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Time Out

The Spy Bar

While looking for the Spy Bar, I get lost. Which is, perhaps, the point. Located deep in the bowels of the glossy OWO and Raffles hotel complex – once the HQ of the Ministry of Defence – the Spy Bar trades heavily on its history. Yes, this is the building in which Ian Fleming worked and came up with the idea for James Bond, and they don't let you forget it. The basement bar is behind a door marked with a tiny 007 - it's easy to miss, and we do - twice. It was once a storage vault for the reports and papers of MI5 and MI6 agents, while the entrance lobby was once a guard room. Once inside, we're greeted as an 'agent', but thankfully, this isn't laboured upon. The Spy Bar isn't an immersive experience, but simply a very good place to drink a cocktail. Aside from the real Aston Martin sunk into the wall behind the bar, it's a relatively demure spot; painted brick walls, comfy velvet armchairs and a second room lined with cosy, private-ish booths just asking for a scandal of Profumo levels. It's dimly lit – so much so that a light has to be delivered to our table in order for us to read the menu – but it seems churlish to order anything but a Vesper martini. At £27, it's not cheap, but it is ridiculously smooth, and, when you're halfway finished, a smart, suited bartender will pour the dregs into a glass fresh from the freezer. An elite touch. Cocktails are all loosely themed around Bond and the storied building, with references to Churchill's prodigious booze intake (a 'Whiskey Mouthwash' pays tribute to his habit of knocking back Johnny Walker at 9am). Well worth a visit - if you can find it. Time Out tip Photography is verboten at The Spy Bar - you'll be given a sticker to pop over your camera lens on entry. So if you want a pic, do it at the door before you enter. Order this