‘The home of legends’ is not too grand of a statement to make of The Old War Office. Since it was reopened in dazzling luxury last year as Raffles London at The OWO, it’s drawn in quite the crowd – though none of course that could compete with its heyday: Winston Churchill, Lord Haldane, T. E.
Lawrence. But none of them are why I’m standing at its doors. I’m not here for dinner at the ever-glamorous Café Lapérouse, or to check into one of its sybaritic suites.
What has brought me to The OWO tonight is its more dealings. Down in its subterranean corridors are a series of rooms once used by MI5 and MI6 – high-security storage vaults that housed identity papers and mission reports from agents – now repurposed as the high-octane, if ever mysterious, The Spy Bar. These winding corridors are outfitted with a geometric carpet that feels not unlike something from .
And the staff member who has helped me navigate my way down here tells me that The Spy Bar was once an interrogation room. ‘Don’t drink too much,’ she cautions, ‘or you might end up in the hot seat.’ Elusive though it is, this clandestine hideout has quickly become quite the scene; I’ve heard that Lewis Hamilton, Tom Holland and Rishi Sunak have all visited in recent months.
Indeed, for some length of time, The Spy Bar was only open to hotel guests and residents, and though it has now opened its doors more widely, good luck getting a reservation – you won’t exactly find it on OpenTable. .