In the Hollywood films, spy James Bond would meet his boss ‘M’ mostly in and around central London. However, if you really want to track down where the real spies met go no further than St. Ermin’s Hotel, just a short walk from the Houses of Parliament. This publicly accessible building in London is closely associated with much of the history of British espionage.
Back in the 1930s the hotel and the building next door were used by officers of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or later MI6) who were located nearby at 54 Broadway.
Documents suggest that starting in March 1938 it became the gathering place of spies from the headquarters of SIS’s Section D, headed by the Australian George Taylor. Later it became home of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which was called the ‘Statistical Research Department’ in order to maintain its cover.
