10 downing st tour

The Ultimate Guide to visiting 10 Downing Street

10 downing street ultimate guide.

It has one of the most famous addresses in the world and the most photographed door in England, yet many don’t even bother including 10 Downing Street in their London travel because they can’t even get close to it. But even though you can’t even step inside 10 Downing Street, let alone walk down Downing Street, just snapping a photo of the iconic front black door is a tourist activity in itself. You can approach the iconic house on your own or join a guide in a free walking tour for a more comprehensive experience.

10 Downing Street is essentially London’s White House, and has been the official address for British prime ministers since 1735. The first residential home which was built on the site of 10 Downing Street was constructed by Sir Thomas Knyvett in 1581 (who was perhaps best known for arresting Guy Fawkes after the gunpowder plot). Some of the many famous political figures who once lived and/or worked at 10 Downing Street include Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Pitt the Younger, Robert Walpole, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone and David Lloyd George.

Both the first and second world wars were directed from inside 10 Downing Street, and some of the many key decisions related to the British Empire were developed here as well; (such as the building of the British nuclear bomb, the Great Depression, and many more).

10 Downing Street also stretches all the way to 12 Downing Street (because of its interconnected corridors and buildings which make up much of the street), and many important world leaders visit 10 Downing Street throughout the year whenever the British prime minister hosts a reception or charitable event.

10 Downing Street Highlights

10 Downing Street’s front door is said to be the most photographed front door in all of Britain, and can only be seen when looking through the gates from Whitehall; (where you can see the single white stone step and the black steel door with the number “10” on it). The door was originally made of oak, but was replaced with blast-proof material in 1991 after an IRA bomb exploded in the nearby garden.

For those with good eyesight and/or a camera with a good zoom, you should be able to see the front door’s black iron knocker (in the shape of a lion’s head) as well as the brass letter box with the “First Lord of the Treasury” inscription.

The iconic black bricks of the house are also famous (although they are actually yellow underneath). They were blackened by the London smog during the 19th century, and as a result were painted black during the 1960s since people were accustomed to seeing them that way.

Inside 10 Downing Street is a treasure trove of architectural delights that very few people get to see (unless you’re famous, or a royal, of course). Its main staircase is perhaps one of the most famous highlights of the house, as the walls along the staircase are lined with portraits of past British prime ministers.

Special Tips

Getting There

Visiting 10 downing street.

Unfortunately for tourists, 10 Downing Street (as well as the majority of Downing Street itself) is blocked off by a black gate and heavily patrolled by police at all times. (However, visitors can now take a look at the inside of 10 Downing Street by taking a 360-degree virtual tour on 10 Downing Street’s official website).

If you’re lucky enough, you might even be able to see the Prime Minister leaving or entering the residence in his armed car. You’ll know if the prime minister is en route to or from Downing Street because there is normally a flurry of activity with lots of people and police officers standing around (and possibly even some photographers too). But don’t let the flurry of activity deceive you, because the prime minister may be leaving or entering the residence when there is no one around at all!

The closest you can get to 10 Downing Street would be to stand on the edge of the street next to the FCO building (near the Captain James Cook statue) and peer through the black barriers. In your view you should be able to see 10 and 11 Downing Street, as well as a group of armed forces with machine guns standing near the famous black door.

Ticket prices and Opening Hours

Unfortunately for tourists, 10 Downing Street is not open to the public. As a matter of fact, you can’t even walk up to the residence, let alone walk down Downing Street.

However, if you’re hoping to see the prime minister enter or leave the residence, check to see if the gates are open. In that case, you may be able to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister from far away, or even snap a photo through the high iron gates at the end of Downing Street.

Your best chances of seeing any kind of activity on Downing Street would be on a Thursday morning, which is when the cabinet meets the prime minister every week. The prime minister usually leaves for Parliament between 11 and 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday as well.

Although there’s no telling when the cabinet minister and/or prime minister will enter or leave the building, your chances of spotting them will be higher during weekday mornings, rather than at night, or on the weekends.

If you are checking out Downing Street you might also want to join any of the free London tours that are available on offer.

Free Tours in Your Language

This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze the use of the website. Learn More

Reserve Your Spot with Confidence! Full Refunds with 24 Hrs Notice. Reschedule at any point, even after tour, if space allows!

A Tour Inside 10 Downing Street

This post covers tours of 10 Downing Street.

We include information such as how to get there, the best times to go, as well as some virtual tours of the famous residence.

Introduction
Plan Your Visit
Tours of 10 Downing Street
Buckingham Palace
Things to Do in London

INTRODUCTION

Number 10 Downing Street is one of the most famous addresses in the world. Since 1735, it has been home to the UK's prime ministers.

Although it’s hard to get a good look at the street due to security, Downing Street still remains as one of the most visited sites in our capital city.

Should you want to visit this historic street to get a glimpse of the iconic black door of No. 10 Downing, check out our guided Westminster Tour and our London in a Day Tour , which both stop at Downing Street.

You can also try our GPS-enabled anytime audio tour which includes a stop at Downing Street.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

How to Get Here

10 Downing Street is located in the City of Westminster, just a short walk away from the Palace of Westminster and Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey .

Click here to get exact directions from your point of departure.

To reach 10 Downing Street by tube, it's best to reach it by either the Westminster or Charing Cross Station.

If you need help figuring out which tube to take, make sure to read our posts covering the London Underground and which tube pass you should buy .

You can take bus #11 or a hop-on, hop-off tour bus , both of which pass by frequently.

You can also reach it by boat with City Cruises from the Westminster City Pier which is very nearby.

For obvious safety reasons, the public is not allowed to walk on Downing Street, let alone go into the residence of the Prime Minister (PM).

There have been barriers erected along both sides of Downing Street since the 1920s.

In 1974, it was suggested that permanent barriers should be erected to prevent the public from walking along the street.

However, the Prime Minister at the time, Harold Wilson, overturned the idea.

He felt that it was not right that the public should be prevented from walking down the street and taking photographs outside Number 10.

That has changed, and now security is very tight, as one would expect for the home of a country's head of government.

Today, the closest visitors can get is standing on the edge of the street to peer through the permanent black metal gates.

See below for some tips on how to get the best view of the street and door .

Things to Do Nearby

There are plenty of other significant London sites within walking distance of Downing Street.

