GCHQ has announced that it has closed its office in Palmer Street, London. The site had been in use since 1953 and provided a London base for the agency that has its headquarters in Cheltenham. This was necessary because most of the agencies GCHQ liaises with are in London. The site had recently been upgraded in 2010 at considerable expense.
The fact that the Palmer Street site was a GCHQ office had become fairly widely known to “spookwatchers” and this had caused some security concerns. Although Palmer Street is closing, GCHQ is maintaining offices in London including the National Cyber Security Centre that was opened by the Queen in February 2017 just off Victoria Street. Another office is at a secret location. GCHQ also has offices in Bude, Scarborough and Harrogate. It is due to open a new office in Manchester later this year as a further part of its considerable spending activity over the past ten years. It is certainly one branch of the UK intelligence services that is not short of funds.