Plans have been revealed for a new luxury £1 billion hotel in central London.
If approved the Grade II-listed Old War Office on Whitehall, where Sir Winston Churchill had an office, would be converted into a 125-bedroom hotel.
The hotel would include a ballroom for 600 guests, a 25-metre swimming pool, spa, wine cellars and a roof top bar. The building would also incorporate 88 private apartments.
The Edwardian building, which has more than 1,000 rooms and two and a half miles of corridors, was completed in 1906. It has housed various Secretaries of State for War, including Churchill, Lord Kitchener, David Lloyd-George and John Profumo - but it has never been open to the public.
In recent years the building has starred as the fictional MI6 headquarters in three James Bond movies, Octopussy, A View to a Kill and Licence to Kill. Daniel Craig can be seen gazing over its rooftop cupolas at the end of Skyfall.
Indian and Spanish developers are planning a “world class hotel which will set new standards in luxury.” Details of the hotel’s operators have not yet been released.