Trafalgar Square
Changing of the Guard
Houses of Parliament
Westminster Abbey
The Churchill War Rooms
The Horse Guards
St. James’s Palace

Find some more ideas, read our post on what to see in Royal London .

Many of these attractions have ticket prices attached to them for entry. Most are included in a number of tourist attraction concession passes available to you in London.

Read our post which compares these city passes to see if any are a good fit for you.

TOURS OF 10 DOWNING STREET

As noted above, you cannot walk on Downing Street as a member of the general public.

But, there are a few ways that you can see what the inside looks like, and also potentially glimpse the PM or cabinet members coming or going.

An Inside Look at 10 Downing Street

This video below made for the 2012 Olympics, gives you a good look into the public rooms inside 10 Downing Street.

Also, take a look at the virtual tour of 10 Downing Street on the UK Government's website.

Lastly, Google made this crystal-clear 360-degree virtual tour of some of the rooms in 10 Downing Street.

Outside 10 Downing Street

Here are some tips on how to get a good glimpse of the famous black door (and perhaps famous people as well).

(1) To get a quick photo-op of 10 Downing Street, you can take the #11 bus, and sit on the top deck of the doubledecker.

You may want to take a video from the bus since a still shot might be hard to capture while the bus is in motion.

(2) You can actually see 10 Downing Street while taking a ride on the London Eye !

(3) Make sure to go to the gates on Whitehall, which is where you will get your best pictures through the heavy security and barriers.

(4) To see any comings and goings of the PM and other government members, Thursday morning is the best time, as this is when the PM and Cabinet meeting.

Also, Wednesdays between 11 and 11:30 a.m. are good since the PM leaves at this time to head to Parliament.

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Prime ministers come and go, but one resident of 10 Downing Street has no plans to leave any time soon.

Larry the cat, whose official title is Chief Mouser, has been living at 10 Downing Street since February 2011. He has now seen two PMs come and go.

He may be the most beloved resident of 10 Downing Street in the modern era and his activities are watched closely by the press and the adoring public.

Here he is, on May 24, 2019, being escorted into the residence just minutes before Theresa May stood in front of the famous black door and announced her resignation.

HISTORY OF DOWNING STREET

Downing Street itself was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing who had purchased a large tract of land near Parliament, on the edge of St. James’s Park .

He originally intended that the street should be full of fine townhouses designed specifically “for persons of good quality to inhabit in...”

When building these houses, Downing was assisted by master architect Sir Christopher Wren, who designed the buildings.

Most were actually built rather cheaply and were not of good quality – still the case when Winston Churchill resided at Number 10 and he is quoted as saying his house was “shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name that bear.”

Earls, Lords, and Countesses quickly moved into the prime real estate built here although it seems unlikely that Sir Downing himself ever actually resided on the street that holds his name.

Regardless of this fact, a portrait of him still hangs in the entrance foyer of Number 10 Downing Street.

By the 1800s the houses had nearly all been taken over by the government.

Some of the original buildings were demolished to allow space to build and expand the Privy Council Office, the Board of Trade, and the Treasury Offices.

10 Downing Street

The majority of the UK's Prime Ministers, dating back to the very first, (Robert Walpole in 1720) have called Number 10 home.

The building itself is made up of over 100 hundred rooms – only part of which is actually residential.

There is a private residence on the third floor and a private kitchen in the basement.

Everything in between is offices, conference rooms, reception halls, sitting rooms, dining rooms, etc.

These rooms are all in constant usage - Foreign dignitaries are entertained here and the Prime Minister and his government base the majority of their work at Number 10.

The front door to Number 10 is most likely the most famous feature of the building.

Large, shiny, and black and bearing ‘10’ in large brass numbers, the door is most likely one of the most photographed in the world!

Originally, the door was made of Georgian black oak; it is today made of blast-proof steel and takes a reported eight men to lift it.

The original door can be seen by the public – it is on display in the Churchill Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms .

According to Margaret Thatcher, Number 10 Downing Street is “one of the most precious jewels in the national heritage.”

Westminster (Royal London) Tour
London in One Day Tour
Self-Guided Westminster Tour

Choose a Destination... I want them all PLUS general travel tips. Amsterdam Berlin Boston Charleston Chicago Dubai Lisbon London Los Angeles Miami Nashville New York City New Orleans Paris Philadelphia Prague Rome San Francisco Washington DC

About The Author

North America

United kingdom & ireland, middle east & india, asia & oceania.

Downing Street Tour

A short tour of Number 10 Downing Street.

10 Downing street. Photo: Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/MOD , OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Black Door

The most famous door in the world.

10 Downing Street’s black door is seen at every election and during every political crisis. The Prime Minister will often speak to the nation directly from Downing Street, with the door as a backdrop.

Downing Street’s black door is the iconic symbol of British political fortunes and power. It is also a good symbol of Downing Street’s history itself. It has an old, orderly, and traditional appearance, but also contains hints that things are more complicated than might appear.

On the letter box are the words ‘First Lord of the Treasury’, the Prime Minister’s official and original position (they would only be known as ‘Prime Minister’ decades later). It was the first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, who insisted that Downing Street accompany the office of the First Lord of the Treasury in 1732. Though, Walpole would never have recognised this door; it only took on this appearance during the late eighteenth century.

The door has not always been black. It was a dark green during the early 20 th Century. Nor were the bricks originally black, they were yellow when the house was originally built during the 1680s, but centuries of grime turned them black. The modern façade is, however, painted black.

The sharp eyed will note that the 0 in 10 is actually slightly lopsided. This is a recent invention and a nod to Downing Street’s history of shoddy building, restoration and repairs. Don’t try and post anything through the letter box either; it’s only a decoration. The door’s impressive lion’s head doorknocker and brass doorbell are also decorative.

The Entrance Hall

On the other side of the black door is the Downing Street Entrance Hall.

This is the first view that an incoming Prime Minister has of Number 10 as they are ‘clapped in’ by the staff. It is also the last place where they will be in Downing Street, after being ‘clapped out’ by staff, before they exit and face the pitiless cameras of the waiting media outside.

Move around the map to explore the Entrance Hall

The black and white marble floor dates from the 1770s. The Chippendale hooded chair was once used by Downing Street’s guards, and there are marks on the leather where their pistols supposedly caused scratches.

The smaller chairs in the room are supposedly from a design for chairs used at cockfights, allowing the sitter to face either way. This might be considered a reference to the Cockpit theatre, which once stood near this site.

