Ed Sheeran's day in Georgetown

The pop star filmed his "Shape of You" video on Airport Way South

About a decade ago, Scott Horrell agreed to let a film crew use his Georgetown diner for a day.

The location scout didn’t tell him many details but agreed to pay what The Square Knot Diner would have made in sales that day.

The owner of several establishments along Airport Way South, Horrell opened the diner’s doors at 5 a.m. and sat at the diner’s counter as crews began to set up equipment and remove photos from the walls.

“Then this little red-haired guy with a British accent sits down next to me,” Horrell recalled. “He is just really polite and unassuming, but tired. He says, ‘Hey man, where can I get some coffee?’”

Horrell now knows that that guy was Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.   

Sheeran returns this Saturday to Seattle to play at Lumen Field as part of his Loop Tour, but 10 years ago he spent a December 2016 day in Georgetown filming a music video for his smash hit “Shape of You.” It would go on to become one of the most viewed videos of all time with more than 6.7 billion views on YouTube.

Directed by Washington-born director Jason Koenig, the video begins in a fictional boxing gym with a “meet cute” for Sheeran and an attractive female boxer. They make their way down Airport Way to The Square Knot Diner. 

At the diner counter, the couple split a plate of fried chicken. (Fun fact: The diner didn’t serve fried chicken. It was from the Shell Station on Corson Avenue S., Horrell said.)

The pair then jump in an old, green taxi that drives them north on Airport Way.

“The shot of them going down the street is some of the best time capsule footage of how the neighborhood looked then,” Horrell said.  (Another fun fact: Macklemore owns the taxi and lent it for the shoot). 

There are more shots of the couple falling for each other, boxing training and Sheeran running along nearby railroad tracks. The video incongruously concludes with the slight Sheeran in an inflatable sumo suit about to be smashed by real professional sumo wrestler Yamamotoyama Ryȗta. (Don’t think too hard, it’s a music video.)

Like any film production, more scenes were shot that didn’t make the final cut, including some at 9lb Hammer next to the diner, Horrell said.

By early evening, word had spread that Sheeran was in Georgetown and fans began showing up looking for him. Sheeran quietly left shortly after.

For a time, Sheeran fans visited the Square Knot mostly to take pictures at the counter, Horrell said, but not many ordered food.

“I probably should have put fried chicken on the menu because we would have sold a lot after the video,” he said.

After a 10-year run, The Square Knot closed in March 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Horrell opened the baseball-forward bar Maude's in the same space in 2022.