A big part of the production work took place in Niagara-on-the-Lake – the historic town at the mouth of the Niagara River, its preserved 19th-century streetscapes and heritage residential neighbourhoods making it one of the most film-ready small towns in Ontario. The crew arrived around June 10 and stayed for eleven days, leaving on June 20.
Filming took place in Old Town, on Queen Street and in the Chautauqua neighbourhood on June 15 and 16, with intermittent traffic stops and production vehicles occupying various streets. The Royal Canadian Legion’s parking lot on King Street served as the production’s base for the full eleven days.
The most specific confirmed location is on Johnson Street, where neighbouring heritage homes at numbers 123 and 127 were used for filming – almost certainly becoming January’s and Gus’s neighbouring cottages, placing the two writers just a few steps apart as the novel requires. The production transformed the soft-yellow 1840s house at number 123 with green paint, a wraparound veranda and a temporary extension – returning it to its original appearance after filming. They are private homes; the sidewalk is as close as you can get.
Niagara-on-the-Lake is not a stranger to film productions. It has previously hosted David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen, The Recruit with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell and Amelia with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, alongside numerous holiday and romance productions.
Social media reports suggest that Phoebe Dynevor and Patrick Schwarzenegger recreated the iconic Beach Read book cover on an Ontario beach at some point during the shoot. Whether that is true – and whether it survived into the finished film – we will find out on May 7, 2027.
Beach Read opens in cinemas on May 7, 2027.
