US Embassy, Greenwich?
The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square is up for sale at £ 90m. Frankly I'm not in the market for it. What used to be an elegant West London square has been denuded of any charm, desecrated by gigantic concrete lumps, plastic road blocks and sentry boxes, a little piece of Fort Knox in Britain. I'll be saving my £ 90m for something a little less, well, ugly.
It was a bit at the bottom of the feature that caught my eye. Apparently, the US government are considering moving their embassy to, among others, Greenwich.
Is this something we welcome? On the plus side, there would be a lot of new people visiting SE London - it might give us a few more tourists who've been forced to trudge out here to get a visa - but apart from that I'm struggling to think of reasons I'd want a known security risk in my neck of the woods. They don't say WHERE in Greenwich they're contemplating commandeering to turn into a hideous concrete Secret Headquarters of Doom, a magnet for anyone with weapons who disapproves of US foreign policy (ouch) but I'm guessing that it won't be anywhere that would keep them out of the way.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-American. But that embassy is a truly unpleasant place where it is now - everything that's bad about a fundamentally good country. I can't imagine that relocating to somewhere in Greenwich is going to turn it into a hub for the local community. My partner thinks it's a great idea. I'm not convinced.
Presumably there's serious money on the table for any council who's prepared to take these guys on, but I'll be interested to watch what happens when, after welcoming Our American Friends into the area, Greenwich Council has to stand by while they lead the movement to refuse to pay the congestion charge (tee hee, lights blue touch-paper and retires...)
What's the general view on this? Perhaps someone knows sites they're considering (shame - they just missed out on the Dome. Maybe they'd like to buy Belmarsh - that one's nicely fortified already.)
I can't really get a handle on it yet. My knee-jerk reaction is wary, but I'm prepared to have my mind changed...
It was a bit at the bottom of the feature that caught my eye. Apparently, the US government are considering moving their embassy to, among others, Greenwich.
Is this something we welcome? On the plus side, there would be a lot of new people visiting SE London - it might give us a few more tourists who've been forced to trudge out here to get a visa - but apart from that I'm struggling to think of reasons I'd want a known security risk in my neck of the woods. They don't say WHERE in Greenwich they're contemplating commandeering to turn into a hideous concrete Secret Headquarters of Doom, a magnet for anyone with weapons who disapproves of US foreign policy (ouch) but I'm guessing that it won't be anywhere that would keep them out of the way.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-American. But that embassy is a truly unpleasant place where it is now - everything that's bad about a fundamentally good country. I can't imagine that relocating to somewhere in Greenwich is going to turn it into a hub for the local community. My partner thinks it's a great idea. I'm not convinced.
Presumably there's serious money on the table for any council who's prepared to take these guys on, but I'll be interested to watch what happens when, after welcoming Our American Friends into the area, Greenwich Council has to stand by while they lead the movement to refuse to pay the congestion charge (tee hee, lights blue touch-paper and retires...)
What's the general view on this? Perhaps someone knows sites they're considering (shame - they just missed out on the Dome. Maybe they'd like to buy Belmarsh - that one's nicely fortified already.)
I can't really get a handle on it yet. My knee-jerk reaction is wary, but I'm prepared to have my mind changed...
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:04
12 Comments:
Yeah, my first reaction when I heard that was 'oh no!'. I still feel pretty much the same. And my second reaction was 'but where?'. Maybe they are going to buy out Vanburgh Castle...
Nah... not nearly fortified enough...
My suggestion would be to get a small boy with a pea shooter to attack the people on the site visit. They're so jumpy we'll get rid of them easily...
I could provide an opportunity for someone to do a rewrite of Conrad's "Secret Agent" for the 21st century, but with the terrorist target changed from the Observatory to the Embassy.
Hmmm. Funny - sort of...
Conrad's Secret Agent is on my list for my great Greenwich Read-a-Thon. I'm really looking forward to it...
You´re right to be wary, and I don´t think any plans that develop will change your first reaction.
Perhaps, they´re thinking of buying Belmarsh. Yes, I know it´s not in Greenwich, but you know what estate agents are like.
OK, red face time...
A local journalist I know called the Embassy who said that this story was all a load of rubbish. They're selling an adjacent building The Navy Annex, which hasn't been used for years. They're not contemplating moving at the moment - and haven't even started thinking about possible destinations. Basically the whole story's completely distorted.
I don't know. If you can't believe the New Statesman or the BBC, who CAN you believe,eh...
I still think that building in Grosvenor Square's plug-ugly though...
Maybe this whole O2 thing is a cover and they will bagsy the Dome.
Ok so the story might be a hoax but..... John Roan school moving out, what to do with the site - flog it to the yanks (just a thought)
Yes that would charming - we could surround the whole of the Royal park with giant blocks of concrete and put a sentry box at that traffic-calming narrow bit while we're about it...
Well perhaps the US embassy are in cahoots with Greenwich Council? Perhaps they are planning to take over the John Roan School (maze hill site)if they get their way over the proposed move to the peninsula.
Yes, and Frank Inc could open a staff restaurant for them.
Tee hee - it's all falling into place. Actually, it seems that the New Statesman wasn't entirely wrong - it's the classic dogs dinner of chinese whispers that no one (including me, ahem,) bothers to check.
http://london.usembassy.gov/ukpapress49.html
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