Training - Symons Street, Knightsbridge, London, UK

Location: Symons Street, Knightsbridge, London, UK

“-The source is the star of the show, and the star decides whether to make the meeting or abort.- This is fun, is that why you keep it secret?”

Details:
Barley being trained in aspects of spycraft by Ned (James Fox), of British Intelligence - making contact with a source, avoiding the pitfalls of surveillance: "crowds are good, if you keep moving, open spaces are good, talking in the street is OK if you have to; never ever talk in the car or in the hotel room unless its for the benefit of their microphones, and if you've heard anything of playing the radio or turning on the tap - forget it!"


Notes:
This is  street that runs alongside the Peter Jones store in Knightsbridge.  The quest to identify this scene has been a long one.  In the film, Ned is seen waiting inside the doorway of a butcher's shop, whose name is visible on the shop window - Cobb of Knightsbridge.

A search on the internet for that company will tell you that there was a butchers of that name, latterly part of the Dewhurst chain which is no more, and their last known address was Clifton Road in Maida Vale.  From a quick look on Google Streetview, it is clear that Clifton Road is not the location of this scene.  I'd almost given up trying to identify the street, when I spotted a Cobb of Knightsbridge model delivery van on Ebay.  On the van's livery, it is almost possible to read the original address - Symons Street.


As you can see from the above photo, this street has changed quite a lot over the last 20 odd years - gone are all the original shops: a dry cleaners, butchers, tile shop, wine merchant; all to be replaced by The White Company and some fashion retailers.

Training

Safe House - London

Location: Symons Street Knightsbridge London UK

Details: Barley being trained in aspects of spycraft by Ned (James Fox), of British Intelligence - Using a single sheet of paper on a hard surface, if writing things down. Notes: I presume that the safe house is located in this street but I cannot confirm this.  In this scene, there are ornamental railings on a balcony outside the window, on the building opposite, I think, which correspond with a building at the end of this street on Sloane Square.

“If we trust the motive, we can trust the man, we can trust the material”

Training

CIA Discuss the Notebooks	Location: CIA headquarters Langley, Virginia USA
Details: Russell Sheritan discusses the notebooks with Brady, Quinn and others	“Its everything we wanted to know about the Russians but were afraid to ask -sounds like a pot of gold! -sounds like a crock of shit!”
Notes: The actual location cannot be identified from this shot

Training - Safehouse	Location: Symons Street / Sloane Square London UK
Details: Ned and Walter wish Barley “Bon Voyage” after giving hime a “sniff” of Dante’s notebooks he is supposed to be publishing.  The following scene shows Barley at the window of an aeroplane, then the scene cuts to Ned closing a car door and instructing his driver to take him to the Russia House – the Soviet department in MI6.
Notes: Although I haven't been able to confirm the actual location of the safe house, it appears as if it is in a building on the corner of Sloane Square where it meets Symons Street.  Ned is seen getting into a car and is driven off from this location.

In Moscow - Making Contact

Making Contact	Location: Ukraine Hotel Moscow Russia
Details: Barley rings Katya from his hotel room in the Ukraine Hotel and arranges to meet her outside the hotel.

Notes:

The Ukraine Hotel is one of the Seven Stalin skyscrapers which surround central Moscow at key locations.

Making Contact	Location: Ukraine Hotel Moscow Russia
Details: Katya is seen walking up the steps from the riverside up to the hotel Ukraine entrance, walking past a monument to Ukrainian National Poet – Taras Schevchenko.  Barley emerges from the hotel foyer and meets Katya in the hotel car park in front of the hotel.  Katya and barley get a taxi from hotel to Red Square

The Russia House

The Russia House	Location: MI6 headquarters Century House Westminster Bridge Road Lambeth London UK
Details: Various scenes feature the interior of “The Russia House” – the department specialising in spying on the Soviet Union -  and the action in a number of the scenes cuts back frequently to the Russia House, with  MI6 staff: Ned, Clive, Walter etc, monitoring and analysing events as they unfold in Moscow.
Notes: The SIS / MI6  headquarters was located here from 1964 to 1994 before moving to its current Vauxhall Cross building.  I have not been able to confirm that the interior shots of the Russia House department were filmed here.  There is a  scene later in the film, which I think is supposed to be Clive’s office on “the fifth floor” and therefore in the same building as the Russia House – this scene was filmed in a building just off Lambeth Bridge on the Albert embankment – on the opposite side of the bridge from the current MI5 headquarters.  However, the interior shots appear to be in an older building to the one where Clive's office is.

Barley Makes Contact with Katya

Making Contact	Location: Red Square & GUM Moscow Russia
Details: Katya and Barley get a taxi to Red Square in order to talk in a public open space (to avoid microphones).  Barley tentatively mentions that he received the manuscript.  Katya  suggests lunch but first of all needs to buy shoes – with Perestroika, she explains – there is even less in the shops than before.  There is a shipment of shoes on sale at GUM (the shopping arcade on Red Square

Here are some picture of GUM (Gosudarstveny Universalny Magazin - State Universal Store) from my trip to Russia in 2002.  These photos were taken in May - a few days before the May 9 Victory Day celebrations.  As you can see, the side of GUM facing Red Square was adorned with huge banners depicting war medals commemorating victory in the Great Patriotic War.  There were similar banners hanging from the ceiling inside GUM as well.

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Barley & Katya dine at the National

Making Contact

Location: The Hotel National Mokhovaya Street Moscow Russia

Details: Barley and Katya have lunch in the restaurant of the Hotel National, at a table overlooking Manege Square, the Kremlin, Historical Museum and Red Square.  Barley tries to tease of of Katya, information on the author of the notebooks which Katya had passed on to British Intelligence. Making Contact Location: Tverskaya Street Moscow Russia Details: Katya hurriedly leaves the restaurant after lunch to return to her children.  She rushes up Gorky Street (now Tverskaya) with Barley in hot pursuit, trying to arrange another meeting.  Katya jumps on a trolleybus which heads up Tverskaya towards Pushkin Square. Notes: Barley and Katya are on the opposite side of the street from the Hotel National which they have just left.  The old Intourist Hotel (70s tower block) can be seen in the background.  Katya gets on the bus at Soviet Square, just across the road from a red building which was the Moscow City Soviet building - the mayor's residence.