St. Ermin's Hotel — Churchill's Secret Army Was Born Here

St. Ermin's Hotel in London is a Grade II listed hotel where Winston Churchill founded the Special Operations Executive during a secret dinner on June 19, 1940. Built in 1889 as a mansion block by architect Edwin T. Hall, the hotel became headquarters for MI6's Section D in March 1938. British intelligence officers and Soviet double agents like Guy Burgess frequently exchanged secret government files inside its Caxton Bar.

London · from the walk “Secrets of Westminster & MI6” · audio ~4 min · Generated

St. Ermin's Hotel, 2 Caxton Street, London SW1H 0QW

Why was St. Ermin's Hotel in London significant to British intelligence during World War II?

Look at this elegant building tucked behind its tree-lined courtyard. It looks like any other luxury London hotel... but behind these walls, some of the most extraordinary secrets of the twentieth century were born.......... This is St. Ermin's Hotel. A Grade Two listed late Victorian building, thought to be named after an ancient Monastery that occupied this site before the tenth century. It was built in eighteen eighty nine as a mansion block, designed by Edwin T. Hall... the same architect behind Liberty's department store. It was converted into a hotel in eighteen ninety nine and redecorated with stunning Art Nouveau and Rococo plasterwork by the theatre designer J. P. Briggs.......... But forget the plasterwork. What happened Upstairs is what makes this place extraordinary.......... During the nineteen thirties, the hotel and the building at two Caxton Street were used by officers of the Secret Intelligence Service, located just around the corner at fifty four Broadway, to meet agents. From March nineteen thirty eight, the upper floors became the headquarters of MI six's Section D... the "D" standing for destruction. These demolition agents would eat and drink in the bar downstairs, then head upstairs to plot against Germany. And Section D, the demolition experts, lived on the top floor of the hotel where they reportedly stashed explosives. Guests sleeping peacefully below had NO idea.......... Then came the night that changed everything. On June the nineteenth, nineteen forty, Churchill... who had been Prime Minister for barely a month... called a dinner here at St. Ermin's. He brought together about twenty people, including Earl Mountbatten and a young staff officer named Ian Fleming. The origin of the Special Operations Executive was quite literally drawn up on the back of a menu card, which is now deposited in the UK National Archives. Churchill's famous order? "Set Europe aBlaze!" The S.O.E., also known as Churchill's Secret Army, formed the basis of the S.A.S. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than thirteen thousand people, of whom three thousand two hundred were women.......... Now here's where fiction meets reality. One of the S.O.E.'s co-founders, Joan Bright Astley, briefly dated Ian Fleming and is believed to be one of the inspirations for Miss Moneypenny. The real Miss Moneypenny... working right here in this building.......... But the betrayal runs even deeper. MI six recruiter Marjorie Maxse interviewed prospective intelligence officers at this hotel, including Kim Philby, who had been recommended by Guy Burgess. Philby himself later wrote that he found himself right here in the forecourt of St. Ermin's, talking to Miss Maxse. What nobody realized? Both Philby and Burgess were already working for Moscow. These Cambridge Five traitors brazenly socialized with their Soviet contacts in plain view of co-workers and hotel guests. Burgess used the Caxton Bar to hand over secret British government files to his Russian counterpart.......... The spies dubbed this place the "Works Canteen"... a second office where the Admiralty, MI six, and MI five officers could unwind in the Caxton Bar... never suspecting that traitors sat among them, passing papers to the enemy over a quiet drink.

Unlocked for everyone by someone who walked here

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