There are portraits of the first Prime Minister Robert Walpole (1721-42), Henry Pelham (1743-1754), and William Pitt the Elder (1766-68). The latter two remembered as leaders in peace and war respectively. A portrait of George Downing is to the right of the door. An 18 th Century view of Horse Guards Parade is above the fireplace on the right. Of the four persons depicted on the walls, only Walpole actually lived here.

A door to the left leads into Number 11. To your right, there is a door to the press offices, with their distinctive bow-windows, built by Erith during the 1960s.

Cabinet Room

Move around the map to explore the Cabinet Room

Leaving the entrance hall, you will walk down a corridor, past the lift, and out of the original, narrow Downing Street house, into the ‘House at the Back’. Soon, you are in the Cabinet ante-room, where the Cabinet ministers assemble awaiting the Prime Minister. There is a painting of long-vanished Whitehall Palace on the wall. Perhaps it is a reminder of England’s rich history, or a warning to ministers that even palaces can be transient.

Entering the Cabinet Room, the eye is immediately drawn to the famous ‘boat shaped’ table, which was introduced by Harold Macmillan during the early 1960s. The design allows the Prime Minister to see every member of the cabinet without having to lean forward. The seats are all tucked in, except for the Prime Minister’s, which faces outwards at an angle. A portrait of Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, watches from above.

This is the most significant room in the British government, and perhaps in all British history. Some of the most important decisions since the 18 th Century were made in this room, and those decisions have shaped the destinies of millions of people in Britain, and millions more around the world. Cabinet usually meets once a week, though will occasionally meet much more often, especially during a political crisis.

Originally, Walpole used this room as a study, and the area where the pillars are, was his waiting room. In more recent times, Balfour also used this room as his study, as did Baldwin. Churchill liked to meet Cabinet here, but Downing Street was bomb damaged for much of the war, with business largely conducted in the secure Cabinet War Rooms.

Most Prime Ministers have worked in the Cabinet Room and several have used it as their main office, including Clement Attlee and John Major. However, others have felt less comfortable working there alone.

On 4 August 1914, after days of fraught Cabinet meetings, Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, Lord Haldane, and Chancellor Lloyd George sat in the Cabinet Room waiting until the expiry of the British ultimatum to Germany. At 11pm, they could hear the chimes of Big Ben, and knew that Britain was at war.

Corinthian columns date to a 1796 restoration which enlarged the room, by combining it with another. There is a small collection of books, many donated by prime ministers, visitors and aides. This was once Number 10’s library, though the books were removed during the 1950s, leaving only a couple of small bookshelves.

Double doors at the end of the Cabinet Room lead to a small study that many Prime Ministers have used as their personal space.

Leave the Cabinet Room. Now, the grand staircase takes us up to the State Rooms.

Move around the map to explore the Staircase

If you follow the stairs down, you will find an exit to the gardens and some of the ‘Garden Rooms’, where Number 10’s tireless staff toil.

Portraits of every prime minister line the main staircase in Number 10. These were a gift of Sir Edward Hamilton, Treasury Permanent Secretary in 1907. Briefly removed by Dorothy Macmillan during the 1950s, Harold Wilson restored the pictures and they remain to this day. Every portrait is black and white and they are all shuffled down when a new one is added.

The staircase has no visible supports – something that allowed Ramsay MacDonald’s daughter Sheila to slide down the banisters during the 1920s. She told anyone who challenged her that she was learning the Prime Ministers of England as their portraits went past. The lamps were not there at the time, because they were added during the renovation of the 1960s.

White Drawing Room

Move around the map to explore the White Drawing Room

This is the first of Downing Street’s three major state rooms. These state rooms were once the Prime Minister’s living areas. It was only during the late 1930s that a flat was built on the second floor for the Prime Minister, allowing them to vacate the state rooms. Stanley Baldwin was the last Prime Minister to live in the first floor rooms, and his successor, Neville Chamberlain, was the first to live in the Downing Street Flat.

During Churchill’s second ministry (1951-55), Clementine Churchill used these rooms as a residence, as did Dorothy Macmillan during the last months of Harold Macmillan’s premiership in 1963, but since then the State Rooms have been reserved for business.

Robert Walpole’s son, Horace, wrote on the 30 June 1742: I am writing to you in one of the charming rooms towards the park: it is a delightful evening, and I am willing to enjoy this sweet corner while I may, for we are soon to quit it. Horace Walpole, 30 June 1742

The room was transformed during the 1980s redecorating by Quinlan Terry and is now a grand state room. The ceiling moulds have a three-dimensional floral design, featuring the rose of England, thistle of Scotland, daffodil for Wales, and shamrock for Northern Ireland. The small table is thought to have belonged to Robert Clive (an 18 th Century general), and the Waterford chandelier is similar to theone in the Terracotta Drawing Room. The furniture is mostly from the designs of famous 18 th Century furniture designer Thomas Chippendale.

It is the room where the unfortunate Lord Iddesleigh died in January 1887 after he collapsed on the stairs. Iddesleigh was one of only two men since 1721 to have been First Lord of the Treasury without ever being Prime Minister, and, when he died, he was visiting the other, William H. Smith (Arthur Balfour was also First Lord of the Treasury without being Prime Minister over 1891-92 and 1895-1902, but then became Prime Minister in his own right over 1902-05).

This room is often used for television broadcasts to the nation and interviews. Boris Johnson’s speech announcing a lockdown in March 2020 was made from this room (with the Terracotta Drawing Room in the background).

White State Drawing Room, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London, England, UK

Terracotta Drawing Room

The Terracotta Drawing Room is another state room, and can be used for small meetings, discussions and interviews.

Move around the map to explore the Terracotta Drawing Room

This room was painted blue during the 1980s, and then green during the 1990s, and only took on its current appearance during the 2000s. A desk in the corner is believed to have belonged to Pitt the Younger, though it would have been a cramped fit for the famously tall Pitt.

Portraits of Britain’s paramount heroes of the Napoleonic Wars, Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, hang above the doors. They appear to have been hung there during the Thatcher years. She proudly showed off the paintings to American Secretary of State Alexander Haig during the Falklands crisis, indicating that she intended to follow their victorious example.

