James Bond’s London
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James Bond’s London

An insider’s guide to the locations of 007’s capital.

If you’re visiting London and want to take in a spot of 007 sightseeing, listed below you’ll find an overview of James Bond’s London, featuring some of the unique and iconic 007 locations.

While GoldenEye in Jamaica is author Ian Fleming’s most famous home, his flat at 22B Ebury Street in Belgravia played a prominent role in his younger years. The building had formerly served as the Pimlico Literary Institution. The front is now adorned with a blue plaque commemorating his time there.

Another of Fleming’s residences was 16 Victoria Square, his London home from 1953. Nestled between Buckingham Palace and Victoria Station, the property was designed by early-Victorian architect Sir Matthew Wyatt.

DUKES bar in Mayfair was one of Fleming’s favourite spots and is sometimes linked with 007’s famous martini. Another of his haunts, Boodle’s Club in St James’s Street, is said to have been part of the inspiration for Blades Club, which appears prominently in the 1955 novel Moonraker.

One of the many nods to Bond history in Die Another Day (2002) is the appropriation of the name Blades for the fencing club where Bond duels with Gustav Graves. Sited at The Reform Club, a private members club in Pall Mall, it is here that Madonna makes her cameo appearance. The Reform Club was also used in Quantum Of Solace (2008), doubling as the Foreign Office for the scene where M meets the Foreign Secretary.

Die Another Day also showcases the exterior of Buckingham Palace, and its surroundings, as Gustav Graves parachutes in to receive his knighthood from the Queen.

Parts of London doubled as St. Petersburg in 1995’s GoldenEye, with The Langham in Portland Place featuring as Bond’s luxury Russian hotel and Drapers Hall on Throgmorton Ave as the Russian Council Chamber.

GoldenEye also used London’s much-loved St. Pancras Station, re-casting it as St. Petersburg Station for the scene where Natalya arrives by train and bids to elude authorities. The wonderful interior of the St. Sophia Cathedral, Moscow Road, meanwhile, doubled for the St. Petersburg church where Natalya meets Boris Grishenko.

Somerset House on the Strand also featured as St. Petersburg in GoldenEye with the production importing 40 Russian cars to drive around the courtyard for the scene where Bond and CIA operative Jack Wade break down in their rusty, blue car. Somerset House also enjoyed a role in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies as Bond pulls up for a meeting with M in his iconic Aston Martin DB5.

The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square featured in 2012’s Skyfall, hosting the first meeting between Bond and his new Q. They meet in Room 34 where a melancholy Bond is gazing at The Fighting Temeraire by J.M.W. Turner. Turner’s famous oil painting depicts one of the final great warships from 1805’s Battle of Trafalgar being towed away for scrap, mirroring Bond’s potential future following the closure of the double-O programme.

Skyfall (2012) also filmed at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, which was used for the scene where M attends the funerals of the MI6 agents killed in the terrorist attack.

Also featuring in 2012’s Skyfall was the Department of Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall, where the production shot on the rooftop, capturing the scene in which Moneypenny gives Bond the ceramic bulldog that M bequeathed to him in her will.

The River Thames played a prominent role in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, which saw the centre of London debut as a major action location for 007, with Bond pursing Cigar Girl along the river, zipping past the Houses of Parliament, through Tower Bridge to Docklands and the O2 Arena (or the Millennium Dome as it was known at the time). Bond’s mid-air barrel roll in the Q Jet Boat, meanwhile, was filmed at Millwall Docks.

Formerly the home of the Greater London Assembly and the Mayor of London, City Hall in Southwark appeared in 2015’s Spectre as the home of the Centre for National Security. Also featuring in the film was Freemasons’ Hall on Great Queen Street, where the production shot the scene at the Foreign Office where C is anointed as the Head of Nine Eyes.

Further up the Thames from City Hall at Vauxhall is the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) building, Vauxhall Cross, which has played the home of Bond’s MI6 in a number of films since debuting in 1995’s GoldenEye. On screen it has come under attack in The World Is Not Enough, Skyfall, and Spectre. Vauxhall Cross also appeared as an establishing shot in Die Another Day, the writers going on to acknowledge the building’s real-life name with scenes set below MI6 in the fictional Vauxhall Cross tube station.

The moment in Die Another Day when Bond enters Vauxhall Cross underground station ahead of his meeting M was filmed at the end of Westminster Bridge. The famous bridge also featured in the climax to Spectre as Bond battles Blofeld.

The real-life London Underground enjoyed a starring role in Skyfall when the villain Silva escapes MI6. While much of the action was shot at Pinewood Studios, filmmakers captured vital scenes on a disused Jubilee Line platform at Charing Cross Station, although on screen the chase sequence unfolds between Temple and Embankment stations. 

The Ministry of Defence Main Building in Whitehall took on the role of the MI6 offices for 2021’s No Time To Die. The building had previously played itself in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only.

Also in Whitehall is the Old War Office Building, which featured as MI6 in 1983’s Octopussy, and Carlton House Terrace, which was the exterior for Madeleine Swann’s office in No Time To Die (2021).

Malaysia House, just off Trafalgar Square on Cockspur Street, appeared in 1987’s The Living Daylights as Universal Exports, the front for MI6.

Almost opposite is 35 Spring Gardens, which acted as the exterior of the safe house where M, Q and Moneypenny meet in Spectre (2015).

Said to be one of the oldest restaurants in London, Rules in Covent Garden also featured in Spectre, hosting M, Q and Moneypenny. Diners making a reservation can request ‘M’s table’ for their sitting.

 

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