Audley Square Spy Lamp Post

The lowdown

On a Mayfair street corner stands an unremarkable old lamp post with a small metal hatch near its base, and a thoroughly remarkable reputation. Local legend, backed by Cold War lore, holds that this was a KGB dead-letter drop, where Soviet agents left and collected secret messages by slipping them behind the little door.

A chalk mark on the post is said to have signalled that a message was waiting. Whether every detail is true or polished by retelling, it is free to find, and there is a real thrill in standing at an ordinary lamp post that may have been part of the secret war fought on London's streets.