The paintings commemorate the only time that Nelson and Wellington met, which was in 12 Downing Street on 12 September 1805, in an anteroom of the War and Colonial Office where they were awaiting a meeting with Lord Castlereagh. Wellington (then Major General Arthur Wellesley) later recalled “[Nelson] talked of the state of this country and of the aspect and probability of affairs on the Continent with good sense…in fact, he talked like an officer and a statesman’. Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar a few weeks later.

Belarusian human rights activist and politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya meets Prime Minister Boris Johnson inside 10 Downing Street in London.

The Pillared Room

The Pillared Room is the largest of the state rooms. As such, it is frequently used for events, political cabinets, and any large meeting of Number 10 staff.

Ionic columns decorate this room and give it its name. These date from the 1790s, during Pitt the Younger’s long tenure. The chandelier is the largest in the house and is made from cut glass. There is a pair of Chippendale mirrors in this room.

Historically, this room was used by Lord Palmerston and William Gladstone as a Cabinet Room. In 1930, John Logie Baird demonstrated the ‘wondrous miracle’ of television to Ramsay MacDonald in this room.

This is also a room decorated by large paintings. The artwork on Number 10’s walls comes from the National Gallery and the Government Art Service. It was Ramsay MacDonald, during the 1920s, who, having no art collection himself, began the tradition of borrowing art from the National Gallery. The art is chosen by a working group of art specialists, though it reflects the inclinations and instructions of the current Prime Minister.

Some say this room is haunted by the ghost of a woman in a taffeta dress, though others say they have seen a ghost in the nearby dining room. As usual with such matters, the story tends to have been heard from somebody else.

Move around the map to explore the Pillared Room

The State Dining Room

This is the largest and arguably the most impressive room in Number 10. It certainly hosts the most prestigious events with space for up to 65 guests to be seated.

Move around the map to explore the State Dining Room

This room was designed by the architect Sir John Soane during the 1820s. He chose a star vault pattern for the ceiling and created a large room by demolishing a wall. He added a central window, and the oak panelled sides.

This room is used for large state dinners for visiting world leaders and dignitaries. Winston Churchill dined with the new Queen here the night before announcing his retirement in 1955. This is where the 250 th anniversary dinner was celebrated in 1985 (when 6 Prime Ministers were present –Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan, Thatcher). It is also where the Queen’s Golden Jubilee dinner took place in 2002 (this time with 5 Prime Ministers – Heath, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair), and where the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee dinner was celebrated in 2012 (attended by Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron).

This room is also used for the grand press conferences that are an increasingly common part of the Prime Minister’s schedule. In these circumstances, the table is cleared away (it is of telescopic design, so this can be easily done) and chairs are set out. The doors are always left open to allow the PM access, and often flags are placed (in the small dining room, which is also cleared) to provide a backdrop. The press briefings during the 2020-21 Coronavirus outbreak took place in this room.

Renovation of No. 10 Downing Street - London. The State Dining Room 1964

Small Dining Room

Move around the map to explore the Small Dining Room

Once nothing more than a corridor and waiting area before entry into the State Dining Room, this was designed by Soane in 1826. The bust by the window is of Isaac Newton.

It was once known as the Breakfast Room and can be used for meals attended by up to 12 people. It is often used for smaller events, like meetings of the Prime Minister with key advisers and for more discrete meetings with world leaders. Before the building of the Downing Street flat, it would be used for dining by the Prime Minister’s family.

The Responsibilities of the Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher: ‘Senior position in government involving long hours, short holidays and tall orders. Expertise required in the whole range of government policy and especially...

Wolsey to Walpole: York Place to Downing Street

How did a large London town house become the home of the Prime Minister? It’s a good question. Most countries have a lavish mansion for...

A short history of Downing Street, 1750-2023

Over the centuries, 10 Downing Street slowly went from being an occasional home for the Prime Minister to being one of the most famous and...

Chancellors, whips, and Wellington: Numbers 11, 12 and…. 14 Downing Street?

Everyone has heard of 10 Downing Street. But what about its neighbours. You have probably heard of Number 11, but what about 12, and what...

Prime Ministerial Residences in History

10 Downing Street is the most famous address in the world. It has been the scene of the most important decisions ever taken in Britain,...

The Deputy Prime Minister

Since 1989, Britain has had more years with a Deputy Prime Minister than without. What is this position? What do they do? And why did...

Social Mobility and Prime Ministers

For the first two centuries of the British premiership, the Prime Minister tended to emerge from a privileged background. Some level of privilege was necessary...

Stay updated...

Sign up to our newsletter here

Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Bring photo ID to vote Check what photo ID you'll need to vote in person in the General Election on 4 July.

History of the UK Government

10 Downing Street

Introduction – by sir anthony seldon.

10 Downing Street, the locale of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world in the modern era. Behind its black door have been taken the most important decisions affecting Britain for the last 275 years.

In the 20th century alone, the First and Second World Wars were directed from within it, as were the key decisions about the end of the empire, the building of the British nuclear bomb, the handling of economic crises from the Great Depression in 1929 to the great recession, and the building up of the welfare state.

Some of the most famous political figures of modern history have lived and worked in Number 10, including Robert Walpole, Pitt the Younger, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

Number 10 has 3 overlapping functions. It is the official residence of the British Prime Minister: it is their office, and it is also the place where the Prime Minister has entertained guests from Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to presidents of the United States and other world leaders. The Prime Minister hosts countless receptions and events for a whole range of British and overseas guests, with charitable receptions high up the list.

The building is much larger than it appears from its frontage. The hall with the chequered floor immediately behind the front door lets on to a warren of rooms and staircases. The house in Downing Street was joined to a more spacious and elegant building behind it in the early 18th century. Number 10 has also spread itself out to the left of the front door, and has taken over much of 12 Downing Street, which is accessed by a corridor that runs through 11 Downing Street – the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Explore 10 Downing Street

Take a virtual tour inside 10 Downing Street and explore it’s most famous rooms and significant events at the Google Cultural Institute .

Origins and early inhabitants

The area around Downing Street was home to ancient Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norman settlements, and was already a prestigious centre of government 1,000 years ago.

The Romans first came to Britain under the command of Julius Caesar in 55 BC. Making their capital at Londinium downriver, the Romans chose Thorney Island – a marshy piece of land lying between two branches of the river Tyburn that flowed from Hampstead Heath to the Thames – as the site for their early settlement.

