Les Ambassadeurs Club, London, UK

Les Ambassadeurs Club was the fictional location of the first time we see James Bond in the film Dr. No (1962), and it was also the real location of the first meetings between Ian Fleming and Albert R. Broccoli in (summer 1959) and later with Harry Saltzman (December 1960). The club also features in The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Les Ambassadeurs Club is, still today, an exclusive Luxury Casino, located on 5 Hamilton Place, London.

The club was established in Hanover Square in 1941 by John Mills, and has had several owners since Mills’s sale of the club in 1981. The club moved to Hamilton Place in 1950. The Le Cercle casino was established at the club in 1961 The Milroy and Garrison nightclubs have also been based at 5 Hamilton Place.

Fleming meets Broccoli and Saltzman

In the summer of 1959, Ian Fleming has his first meeting with Albert R. Broccoli and another producer during a dinner in Les Ambassadeurs Club (the meeting is not a success).

The following year, in December 1960, Ian Fleming has a meeting with Harry Saltzman in Les Ambassadeurs Club.

These meetings were part of many meetings during the years that Fleming was trying to get his James Bond novels made into a movie. Broccoli and Saltzman would end up working together with Fleming to become the producers of the James Bond film series. Read more about the meetings in the excellent book Some Kind Of Hero.

Dr. No

The very first time we see James Bond, portrayed by Sean Connery, in the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962), is in Le Cercle Casino. Bond plays chemin-de-fer and meets Sylvia Trench.

Factory Entertainment has created official replicas of Le Cercle casino plaques as used by James Bond in Dr. No, read more or buy them here.

The casino was based on the Le Cercle gambling room in the Les Ambassadors Club in Mayfair, London, although nothing was filmed inside the club and all interior shots were done on a set built at Pinewood Studios and designed by Ken Adam.

Trivia fact: in Dr. No, in the scene just before we see James Bond, a painting of a horse can be spotted in the entrance hall of the casino. This painting can also be seen in James Bond's apartment in the movie SPECTRE and in his storage behind the Aston Martin V8 in No Time To Die.

A Hard Day's Night

Two scenes in The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (1964) were actually filmed at Les Ambassadeurs Club. The Beatles are shown dancing to "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Don't Bother Me" in the Garrison Room and find Wilfrid Brambell at the Le Cercle gaming tables. The dancing scene was shot on 17 March 1964 and the casino scene in April 1964.

Related books:

The Beatles' London: The Ultimate Guide to Over 400 Beatles Sites in and Around London

Amazon
AbeBooks
eBay

Some Kind of Hero

Amazon