CREDITS QUADROPHENIA, 1979 dir: Franc Roddam Phil Daniels Leslie Ash Sting Ray Winstone Philip Davis John Bindon

“I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see? I mean, you gotta be somebody, ain't ya, or you might as well jump in the sea and drown. ”

The Who’s album is used as a framework for teen angst and a recreation of the early sixties weekend battles between supersharp Mods and leatherclad Rockers.

The Who hailed originally from Shepherd's Bush in west London, and this is where most of the London scenes are set. Jimmy (Phil Daniels) rides his scooter along Goldhawk Road, and it’s from Goldhawk Road tube station that his greaser pal Kevin (Ray Winstone) is chased into Shepherd’s Bush Market and beaten up.

Jimmy’s home was north of Shepherd's Bush, 115 Wells House Road, backing onto the railway line between Willesden Junction and Acton Central, near Old Oak Common.

The Rockers attack Spider after his scooter breaks down outside the Bramley Arms, Notting Hill, a pub seen in movies such as classic Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob, with Alec Guinness, the Harold Pinter reverse-timescale drama Betrayal, John Boorman's offbeat Leo the Last and Alex Cox's Sid And Nancy. Opposite the Bramley is the scrapyard where Pete works.

During the seventies, much of the area was squatted and, in a gesture inspired by Ealing’s Passport to Pimlico, seceded from the UK. When threatened with eviction, residents appealed to the UN. The Quadrophenia film crew needed to get ‘passports’ for the ‘Kingdom of Frestonia’ in order to film there.

Quadrophenia film location: The Mods' London hangout: S&M Cafe, Islington

The London hangout of the Mods is the S&M Cafe, 4-6 Essex Road, Islington, just north of the Angel tube station. This art deco institution, dating from the twenties is more famous under its former name, Alfredo’s. It also appeared as ‘Luigi’s’ coffee bar in 1997’s fifties-set music biz drama Mojo.

It’s while using the, now closed, public baths of Porchester Hall, Porchester Centre, Queensway, that old pals Jimmy and Kevin meet up, only to realise that they’ve fallen on opposite sides of the Mod-Rocker divide when they come to get dressed. The complex also contains a Turkish bath which is still functioning.

At weekends, the rival tribes fled south from London to the Coast Mods on their scooters, Rockers on motorbikes. In the faded seaside town of Brighton, the rival gangs congregate by the Palace Pier, in front of the now-closed Heart and Hand – then one of Brighton’s most famous gay bars. The marquee of the cinema next door is advertising Heaven Can Wait – the Warren Beatty movie released in (whoops) 1978.

Quadrophenia film location: The riot spills into town: East Street, Brighton

East along the seafront, the Mods meet for breakfast at the Waterfront Cafe at the Peter Pan Play Area, Madeira Drive. Opposite the pier entrance you can see the exterior of the ballroom in which the Mods enjoy a raucous evening, is now the Brighton Sealife Centre.

So if you're going to Brighton to check out the interior, you're in for a disappointment. The dance hall, where Jimmy upstages Ace (Sting) by leaping from the balcony, is in Southgate, north London. It used to be the Royalty Ballroom, bit is now The LA Fitness, Winchmore Hill Road, at the end of Dennis Parade opposite Southgate tube station.

Quadrophenia film location: The dance hall exterior: Sea Life Centre, Brighton

Back in Brighton, the riot spreads from the seafront into the town. Just across Old Steine is East Street, where the rioters get hemmed in by the law and Jimmy finally manages a quickie with Steph in the narrow alley by number 11, leading to Little East Street. The cafe that gets wrecked is a little to the west, on the seafront at the corner of Kings Road and Ship Street.

Quadrophenia film location: Jimmy and Steph enjoy a quickie: alley by 11 East Street, Brighton

The hotel, where Jimmy is ultimately disillusioned by the sight of Ace working as a bellboy is, of course, the five-star De Vere Grand, King's Road, dominating the town's seafront.

Quadrophenia film location: ‘Bellboy’: The De Vere Grand, Brighton

The spectacular white cliffs, off which Jimmy ultimately takes a dive on Ace’s jazzed-up scooter, are almost twenty miles east of Brighton, at Beachy Head, southwest of Eastbourne.