Real Places Behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day That Fans Can Visit Right Now
New York stars in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though the Big Apple barely featured in the making of Marvel’s new superhero film. Instead of New York City, Glasgow stood in for Peter Parker’s Queens and Manhattan throughout the shoot. Tom Holland’s young hero tackles a host of new perils while coping with the heartbreak of losing MJ, played by Zendaya, after Doctor Strange’s magical reset at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
None of this was filmed in New York. Instead, through a pairing of visual effects, immersive set building at Pinewood Studios, where three entire city blocks were constructed, careful location scouting and background plates of the Manhattan skyline, Peter’s web-swinging scenes were all captured in the U.K. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long used British locations for its blockbusters, with Avengers Assemble, Thor: The Dark World, Fantastic Four and several other films shooting in and around London, and Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles have all previously played Spider-Man’s New York on screen as well. This marks the first time the city has been recreated entirely overseas, aside from a single scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home filmed in Manhattan itself.
The eight locations below, drawn from Time Out, trace the production’s journey from Pinewood Studios to Scotland and even into the heart of Thomas Hardy country during the film’s 2025 shoot. Most of these sites remain open to the public in some form, whether as a park, an active heritage attraction or simply a public street, giving fans a genuine chance to visit the real places behind the film’s fictional New York, though a small handful of sites, including a decommissioned prison and a private former corporate headquarters building, stay off-limits to casual visitors hoping for a closer look inside
Glasgow Doubles For New York In A Runaway Tank Chase
The Scottish city stands in for New York during a major early-action set piece in which an armored car careers through Manhattan. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Frank Castle, played by Jon Bernthal, both get pulled into a sequence that, according to The Scotsman, took the cast and crew down Hutcheson Street, St Vincent Street and Bothwell Street in the city center.
A Glasgow city council spokesman told The Telegraph that major productions filming in the city center bring a genuine feel-good factor, since large crowds turn out to watch shoots for films such as World War Z, Indiana Jones and Spider-Man, and that the scale of these productions essentially turns them into local events in their own right.
Glasgow has built a considerable reputation as a stand-in location for American cities over the past decade, thanks to its dense grid of Victorian-era streets, which can be dressed to resemble various North American downtown districts with comparatively modest set changes. This particular versatility, paired with tax incentives for filming in Scotland, has made the city an increasingly popular choice for major studio productions beyond just the Marvel franchise.
Cast and crew reportedly spent considerable time on Hutcheson Street in particular, since its architecture proved especially well suited to standing in for a stretch of Manhattan during the chase sequence. Local businesses along the filming route, including several restaurants and cafes, remained open throughout the shoot, giving Glasgow residents an unusual opportunity to watch a major Hollywood production unfold on their own streets.
This particular location illustrates how thoroughly Glasgow has replaced more traditional filming hubs for productions seeking an authentic-looking American cityscape without the cost or logistical complexity of shooting in New York itself. Fans hoping to retrace the chase sequence can freely walk the actual route along Hutcheson Street, St Vincent Street and Bothwell Street, since these remain ordinary public roads in Glasgow’s city center, open to visit at any time without restriction.
Fanum House Transforms Into A Movie Prison In Basingstoke
The Hampshire town of Basingstoke made an unlikely appearance in the film, courtesy of Fanum House, the old 1970s-era headquarters of the Automobile Association. The building saw action as a prison in a scene involving a runaway armored car that Spider-Man attempts to stop.
Fanum House’s distinctive brutalist architecture, typical of British office buildings constructed during that particular decade, gave location scouts a ready-made institutional look well suited to standing in for a secure facility without requiring extensive set dressing. The building’s real history as a corporate headquarters adds a layer of irony to its on-screen transformation into a prison, given how far removed its original purpose was from its eventual cinematic role.
Basingstoke has hosted various film and television productions over the years, though rarely gains the same recognition as London or more famous British filming hubs. This particular appearance in a major Marvel film gave the town a moment of unexpected pop-culture relevance, prompting considerable local interest once the connection became public.
The building’s scale and imposing exterior likely played a major role in its selection, since prison scenes in major action films typically require a location that conveys institutional severity without extensive digital alteration. Fanum House’s aging yet structurally sound design offered exactly that quality, allowing the production to achieve a convincing look with comparatively straightforward set dressing rather than extensive computer-generated environments.
This particular location, tucked away in a town rarely associated with blockbuster filmmaking, reflects how thoroughly U.K. productions now scout beyond London and Scotland’s more established filming corridors when searching for a specific architectural look. Fanum House itself functions as a private commercial building instead of a public attraction, so fans can view its exterior from the street in central Basingstoke, though there’s no public access to the interior used in the film. Basingstoke’s train station sits within easy walking distance of the town center, making a quick visit fairly convenient for fans traveling from London or elsewhere in the southeast.