Gloucester shopkeepers are bracing themselves for a tourist boom following the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

The latest installment of the Harry Potter series, shot against the backdrop of the city’s Norman Cathedral, is released on July 15.

Gloucester Cathedral features in Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

And Gloucester tourist chiefs are convinced that the cult status of the film will lure Potter fans to the city in droves to walk in the footsteps of their hero.

In the Harry Potter films, Gloucester Cathedral is used as the location for Hogwarts Hall, school for witchcraft and wizardry, which Harry attends with chums Ron and Hermione.

Graham Walker, CEO for marketing gloucester ltd, the organisation set up to sell Gloucester as a prime tourism, leisure and retail centre for the South West, said: "The Harry Potter films have all been huge blockbusters and have an incredible following worldwide.

"The release of the latest film is bound to generate an influx of visitors to the city which will in turn generate income for in local shops, pubs and restaurants.

"It is of course totally appropriate for Warner Brothers to choose a Gloucestershire location for Hogwarts Hall as Harry Potter author JK Rowling herself spent most of her childhood living in the diocese.

"The Cathedral and its precincts seem to be proving increasingly attractive to film and television producers, as College Green and Miller’s Green were also used as the backdrop to the Dr Who Christmas Special last year."

And Mark Owen, Chairman of the Gloucester branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the Harry Potter series had already had an effect on the city.

"I don’t think there is any question that the new Harry Potter film will generate increased footfall for the city," he said.

"I think that many people will come here simply to follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter, but once here will fall under the spell of the city’s many other attractions from the historic docks to the fantastic new Gloucester Quays designer shopping outlet, nearby."

Gloucester is no stranger to the screen and a number of films and television programmes have been shot here over the years including Harry Potter, The Choir, Buffalo Girls, The Colour of Magic, Vanity Fair, Martin Chuzzlewit, and The Onedin Line.