Secrets & Espionage

Where the state kept its secrets and where the spies were made up: the bugged mansion, the bunkers, the headquarters you can only look at, the memorials to the agents, and the addresses of Bond and Smiley.

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Bywater Street: George Smiley's house

No. 9, the little Chelsea house le Carré gave George Smiley, where Ann leaves and the spies come calling.

Bond & SmileyFree

Photo by Darren Haddock, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Le Carré put his spymaster in a real street: a short cul-de-sac of pastel-painted early Victorian houses off the King's Road, and No. 9 is where Smiley lives alone after Ann has gone, polishes his spectacles on the fat end of his tie, and answers the door to Lacon and Guillam in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The 2011 film shot its exterior here. The residents are used to people photographing a front door, and the King's Road at the end is where Fleming put Bond, so the two great fictional services are neighbours.

Where
Bywater Street, SW3 4XD
Nearest station
Sloane Square · 8 min walk

A private street of houses; No. 9 is a home.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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