It was always going to be a tough job following up ‘Casino Royale‘ (2006); the hugely successful reboot of the 007 franchise, but personally I don’t think ‘Quantum Of Solace‘ is as bad as many critics say. Sure, it’s not without flaws and really wasn’t helped by the writers’ strike that sent it into production with an unfinished script. Furthermore, they tried to copy some traits of the successful Jason Bourne films a bit too much and overall it undoubtedly ranks as everyone’s fourth favourite James Bond movie from the Daniel Craig era.

Following the opening scenes in Italy, London makes a brief appearance after 14 minutes with the rain lashing down as James Bond is driven into the entrance of a high rise apartment (below) belonging to a deceased double agent where he and M realise the extent of the mysterious organisation.

The flats are called The Water Gardens and they’re on Burwood Place close to Edgware Road tube station. It should be noted that these tower blocks are private property so behave with respect and discretion.

The government office where M is summoned to explain Bonds behaviour to the Minister on 68 minutes is 104 Pall Mall (below). The same place also became “Blades Club” a.k.a. the Reform Club where Madonna introduces Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Gustav Graves before they duel in the much maligned ‘Die Another Day’ (2002). It also appears briefly in ‘Paddington‘ (2014).

For this film, MI6 operates at the Barbican Centre (below) on Silk Street. It took a while to get to the point where these shots were taken but they can be seen by going outside from the 3rd floor.

An Aston Martin DBS (below) was one of the vehicles used in this film. It gets heavily damaged after a chase at the beginning of the film in Siena (Italy) and could be seen at the ‘Bond In Motion‘ exhibition in London last year.

The Montesa Cota 4RT motorcycle (above) was another vehicle from that film and was rode through the streets of Haiti which in reality were filmed in Panama.

Bonus: Unhappy with MI6 officer Strawberry Fields’ (Gemma Arterton) choice of hotel as part of their cover, Bond takes her by taxi to a far more upmarket hotel on 52 minutes. The Andean Grand Hotel (below) in ‘Bolivia’ isn’t really a hotel but is actually the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (National Institute of Culture) in the World Heritage area of Casco Viejo in Panama City. It appears again on 74 and 77 minutes.

The main villain Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), holds a party 54 minutes into the film which Bond attends with Agent Fields, shortly after he seduces her. The location of this is of course not La Paz in Bolivia but the Old Union Club in Casco Viejo where all the rich people used to go and party.

The ruins were scouted out for the film in October 2007 and is (as it was back then) now like an old shell but, believe it or not, it was completely revamped for shooting which can be seen in the ‘On Location’ DVD extra. At this party, Bond again rescues the beautiful Camille (Olga Kurylenko) from Greene. As I explored this place it was quite hard to imagine how it was transformed for filming as it really is in a bad state these days.

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

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