Drab London office block revealed to have been a secret spy base for GCHQ for past 66 years
It has been revealed for the first time that a building sandwiched between a Starbucks and a pub served as a base for the spy agency over the past 66 years
AN office block sandwiched between a Starbucks and a pub was the London base of GCHQ since 1953, the spy agency has revealed.
GCHQ has confirmed the location after moving out of the site on Palmer Street, opposite St James's Park Tube station in Westminster.
It said the office, sold privately, "has played its part in significant events over the years, such as the 2012 London Olympics, working with our partners, MI6, MI5 and the Metropolitan Police to counter terrorist activities and serious and organised crime."
GCHQ works alongside MI5, MI6 and law enforcement to protect the UK from threats including cyber attacks and terrorism.
During the Second World War, GCHQ moved to Bletchley Park where they decrypted German messages, before moving its headquarters to Cheltenham in the 1950s.
The agency then needed a suitable location in the capital for the handling of secret paperwork - after a search, the Ministry of Works provided a newly built building on Palmer Street. GCHQ moved into its secret London home in the spring of 1953.
As well as its Cheltenham HQ, the agency has offices in Cornwall, Scarborough, Lincolnshire and Harrogate and will maintain a London presence.
GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming said: "As we depart our Palmer Street site after 66 years, we look back on a history full of amazing intelligence, world-leading innovation, and the ingenious people who passed through those secret doors.
"Then, as now, it's a history defined by the belief that with the right mix of minds, anything is possible."
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