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.