If  If you read The Establishing Shot you will know that a couple of weeks ago I visited the Designing 007 -Fifty Years Of Bond Style exhibition at the Barbican Centre. Well there would be few places in London that could be a better home to this great little exhibit than The Barbican. As not only is The Barbican one of the world's leading arts centres but after art imitating life and during the Pierce Brosnan era when James Bond’s MI6 was located on the Thames in Vauxhall, however in 2008’s Quantum Of Solace in line with the reinvigorated Bond returning to his darker, colder war roots MI6 was seemingly relocated to the more appropriate and iconic brutalist stylings of The Barbican Estate before being relocated back to Vauxhall for Skyfall.

After James Bond (Daniel Craig) is pulled into a meeting with Edmund Slate (Neil Jackson) in Port au Prince, Haiti (shot in Colon, Panama) he follows Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) to a dock land area. While on his recently acquired motorcycle we cut to M (Judi Dench) & Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) outside MI6 in London who trace James Bond and call him in Port au Prince.

Quantum Of Solace MI6 Film Location - The Barbican, Frobisher Crescent, London

Quantum Of Solace MI6 Film Location - The Barbican, Frobisher Crescent, London

We then cut between James Bond in Port au Prince and M, Tanner outside MI6 in London while Bond reports back about his progress with Mr. Slate over the phone.

Quantum Of Solace MI6 Film Location - The Barbican, Frobisher Crescent, London

Quantum Of Solace MI6 Film Location - The Barbican, Frobisher Crescent, London

Quantum Of Solace MI6 Film Location - The Barbican, Frobisher Crescent, London

Scenes featuring The Barbican can be seen at around 0.28 in the trailer below

Of course it is never mentioned in Quantum of Solace that this MI6 and it could conceivably be a different Government research department that M and Tanner are visiting but it is unlikely that this security conscious duo would cross London for such a short visit?

Perhaps only once the film is adapted to book format or novelised will we know. But as a writers strike prevented Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade from completing the screenplay and the story was reportedly written by non other than Daniel Craig himself (much to his chagrin) so it is unlikely that we will see a proper adaptation anytime soon.

The Barbican Estate is a residential estate built during the 1960s and the 1970s in the City of London, in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and today densely populated by financial institutions. It contains, or is adjacent to, the Barbican Arts Centre, the Museum of London, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Barbican public library, the City of London School for Girls and a YMCA, forming the Barbican Complex. The complex is a prominent example of British brutalist architecture and, with the exception of Milton Court (which contained a fire station, medical facilities and some flats and which was demolished to allow the construction of a new apartment complex which also contains additional facilities for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama), is Grade II listed as a whole. - From Wiki

The Barbican has features in a number of TV shows and films like Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, Tony Scott’s The Hunger and in Paul McGuigan’s Gangster No. 1 Gangster 55 (Malcolm McDowell / Paul Bettany) coverts chief Freddie Mays (David Thewlis) apartment atop The Barbican.

Quantum Of Solace Poster

Quantum of Solace now on DVD & Blu-ray
Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country's valuable resource.

Director: Marc Forster
Writers: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade
Stars: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko and Mathieu Amalric


Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style opened to the public on Friday 6 July and will run until 5 September 2012 when it will then tour internationally over a three year period.

For tickets and more info head over to: http://www.barbican.org.uk/bond/



SKYFALL opens in the UK & Ireland on 26th October, 2012
 In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her.  As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
SKYFALL, from Albert R Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is directed by Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his third film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.

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THE ESTABLISHING SHOT: FILM LOCATION - JAMES BOND’S QUANTUM OF SOLACE MI6 LOCATION THE BARBICAN - LONDON