These Roman settlements, and those of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans who supplanted them, were not very successful. The area was prone to plague and its inhabitants were very poor. A charter granted by the Mercian King Offa in the year 785 refers to “the terrible place called Thorney Island”. It took royal patronage to give the area prestige. King Canute (reigned 1017 to 1035) built a palace in the area, and Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042 to 1066) and William the Conqueror (reigned 1066 to 1087) maintained a royal presence there. The position of Westminster (as the area became known) as the centre of government and the church was solidified following the construction of the great abbey nearby, on Edward's orders.

Whitehall from St James’s Park – Hendrick Danckerts c.1675

The earliest building known to have stood on the site of Downing Street was the Axe brewery owned by the Abbey of Abingdon in the Middle Ages. By the early 1500s, it had fallen into disuse.

Henry VIII (reigned 1509 to 1547) developed Westminster's importance further by building an extravagant royal residence there.

Whitehall Palace was created when Henry VIII confiscated York House from Cardinal Wolsey in 1530 and extended the complex. Today's Downing Street is located on the edge of the Palace site.

The huge residence included tennis courts, a tiltyard for jousting, a bowling green, and a cockpit for bird fights. Stretching from St James's Park to the Thames, it was the official residence of Tudor and Stuart monarchs until it was destroyed by fire in 1698. It made the surrounding real estate some of the most important and valuable in London – and the natural home of power.

The first domestic house known to have been built on the site of Number 10 was a large building leased to Sir Thomas Knyvet in 1581 by Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 to 1603). He was one of the Queen's favourites and was an MP for Thetford as well as a justice of the peace for Westminster. His claim to fame was the arrest of Guy Fawkes for his role in the gunpowder plot of 1605. He was knighted in 1604 by Elizabeth's successor, King James I (reigned 1603 to 1625), and the house was extended.

After the death of Sir Knyvet and his wife, the house passed to their niece, Elizabeth Hampden, who continued to live there for the next 40 years.

The middle of the 17th century was a period of political upheaval and Mrs Hampden's family was right in the middle of it. Her son, John Hampden, was one of the MPs who opposed King Charles I (reigned 1625 to 1649), and Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, was Mrs Hampden's nephew.

Hampden House, as it was then known, gave Mrs Hampden a prime view of the tumultuous events during the Civil War and the Commonwealth and the early years of the Restoration.

The execution of Charles I in 1649 took place on a scaffold in front of Banqueting House in Whitehall, within earshot of the house. Mrs Hampden was still living there when King Charles II (reigned in Scotland from 1649 to 1685) was restored to the English throne in 1660.

The Parliamentary Commissioners, who took over Crown lands during the time of the Commonwealth, described the house in 1650:

Built part of Bricke and part with Tymber and Flemish qalle and covered with Tyle, consistinge of a Large and spacious hall, wainscoted round, well lighted, and Paved with brick Pavements, two parls wherof one is Wainscoted round from the seelinge to ye floor, one Buttery, one seller, one Large kitchen well paved with stone and well fitted and Joynted and well fitted with dresser boards. And above stayres in the first story one large and spacious dyneinge Roome, Wainscoted round from the seelinge to the floore, well flored, Lighted and seeled, and fitted with a faire Chimney with a foote pace of paynted Tyle in the same. Also 6 more Roomes and 3 Closetts in the same flore all well lighted and seeled. And in the second story 4 garretts…

The emergence of Downing Street

George Downing gave his name to the most famous street in the world. It is unfortunate that he was such an unpleasant man. Able as a diplomat and a government administrator, he was miserly and at times brutal.

However, George Downing was responsible for the street, its name and the building we know today. A former diplomat at The Hague serving the Commonwealth, he changed allegiance with finesse. He traded enough secrets to gain a royal pardon in March 1660 and, by the Restoration in May 1660, to be rewarded with a knighthood.

Interested in power and money, he saw an opportunity to make his fortune in property. He had already gained the Crown interest in the land around Hampden House, but could not take possession as it was under lease to Knyvet's descendants. In 1682 he secured the leases to the property and employed Sir Christopher Wren to design the houses.

Between 1682 and 1684, existing properties were pulled down and in their place a cul-de-sac of 15 to 20 terraced houses was built along the north side of the new street, Downing Street. In order to maximise profit, the houses were cheaply built, with poor foundations for the boggy ground. Instead of neat brick façades, they had mortar lines drawn on to give the appearance of evenly spaced bricks. In the 20th Century, Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote that Number 10 was:

Shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear.

A rather important neighbour complained, however. The new houses were built directly behind a large and impressive house overlooking Horse Guards. Its occupier, the Countess of Lichfield, daughter of Charles II, was less than pleased with the emergence of the unwelcome terrace behind. She complained to her father, who wrote back with advice:

I think that it is a very reasonable thing that other houses should not look into your house without your permission, and this note will be sufficient for Mr Surveyor to build up your wall as high as you please.

The original numbering of the Downing Street houses was completely different from what we see today. The sequence of numbers was haphazard, and the houses tended to be known by the name or title of their occupants. The current Number 10 started out life as Number 5, and was not renumbered until 1779.

The Downing Street house had several distinguished residents. The Countess of Yarmouth lived at Number 10 between 1688 and 1689, and was followed by Lord Lansdowne from 1692 to 1696 and the Earl of Grantham from 1699 to 1703. The last private resident of Downing's terrace was one Mr Chicken. Little is known about him except that he moved out in the early 1730s.

King George II presented both the house on Downing Street and the house overlooking Horse Guards to Sir Robert Walpole, who held the title First Lord of the Treasury and effectively served as the first Prime Minister. Walpole refused the property as a personal gift. Instead, he asked the king to make it available as an official residence to him and to future First Lords of the Treasury – starting the tradition that continues today. The brass letterbox on the black front door is still engraved with this title.

Walpole took up residence on 22 September 1735, once the townhouse on Downing Street and the house overlooking Horse Guards had been joined together and completely refurbished. Walpole employed architect William Kent – who had already worked on Walpole's Norfolk home, Houghton Hall – to undertake the work.

Kent carried out extensive work on the 2 houses, connecting them on 2 storeys. The main entrance now faced onto Downing Street rather than towards Horse Guards, and the Downing Street building became a passageway to the main house. At the back of the house, where the Walpoles lived, Kent created grand new rooms suitable for receiving important guests, and built an unusual, 3-sided staircase. It is still one of the most impressive features of the building.

