban life. Which isn’t to say they’re not narrow minded bigots.
They‘ve bought as much house as they can afford as young as possible, so maybe one of them had an inheritance at some point. I bet VD (lol, this is the 80‘s term for an STD) is the sort if person who boasts they didn’t go to University and he probably saved hard and used the Smeltings Old Boy Network to get ahead.
Significant_Code2761@reddit
Accurate to a boomers house, probably from JKR generation above her
presterjohn7171@reddit
It doesn't. It fits the bill perfectly for the Dursley family.
jayphelps57@reddit
Everything points to lower middle class with middle aspirations a very long way from upper middle
mycatiscalledFrodo@reddit
It's a book written in the mid-90s so yes, it portrays that era amd tgat social standing pretty well.
TooMuchBrightness@reddit
I grew up in a house of a similar style and period. It’s very accurate.
Acceptable_End7160@reddit
36 presents for a birthday. Christmas at a stretch but a birthday? And to think Dudley had 37 the previous year? Pffft
Dense_Bad3146@reddit
Our first house was a 2 bed version of the Dursley’s, there’s an entire estate of houses just like it just round the corner.
Foundation_Wrong@reddit
It’s absolutely accurate! I know I’m the same age as Lily!
kh250b1@reddit
Its a movie about wizards.
So every thing in it is based on facts with absolutely no made up elements
Neddlings55@reddit
Im the same age as HP, and also live and grew up in Surrey.
Ive been to the studio tour and inside Privet Drive, and it feels so familiar. Mainly of people who purchased their council houses and then tried to make them not look and feel like a council house.
Its pretty accurate tbh.
Cliffe419@reddit
Mostly lazy fatties? How doesn’t that represent many British people?
West-Ad-1532@reddit
Its trope....
However the wimpish simpering is very accurate.. It's a caricature.
TawnyTeaTowel@reddit
As with everything else Rowling churns out, it’s a stereotype - the kind of level of accuracy you might expect from a 1980s sitcom.
Traditional-Egg4632@reddit
Margot and Jerry from The Goode Life + The Buckets from Keeping Up Appearances. 1980s sitcom is so accurate
ettabriest@reddit
Not for now it isn’t.
Traditional-Egg4632@reddit
I mean that describing the tropes used in Harry Potter to describe the Dursleys as being inspired by 1980s sitcoms was accurate, sorry I can see how it was vague now.
SDHester1971@reddit
The House is very much the average for for one in the Surrey Area, there's toms of identical developments all over the area since, usually built with the promise of a portion of them being 'Affordable' which then goes out the Window the moment Planning is allowed as they then reduce the numbers of Houses to below the numbers required to be obligated to do it. Once they finish the Development they them apply to add a couple more on and usually get permission.
Privet Drive looks a lot like somewhere in Southwest Surrey and was probably built on the site of an old disused MOD place or an old Airfield.
FrancesRichmond@reddit
People stuffing themselves with unhealthy food. Overweight adults and child. Obnoxious, pompous, foolish male. Indulged, pampered child who expects all his own way and can't manage the world- never his or their fault. Narrow-minded people who can't tolerate difference. Blame place continually on others not like them. Dull, drab lives. No joy.
BusyBeeBridgette@reddit
Well they filmed it in an actual house in Bracknell. So it is pretty spot on.
Aromatic_Ad4132@reddit
Small minded cruelty and hatred of anything different
Shawn_The_Sheep777@reddit
We don’t tend to keep kids under the stairs
Reynard_de_Malperdy@reddit
Speak for yourself - it’s the only room in my house that locks from the outside so we don’t have much choice if we don’t want them getting back to their parents before we cook them
Traditional-Egg4632@reddit
It's a set of exaggerated stereotypes of suburban Southern England that you can find in a lot of other British media, so the vibe is instantly recognisable to a British audience. It's about as accurate as fictional portrayals of Bumfuck Alabama or signifying New York by showing an Italian man loudly explaining to a yellow cab that he's walking here.
qualityvote2@reddit
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