How to be like Bond on a tour of London's spy sights
London has a thrilling history when it comes to espionage and, if the reaction to Idris Elba’s tweet: ‘My name’s Elba, Idris Elba,’ ahead of casting for the next Bond film says anything, it’s that the British public love a good spy story. So it’s little wonder that tours of the capital’s espionage locations, offering the chance to play 007 for the night, are big business.
I joined Keith Lowes, guide and curator of London Spy Tours, on what turned out to be an aptly grey evening in Victoria. Wearing a black overcoat and carrying a leather briefcase and pointy umbrella, it was easy to imagine him as a secret agent.
He was also disarmingly charming as he led my friend Ben and me to the black cab we had chartered for the tour – one of four options we could choose from along with a large taxi, minibus or vintage open-top double-decker (depending on the size of the party). You can choose to be picked up and dropped off anywhere in central London before and after the tour (which takes roughly two hours).
We followed a route he and our driver Gary Zylberszac (taxi driver by profession but who has also starred as a cabbie in films including The Bourne Ultimatum) had devised beforehand. Within an hour we had seen several famous sights including Buckingham Palace, where we discussed Sir Anthony Blunt, who was exposed as a spy for the Soviet Union but managed to broker a deal fostering immunity from prosecution; the In and Out Club in Piccadilly which was once a recruiting venue for MI5 and MI6; Trafalgar Square with its credentials as a filming location for many Bond movies; the Savoy, where one might order a dry martini (sadly we did not); and the Ministry of Defence, which is known as the iceberg building because two thirds of it are underground.
Rush-hour traffic meant we had to divert, and an obvious benefit of taking a private tour was that we were able to easily veer off and improvise unlike public tours which stick to a designated journey. The narrative was fashioned by what we could see and the conversational nature prompted lots of debate. Credit to Keith who could reel off knowledge on just about anything we could point a finger at – and Gary who chimed in with some great jokes.
We passed Borough Market, the site of an old intelligence training school, on the way to the Tower of London, where the last person to be executed was a German spy, Josef Jakobs, killed by firing squad in 1941. St Paul’s Cathedral (with its whispering walls) and the Houses of Parliament were all covered in the last part of the tour before we ended at the HQs of MI5 and MI6.
It was a slightly intense affair - I would have liked to stop off for a martini - especially for people who have never been to London. But it’s a novel way to see many of London’s iconic landmarks in one go, with the addition of unusual aspects of the city you wouldn’t necessarily notice, and local knowledge from two brilliant guides, and by the end we were thinking like spies, watching and analysing from the back of our vehicle. Mission accomplished.
All tours are bespoke and suit parties of all ages. Traditional black cabs for up to four people from £399; times can be adapted to suit, but typically last one and a half hours (londonspytours.co.uk; 0208 123 2697).