Walpole used the ground floor for business, taking the largest room, on the north-west side of the house, as his study. This is now the Cabinet Room. Upstairs on the first floor, the Walpoles lived in the rooms facing onto Horse Guards Parade. Lady Walpole used today's White Drawing Room as her sitting room, and the present day Terracotta Room served as their dining room. The Walpoles were soon entertaining important guests in their smart house, including George II's wife Queen Caroline, politicians, writers and soldiers. Number 10 became – as it continues to be today – a place for politics and entertainment.

Pelham to Pitt

When Walpole left Downing Street in 1742, it was over 20 years before another First Lord of the Treasury moved in. His successors saw the house as a perk of the job, and Prime Ministers Henry Pelham (1743 to 1754) and the Duke of Newcastle (1757 to 1762) preferred to live in their own residences.

In 1763 George Grenville (1763 to 1765) took up residence but was sacked by King George III in 1765 for imposing stamp duty on the American colonies. The next Prime Minister to move into Downing Street was Lord North (1770 to 1782). He was very fond of the house and often entertained there. Visitors included the writer Samuel Johnson and Thomas Hansard, founder of the parliamentary reporting system that is still in use today. One guest, Clive of India, was so popular that furniture was made for him, which is still present today in the first floor anteroom and Terracotta Room.

During one memorable dinner party held by Lord North on 7 June 1780, civil unrest broke out in the street outside when angry Protestants unhappy with North's policy towards Roman Catholics rioted all over London, in what became known as the Gordon Riots. The Grenadier Guards held off a large mob, a situation that might have ended with bloodshed had North not gone outside to warn the protestors of the dangers of being shot, following which the crowd dispersed. North's dinner guests climbed to the top of the house to view the fires burning all over London.

Major improvements were made to the house during North's time, including the addition of many distinctive features: the black and white chequerboard floor in the entrance hall, the lamp above the front door and the famous lion's head door knocker.

Following the loss of the American colonies, North resigned and was followed by the Duke of Portland, who was Prime Minister for only 9 months in 1782.

Fall and rise of Number 10

At the turn of the 19th century, Downing Street had fallen on hard times. Although Number 10 continued to serve as the Prime Minister's office, it was not favoured as a home. Most prime ministers preferred to live in their own townhouses.

But by the 1820s, Downing Street had emerged as the centre of government. Prime Minister Viscount Goderich employed the brilliant, quirky architect Sir John Soane, designer of the Bank of England , to make the house more suitable for its high-profile role. Soane created the wood-panelled State Dining Room and the Small Dining Room for elegant entertaining.

But this wasn't good enough for his successor, Lord Wellington, who only moved in while his own lavish home, Apsley House , was being refurbished. Later leaders such as Lord Melbourne and Viscount Palmerston used Number 10 only as an office and for Cabinet meetings. In 1828, Number 11 became the Chancellor of the Exchequer's official residence, but the surrounding area was becoming seedier, with brothels and gin parlours multiplying. Things became so bad that by 1839 there were plans to demolish Number 10 and the other buildings on the north side of Downing Street to make way for a remodelled Whitehall.

Security also became an issue. In 1842, Edward Drummond, secretary to Prime Minister Robert Peel (1841—1846), was murdered in Whitehall on his way back to his home in Downing Street by an assassin who mistook him for Peel. The prestige of Downing Street was reduced even further by the building of the magnificent new Foreign Office building at the end of the 1860s. George Gilbert Scott's creation, with a huge open court and elaborate state rooms, dwarfed Number 10 opposite. It even had its own Cabinet Room in which the Cabinet sometimes met, rather than at Number 10.

By the time Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister, the house was in poor shape. The living quarters had not been used for 30 years and Disraeli described it as “dingy and decaying”. It was time for modernisation.

The late 19th and early 20th century saw 10 Downing Street transformed from a humble terraced house into a grand residence with modern facilities – a home and office fit for the most powerful politician in the country. Disraeli persuaded the state to pay for renovation to the entrance halls and public rooms, though he paid for the refurbishment of the private rooms himself. His own first floor bedroom and dressing room were improved, and a bath with hot and cold water in the First Lord's Dressing Room was installed for the sum of £150.3s.6d.

When William Gladstone moved into the house for the first time in 1880, he insisted on redecorating, spending £1,555.5s.0d – an enormous sum for the time – on furniture. During his occupancy in 1884, electric lighting was fitted and the first telephones were installed.

The Marquess of Salisbury, who succeeded Gladstone on one occasion, was the last Prime Minister not to live at Number 10. Salisbury never liked the Cabinet Room, describing it as a “cramped close room”. Preferring to work in the larger Cabinet Room in the Foreign Office and live in Arlington Street, he offered Number 10 to his nephew, Arthur Balfour, who would later become Prime Minister himself. Balfour was the first inhabitant of Number 10 to bring a motor car to Downing Street.

Over the years, more and more changes and improvements were made to the house. When Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald first entered the house, he wanted Number 10 to regain some of the grandeur it had during the times of Walpole and Pitt. Missing a proper library (or at least, one containing more than just Hansard reports), MacDonald set about creating one. He started the Prime Minister's Library, originally housed in the Cabinet Room. The custom of the Prime Minister and other ministers donating books to the library continues to this day. Central heating was installed in 1937 and work began to convert the labyrinth of rooms in the attic, which had formerly been used by servants, into a flat for the Prime Minister.

Number 10 at war

World war one.

In 1912, Herbert Henry Asquith found himself at odds with Ulster and the Tory opposition following renewed attempts to introduce Irish Home Rule. This unrest and fierce opposition would continue, and civil war in Ireland was only averted with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.

The Cabinet Room at Number 10 was the nerve centre of Britain's war effort. Asquith's Cabinet included future Prime Ministers David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, in their posts as Chancellor and First Lord of the Admiralty respectively. Asquith had been forced to take on the additional role of Secretary of State for War following the resignation of the incumbent in March 1914, but quickly appointed Lord Kitchener following the outbreak of war.

On 15 April 1916, Number 10 was the site of a meeting between General Haig, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in France, and the Cabinet to go over the detail of the planned Somme offensive, later known as the Battle of the Somme.

During a Cabinet split on 25 May 1915 (caused by public outcry at allegations the army had been under-supplied with shells and the failed offensive in the Dardanelles, for which Kitchener and Churchill respectively were blamed), Kitchener was stripped of his control over munitions and strategy, and Churchill lost his post as First Lord of the Admiralty. As a result of the split, Asquith formed a coalition government with the opposition Conservatives, whose leader was future Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law.

