King and Keys, 142 Fleet Street, EC4

Fleet Street was, until the 1980s, the traditional home of the British press, (and consequently dubbed the ‘Street of Shame’). Gradually, one by one, the papers left the street, though many of the buildings retain the names of their former occupants.

Drunken journo Denholm Elliott is poured into a cab on here after the trashing of his friend Ian Bannen in the conspiracy thriller Defence of the Realm. Jack Hawkins and his band of misfits drive down the street, past the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph buildings, to the ill-fated robbery in the 1960 heist thriller The League of Gentlemen.

The King and Keys pub (which closed in July 2007) was the ‘Caf Fine’ coffee bar in which Theo (Clive Owen) hears about the death of Baby Diego, and which subsequently gets blown up, at the beginning of Children Of Men. The building alongside, by which Theo stops to top up his coffee, used to be the offices of the Daily Telegraph.

Children Of Men (2006, dir: Alfonso Cuarón)
Defence Of The Realm (1985, dir: David Drury)
The League Of Gentlemen (1960, dir: Basil Dearden)