The Müuse Atlas / United Kingdom / Greater London / London

Filming in Royal Docks, London

Three enclosed docks and the derelict shell of Millennium Mills sit beside an airport runway built on the water between them. The Batman and a Spider-Man sequel have both used the mill's gutted concrete interior.

A wide view down the length of Royal Victoria Dock, still water reflecting the sky, Millennium Mills' derelict concrete facade and two moored vessels on the near quay, London City Airport's runway visible in the distance.

What Royal Docks looks like

runs long and straight, a wide stretch of open water lined with paved concrete quays. Rows of black-painted gantry cranes stand along the near bank, disconnected from anything they once lifted. New apartment towers line the far quay, and the cable car crosses high overhead on its way to North Greenwich.

stands on the dock's south side, a ten storey concrete block with broken windows running the full height of every bay. MILLENNIUM MILLS and SPILLERS are still painted in red across the top of the facade, and the ground floor is boarded over. The Grade II listed stands just south of it, a row of round concrete bins under a flat roof.

's single runway sits on the strip of land between and , water on both sides of it. The Docklands Light Railway runs on an elevated viaduct along the water's edge nearby, close enough to Millennium Mills that a passing train fills most of the frame in front of it.

A red painted former lightship and a small tug are moored on the quay directly in front of the mill. Across the water, the long glass and steel roof of the ExCeL exhibition hall runs the length of the opposite bank.

Shot in Royal Docks

Terry Gilliam filmed Brazil around Royal Victoria Dock in 1985. Its clerks' pool and its 'Shangri La Towers' exterior were actually shot next door, in the Co-operative Wholesale Society's mill, now demolished. Stanley Kubrick filmed Full Metal Jacket at Millennium Mills in 1987, alongside the nearby Beckton Gas Works, which stood in for the aftermath of the Battle of Hue. Derek Jarman also shot The Last of England on the mill's own roof in 1987.

Ashes to Ashes, 2008 to 2010

Millennium Mills

The BBC One series Ashes to Ashes used Millennium Mills as a recurring location across its three series, from 2008 to 2010. It appears among the first locations shown in the pilot episode.

Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2019

A pale green spiral staircase standing alone on one of Millennium Mills' gutted floors, rust streaked metal steps rising past bare concrete pillars with peeling paint, a lit fire exit sign on the back wall.

Millennium Mills' gutted concrete interior was used for the 2019 Spider-Man sequel, with filming finishing in October 2018. The film's location manager, David Pinnington, said the building 'gave us the ability to set a scene that we may have had to build in the studio.'

The Batman, 2022

Played Gotham City, contemporary

A red and blue DLR train crossing an elevated viaduct in front of Millennium Mills, close enough that only the MILLENNIUM MILLS lettering across the upper facade reads clearly, broken windows down the brick and concrete floors behind the passing train.

Gordon and Batman interrogate the Penguin inside Millennium Mills immediately after the film's car chase, on Royal Victoria Dock. The building plays a stretch of Gotham City in the scene.

Coldplay, 2011

Millennium Mills viewed from a stretch of cleared ground on its land side, broken wooden pallets and a metal barrier heaped in the foreground, the MILLENNIUM MILLS lettering painted in red across the ten storey facade and a smaller, more damaged brick mill building attached to its right.

Coldplay shot the video for 'Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall' at Millennium Mills over two days in June 2011, close to London City Airport. The video is on the band's own YouTube channel and has been watched more than 245 million times.

What Royal Docks can double for

Red Hook in Brooklyn, New York

The Red Hook Grain Terminal is a derelict reinforced concrete grain elevator on Brooklyn's waterfront, sixty silos twelve storeys tall, decommissioned in the mid 1960s and empty ever since. The Marvel series Daredevil used it twice in its 2025 season, Born Again, as a meeting place for a crime family. It is the same kind of abandoned industrial interior Millennium Mills has provided on screen. The cylindrical silo bank reads differently from Millennium Mills' flat rows of windows in a wide shot, so tighter frames on broken glazing and bare concrete floors hold the match best. Try searching derelict concrete grain elevator now.

Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit's derelict Packard Plant is a multi storey reinforced concrete factory built from 1903, one of the first American plants built in concrete rather than brick or a steel frame. Part of the Transformers film The Last Knight and the vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive were shot inside its broken floors and stripped concrete pillars. The Packard complex sprawls across many separate buildings rather than one block, so a wing needs framing tightly to avoid revealing the wider site. Its brick infill panels are also a different colour from Millennium Mills' plain concrete. Try searching derelict Packard Plant Detroit now.

Buffalo in Buffalo, New York

Buffalo's Silo City complex is a cluster of concrete grain elevators and mill buildings on the Buffalo River, closed in the 1960s and now rented out for shoots and other events. Marine A, the tallest of them, is a plain concrete tower with no ornament. It is close in scale and material to Millennium Mills, though built as cylindrical silos rather than a floored mill block. The round silo banks read differently from Millennium Mills' grid of rectangular windows in a wide shot, so the corridors between the silos hold the match better than an exterior elevation. Try searching concrete grain elevators Buffalo now.