Guinness is Smiley - On Location in London
A couple of weeks ago the ‘Guinness is Smiley’ team (yes, both of us) undertook a field trip to visit a few interesting ‘Tinker Tailor’ and ‘Smiley’s People’ locations in London.
We were trying to discover a bit more about some specific places and clarify whether all the scenes that appeared to be shot at these locations were actually filmed there. We discovered a few surprises along the way.
Our first stop was 37 New Cavendish Street, home to Toby Esterhase’s art gallery in ‘Smiley’s People’.
You’ll remember in the series that after spending a little time looking around the gallery 'Mr Angel' manages to secure an appointment with ‘Mr Benati’ and he descends the stairs to be greeted by Toby. Now it’s fair to say that we have always wondered whether the scenes that appeared to be shot downstairs were filmed elsewhere, possibly even in a studio. We could see the banisters through the window but the only way we could be sure about what lay at the bottom of the stairs was to see inside.
The premises is now an estate agents, Carter Jonas, and we decided it had to be worth trying to blag our way in. We were fortunate to be greeted by a mixture of politeness, curiosity and slight amusement! After all its a little unusual to have two grey haired gentlemen descend on your place of work asking questions about a television series that was filmed there 40 years ago!
I’m delighted to say the staff indulged us and allowed us to go downstairs. Sadly, but understandably, they wouldn’t give us permission to take photos, so you will have to trust our account.
And what do you know, the downstairs room looked like a very good match.
We had always thought that the feature behind Toby's head in the photo below was a light fitting or some sort of strip lamp with a black painted shade. In fact, it's really the light penetrating the basement through the skylight in the pavement.
So the room size was similar and the skylight was in the right place. But there was one piece of architecture that confirmed this was indeed the place where Toby and Smiley had their conversation about Vladimir. You will notice the unusual box above Toby’s head in the photo below - we could see the same box on the wall in the basement.
So it’s a match - we now know that all of the art gallery scenes were shot at 37 New Cavendish Street.
Next up we decided to walk over to Southwick Street, which is the location of the Hotel Islay in ‘Tinker Tailor’. It always seemed likely that the scenes in Smiley’s hotel room were shot there, but would we be-able to confirm it.
From the outside, the location doesn’t look very different from how it appeared on screen. Those railings on the left are still leaning towards the pavement. Inside, it was another story though. The Islay Hotel is now a four star hotel called 'Inhabit'. Gone is the dingy reception area, now replaced with a bright and welcoming entrance. We asked if it might be possible to view a room on the first floor that might have been Smiley’s room and we were invited to wait in the lounge while they went to see if we could gain access.
Unfortunately the room we wanted to look at was in use but this was always a bit of a shot in the dark as we weren’t certain which room they had filmed in. As you can see from the photo below the accommodation is unrecognisable from the 1970's. The Georgian table, sink and shaving mirror have long since left the building! So, we can’t be 100% certain that the interior scenes were filmed here, although there is no reason for us to think that they were not.
When Smiley and Guillam return to the Islay Hotel after they leave the Lexham Gardens safe house, they check the street to see if they have been followed. These two shots were definitely taken from a first floor window at the hotel looking out onto Southwick Street and we have been able to match them both.
View from the hotel towards the corner of Southwick Street and Sussex Gardens (Street view 1)
You can see the location of the hotel and the two street views on the map below. It is worth noting that although you can still access the ends of Rainsford Street you can't drive down the street anymore as Wilson House is in the way. The dotted line shows where the road would have been.
Lastly, we headed to Fleet Street to see if we could find where Smiley engineered a meeting with Jerry Westerby. We first see Smiley walking down Fleet Street and turning into St Bride's Avenue (below).
He then appears on the steps in St Bride's Passage.
It was easy to match the shot of Smiley descending the steps but the wine bar at the bottom, now 'The Humble Grape', had no recognisable interior architectural matches.
Despite our disappointment we felt it would be rude not to refresh ourselves, so we decided to sample their fine wines and excellent beers. We asked if the interior had been completely gutted and redecorated and the owner, James Dawson, was kind enough to come over and talk to us. He was confident that the interior scenes were not filmed there and felt they may have been shot in a Balls Brothers bar in the city, but he wasn't certain. We haven’t yet been able to find the location but we can be sure that the interior scenes were not shot at ‘The Humble Grape’.
You can see Smiley's Fleet Street journey on the map below.
Whilst we were in the vicinity we decided to check out another location that was also rumoured to be the wine bar they filmed in. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a famous Fleet Street pub but the interior is quite different with wood panelled walls and ceilings (see below), so we can be confident of ruling this out too.
If you can help us pin down where the interior scenes in the wine bar were shot (as shown in the photos below) we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us a line at guinnessissmiley@icloud.com
It was actually quite a strange feeling to be following in Smiley’s footsteps more than forty years after these events were filmed. It is thanks to the foresight of producer Jonathan Powell, who was determined that these series would be shot entirely on location, that we are still able to do so.
Fortunately there is sufficient capital in our 'reptile fund' to finance further location visits so, as they say, watch this space...
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