St Ermin’s Hotel hides many fascinating secrets behind its historic facade. It’s actually the only publicly accessible building closely associated with British espionage, of which more later. I was here on a less covert mission, to taste their Flights of Fancy Champagne Afternoon Tea. Arriving outside the imposing courtyard, I admired the Victorian red brick building.
It was built in 1889 as a mansion block on the site of a 15th century chapel dedicated to St Ermin and converted into a hotel in 1899. During the 1930s, St. Ermin’s was used by officers of the Secret Intelligence Service to meet agents, and it became the headquarters of SIS’s Section D. Sir Winston Churchill used to enjoy a glass of champagne in the hotel’s Caxton Bar and in 1940 he asked a group to meet at St Ermin’s to “set Europe ablaze”. They became the SOE (Special Operations Executive) working on covert operations..The post Flights of Fancy and the Secrets of St Ermin’s appeared first on Luxury Columnist.