The London spy trail is most fascinating
Westminster is one of the busiest areas of a very busy city as it is *London**. But it may be less well known than we think.
Note that it is also the political heart of the UK. with the houses of Parliament and MI6 a stone's throw away, its streets and buildings hide a hidden past that only a good spy has experienced.
The incredible views St James's Park gift of Buckingham Palace to one side and london eye the other help the Tin and Stone Bridge go unnoticed. This bridge was a regular meeting point of the British intelligence service with many of its contacts and, according to what they say, it continues to be so for its current members.
Just a few steps away the Red Lion pub on Duke of York Street It seems like one of those places that attracts many workers from nearby offices for drinks after work. But who knows what they will be chatting about in one of its three floors...
In the 1960s, a member of MI6, Frank Bossard was passing by for secret appointments with him as a KGB informer. The Soviet secret service recruited him precisely there. If when you put your ear up you don't catch some interesting gossip that I changed the fate of Europe, you can at least try its interesting menu of beers and ciders…
The Red Lion, on Duke of York Street
For sleeping, **many of these spies chose St Ermin's Hotel. ** A bell located on the column near its reception reveals a past that, at the time, also remained largely in the shadows.
The accompanying wooden sign ceremoniously announces that its doorbell connected with the British Parliament. It was used for notify the members of the British institution , who spent much of their time in these rooms, about an impending vote.
An eight-minute walk separates both places, so there was no excuse to support or reject the parliamentary proposals that were presented. The myth claimed that the path became even shorter for them, because a tunnel joined them underground. The bell is today in disuse, although it still works.
The lobby of the St. Ermin's Hotel
It was in its halls where Churchill, newly appointed British Prime Minister, selected a group of men, each with a different ability, and he founded in 1940 the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
Its mission was espionage, reconnaissance and sabotage of the enemy and its motto: " Let Europe burn.” Next to the elevators, you can see an example of the secret codes that he issued during his stay in the place.
The Caxton's Bar still serving champagne like the politician drank while using the place as a discreet base of operations. before them, the British Intelligence Service had already occupied one of its plants to use their suites as offices.
The writer Ian Fleming, with 007 in the head, and the playwright Noël Coward , who was also said to be a spy, are two other illustrious clients of this bar.
If the walls of Caxton Bar could talk...
Everything in this hotel evokes the past. The main hall, with ceremonious stairs, ornamentation of teso on the ceilings and sinuous balconies, are the work of the designer J. P. Briggs, famous 19th century theater designer and author of the Savoy in London.
Even the name of the hotel is inherited from the saint to whom they dedicated the chapel that Henry II had built on the same spot in the 15th century.
But its versatility, with wedding halls, conference rooms and suites as large as an entire apartment, makes his spy past compatible with the family environment.
The hotel has up to a children's book that has illustrations of the intense history of the hotel and that it gives to its smallest guests. And one of its terraces houses a farm of more than 300,000 bees , who stroll through the nearby parks and gardens and whose honey is served for breakfast.
The exterior facade of the St. Ermin's Hotel
Many of these agents, some doubles and some even triples, ended up in the nearby Boodle's . Is about a discreet gentlemen's club over 250 years old of history that is attached to the bustling Piccadilly.
In his rooms, he shared his own fleming , among other things to inspire his James Bond novels. The place is still decorated in the old way, who knows if hiding some secret door, and it is not difficult to imagine in him the most famous spy in cinema and literature doing his thing.
Although the real star of the place is one of the desserts on his menu: the Orange Fool, an orange pudding around which more than one state affair will have been closed.
Boodle's, a private club with 250 years of history