Asquith remained leader of the coalition until his resignation on 5 December 1916. After Andrew Bonar Law refused to form a government, David Lloyd George became leader of the coalition and Prime Minister on 7 December 1916.

Under Prime Minister Lloyd George the number of staff at Number 10 expanded and offices spilled out into the garden to cope with the demands of the administration of the war.

Lloyd George immediately formed his ‘War Cabinet’, whose members included Lord Curzon, Bonar Law and Arthur Henderson. In the first 235 days of its existence, the War Cabinet met 200 times.

This cabinet took total responsibility for the war, and on 3 occasions it sat as the Imperial War Cabinet when prime ministers from the Dominions attended. It provided a vigour previously lacking from the war effort.

Highly able young men were appointed to collect and collate data and to bypass slow moving government departments. These men were nicknamed the ‘Garden Suburb’ because they lived in huts at the end of gardens near to Downing Street. They were not liked by diehard civil servants, who they continually bypassed. However, the men from the Garden Suburb gave Lloyd George the one thing Asquith seemingly never had – up-to-date, meaningful statistics. Their work was invaluable, providing the War Cabinet with data on merchant ships sunk and UK farm production, issues essential to address if the country was not to be starved into defeat.

When armistice was finally declared on 11 November 1918, crowds thronged Downing Street chanting ‘LG’. Lloyd George made an appearance at one of the first floor windows to acknowledge them.

World War Two – Chamberlain

During the 1930s the world's eyes rested on Europe. With rising tensions between Germany and Czechoslovakia, the prime ministers of France and Britain did what they could in an attempt to avoid another war. On 12 September 1938, thousands gathered at Downing Street to listen to Hitler's speech on the final night of the Nuremberg Rally, convinced Britain stood on the brink of war.

As tension mounted further in Europe, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made several attempts to appease the situation, and Number 10 became the focus of international attention. On the morning of 29 September 1938, Chamberlain travelled to Germany for the final time as Prime Minister to hold talks with the French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, Hitler, and Mussolini.

The Munich Agreement was signed and war – for now – had been averted. Before leaving for England, Chamberlain held a private meeting with Hitler where he obtained his signature on the famous “Peace in our Time” document, which declared that any future disputes between Britain and Germany would be settled peacefully.

Upon Chamberlain's return to Heston Airfield, he was mobbed by large crowds and gave the resounding “Peace in Our Time” speech, waving aloft the document signed by Hitler.

When he returned to Downing Street following a meeting with George VI, the Prime Minister found Downing Street and Number 10 itself packed with people. Chamberlain gave the speech a second time, from a first floor window of Number 10:

My good friends, this is the second time there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home, and sleep quietly in your beds.

But over the following 12 months tension did not lift, and on 3 September 1939, Chamberlain broadcast to the nation from the Cabinet Room at Number 10, announcing that the country was now at war with Germany. Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister on 10 May 1940 and advised King George VI to ask Winston Churchill to form a government.

When Winston Churchill replaced Chamberlain as Prime Minister, he and his wife moved into Downing Street's second-floor flat, where Churchill did much of his work.

He often dictated speeches, memos and letters to his secretary while lying propped up in bed in the morning or late in the evening, cigar in hand.

By October 1940, the intense bombing period known as the Blitz began. On 14 October, a huge bomb fell on Treasury Green near Downing Street, damaging the Number 10 kitchen and state rooms, and killing three Civil Servants doing Home Guard duty. Churchill was dining in the Garden Rooms when the air raid began. As he recalled in his memoir Their Finest Hour (1949):

We were dining in the garden-room of Number 10 when the usual night raid began. The steel shutters had been closed. Several loud explosions occurred around us at no great distance, and presently a bomb fell, perhaps a hundred yards away, on the Horse Guards Parade, making a great deal of noise. Suddenly I had a providential impulse. The kitchen in Number 10 Downing Street is lofty and spacious, and looks out through a large plate-glass window about 25 feet high. The butler and parlour maid continued to serve the dinner with complete detachment, but I became acutely aware of this big window. I got up abruptly, went into the kitchen, told the butler to put the dinner on the hot plate in the dining-room, and ordered the cook and the other servants into the shelter, such as it was. I had been seated again at the table only about 3 minutes when a really loud crash, close at hand, and a violent shock showed that the house had been struck. My detective came into the room and said much damage had been done. The kitchen, the pantry and the offices on the Treasury were shattered.

Keeping Downing Street safe became the priority of the Prime Minister and the War Cabinet. Steel reinforcement was added to the Garden Rooms, and heavy metal shutters were fixed over windows as protection from bombing raids. The Garden Rooms included a small dining room, bedroom and a meeting area which were used by Churchill throughout the war. In reality, though, the steel reinforcement would not have protected him against a direct hit.

In October 1939, the Cabinet had moved out of Number 10 and into secret underground war rooms in the basement of the Office of Works opposite the Foreign Office, today's Churchill War Rooms .

Following near misses by bombs, in 1940, Churchill and his wife moved out of Downing Street and into the Number 10 Annex above the war rooms. Furniture and valuables were removed from Number 10 and only the Garden Rooms, Cabinet Room and Private Secretaries' office remained in use.

Churchill disliked living in the Annex and, despite it being almost empty, he continued to use Number 10 for working and eating.

A reinforced shelter was constructed under the house for up to 6 people, for use by those working in the house. Even George VI sought shelter there when he dined with Churchill in the Garden Rooms. Although bombs caused further damage to Number 10, there were no direct hits to the house, allowing Churchill to continue to work and eat there right up until the end of the war.

As soon as war was over, Churchill and his wife moved back to Number 10, where he made his Victory in Europe (VE) Day broadcast, which was delivered from the Cabinet Room at 3pm on 8 May 1945.

Falklands Conflict – Margaret Thatcher

On 19 March 1982, the Argentinian flag was raised by a group of scrap metal merchants on the island of South Georgia, a British overseas territory and dependant of the Falkland Islands. There had been a lengthy dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Islands and this action was seen as a precursor to the Argentinian invasion which would follow.

