I recently retired after 25 years in the City of London and changed career to become a full time London Guide and Magician.
One of the first commissions I received was to create a bespoke tour for the Hyatt Great Scotland Yard hotel, the former HQ of the Metropolitan Police until 1890.
This has been a sheer delight to write this tour, in particular linking the artwork in it to the history of the building and the area.
All of the artwork was specially commissioned for the hotel, and themed to it in an extremely relevant and intelligent way that totally complements the venue.
One piece in particular is this artwork, called Service by Nicola Green.
As a guide I found it a key to designing the tour, as it includes the portraits of 30 people from the history of the hotel and area.
I decided to base the tour on as many of these people as possible, and designed what I believe is a captivating and intriguing trip that I can’t wait to run, including of course Magic, as the filmic entrance to the Harry Potter universe Ministry of Magic is opposite the hotel entrance.
Virtually every stop on the tour includes at least one of the artist subjects, and the general themes are Crime, Power, Magic and Deception.
SERVICE by Nicola Green
Here is more detail of the commission from the artist’s own website – for some reason she omits to mention that one of the portraits, bang slap in the middle, is of her own husband the Labour MP David Lammy!
https://www.nicolagreen.com/great-scotland-yard
Here is more of the lobby interior, which is fit for a queen let alone a prisoner.
