Harry Pottermanes transform alchemy auberge into goldmine

A quaint, stone-fronted building that claims to be the oldest house in Paris finds itself abruptly under siege from Asian film crews and American tourists.

They are not particularly interested in the antiquity of 51, rue du Montmorency, nor the excellent food served inside. They have been attracted by the building's links with the most successful fictional character of modern times – Harry Potter.

The house, on the edge of the historic Marais district, is called the Auberge Nicolas Flamel. It was built in 1407 by the most celebrated alchemist of the Middle Ages, a man who claimed to have discovered the philosopher's stone, supposedly capable of prolonging life and transforming base metals into gold.

M. Flamel plays a small, but pivotal, role in the first of Joanne Rowling's books, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Harry and his friends have to discover the identity and history of Flamel to solve the mystery of the precious object guarded by a multi-headed dog in a secret room of Hogwarts School.

The worldwide success of the books, and the two Harry Potter films, has brought Japanese, Korean and Chinese film crews to the small restaurant, seeking real-life links with the Potter legend. The building, still elaborately carved with Flamel's name, somewhat resembles the higgledy-piggledy, wizarding shops in Diagon Alley, Rowling's fictional "magical" quarter of London.

At first the restaurant's owner, Natan Hercberg, a former French rock musician, discouraged the media interest. He said that he had not read any of the Potter books and refused to place any reference to the boy wizard in his restaurant (menus from €32, or £20, much praised in the French press).

An influx of American diners, attracted by the Potter connection, has somewhat changed M. Hercberg's mind. He now says that Harry is a "friend who wishes me well". This is a joking reference to a successful French movie Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien, translated into English as With a friend like Harry ....

M. Hercberg still refuses to have any Potter memorabilia in his restaurant, which he bought in a state of advanced disrepair 10 years ago and has restored in medieval style. He points out, however, that there is a trap-door in the cellar which he has never succeeded in opening. Who knows what alchemical secrets, or multi-headed dogs, may lurk inside ...