Argentine General Leopoldo Galtieri ordered the invasion of the Falklands to be brought forward to 2 April 1982, pre-empting any reinforcement of the United Kingdom's military presence in the area. Margaret Thatcher responded by sending a naval task force to recapture the islands, which set sail from Portsmouth on 5 April following a meeting of the Cabinet and the granting of a UN Resolution.

The Prime Minister stayed up all night in the Downing Street flat for the entire Falklands conflict. Margaret Thatcher's personal assistant, Cynthia Crawford, who moved into the flat at Number 10 to keep the Prime Minister company during the all-night vigils, recalls the 74 days of the conflict inside Number 10:

She did not once change into her nightclothes in the flat for the duration of the war. We would sit in the flat listening to the BBC World Service for news of the task force. She couldn’t sleep because she wanted to be ready in case anything happened. She wanted to be able to go to any briefings with the naval commanders at any time without the fuss and bother of having to get dressed. She also wanted to know everything that was happening, every single detail, so she could keep on top of events. She had to know how the soldiers, sailors and airmen were getting on. She was so worried about them. It was awful when we heard any reports of our ships being hit. Her determination and powers of endurance were unbelievable. Denis was in the room next door. The 2 of us would sit in armchairs either side of a two-bar electric fire, listening to the radio.

Crawford recalls the Prime Minister leaving Downing Street at 8am each morning to attend military briefings for an update of events during the night and to discuss the next part of the campaign:

I would take advantage of that and jump into bed at the flat so I could get some sleep. I'd tell the Downing Street switchboard to wake me when she was on her way back so I could be ready for work. We don't all have her energy.

The conflict ended with Argentinian surrender on 14 June 1982. Margaret Thatcher looked back on this period:

When I became Prime Minister I never thought that I would have to order British troops into combat and I do not think I have ever lived so tensely or intensely as during the whole of that time. Margaret Thatcher – The Downing Street Years.

Restoration and modernisation

By the 1950s, the material state of 10 Downing Street had reached crisis point. Bomb damage had worsened existing structural problems: the building was suffering from subsidence, sloping walls, twisting door frames and an enormous annual repair bill.

The Ministry of Works carried out a survey in 1954 into the state of the structure. The report bounced from Winston Churchill (1951 to 1955) to Anthony Eden (1955 to 1957) to Harold Macmillan (1957 to 1963) as one Prime Minister followed the other. Finally, a committee set up by Macmillan concluded that drastic action was required before the building fell or burnt down.

The committee put forward a range of options, including the complete demolition of Number 10, 11 and 12 and their replacement with a new building. That idea was rejected and it was decided that Number 12 should be rebuilt, and Numbers 10 and 11 should be strengthened and their historic features preserved.

The architect Raymond Erith was selected to supervise the work, which was expected to take 2 years and cost £500,000. It ended up taking a year longer than planned and costing double the original estimate. The foundations proved to be so rotten that concrete underpinning was required on a massive scale.

Number 10 was completely gutted. Walls, floors and even the columns in the Cabinet Room and Pillared Room proved to be rotten and had to be replaced. New features were added too, including a room facing onto Downing Street and a veranda at Number 11 for the Chancellor.

It was also discovered that the familiar exterior façade was not black at all, but yellow. The blackened colour was a product of two centuries of severe pollution. To keep the familiar appearance, the newly cleaned yellow bricks were painted black to match their previous colour. Erith's work was completed in 1963, but not long afterwards, dry rot became apparent and further repairs had to be undertaken.

Margaret Thatcher (1979 to 1990) appointed architect Quinlan Terry to refurbish the state drawing rooms at the end of the 1980s. Two of the rooms, the White Drawing Room and Terracotta Room, gained ornate plasterwork ceilings. In the White Drawing Room, this included adding the national emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

All the building work of the past few decades could have been ruined when a terrorist bomb exploded in 1991. An IRA mortar bomb was fired from a white transit van in Whitehall and exploded in the garden of Number 10, only a few metres away from where Prime Minister John Major (1990 to 1997) was chairing a Cabinet meeting to discuss the Gulf War.

Although no one was killed, it left a crater in the Number 10 gardens and blew in the windows of neighbouring houses. John Major and some of his staff moved into Admiralty Arch while damage caused by the bomb was repaired.

By 2006, it was clear that the Downing Street complex was no longer able to support the business of the Prime Minister's Office reliably. Independent surveys established that the building was no longer weather-tight, the heating system was failing, and the information and communications technology (ICT) network was at the limits of its operation. Power outages and water leaks were frequent occurrences and impacted significantly on the day-to-day operation of the Prime Minister's Office.

In addition to deterioration through age, pressures on the buildings had increased dramatically over recent years, through an increase in occupancy (stable at around 50 for many years) to around 170. In 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997 to 2007) authorised a new programme of improvements, with the building remaining operational throughout. Work was launched to address structural failure, renew the infrastructure, improve access and enhance the building's sustainability.

Structural issues were among the first to be tackled, and a phased exterior repair project was launched to address failing lead guttering, cracking brickwork and other structural issues. The distinctive black colourwash was also renewed, as it had faded away in many areas to reveal the yellow brickwork beneath. During the course of the works it was discovered that the façade of 11 Downing Street was unstable, and had to be secured using 225 stainless steel pins. All work was carried out in consultation with English Heritage .

Other projects have been undertaken to renew the building's ageing infrastructure and to replace many of the building's key services, including heating, fire protection and electrical power distribution. Sustainability is a key feature of the programme and a 10% reduction in carbon emissions was achieved during 2011. Rainwater harvesting was introduced in 2009, providing a sustainable source of water for the garden. Accessibility for disabled visitors has been significantly improved through the introduction of ramps and modernisation of lifts. Many of the public areas of the building have also been restored, including the front entrance hall, the state and small dining rooms and the study.

An ongoing programme is in place to upgrade facilities to modern standards, and to ensure the preservation of this historic building for years to come.

A place of entertainment

Every week, Number 10 is the venue for official functions including meetings, receptions, lunches and dinners.

It is not only heads of state and official dignitaries who visit – functions are held for people from all areas of UK society, including notable achievers, public service employees and charity workers.

Receptions tend to be informal gatherings. Lunches and dinners are more formal events. The Small Dining Room will sit a maximum of 12, and the State Dining Room up to 65 around a large, U-shaped table. The dining table is laid with items from the state silver collection: a range of modern silverware pieces commissioned by the Silver Trust to promote modern British craftsmanship.

Installations at Number 10 timeline

Since 10 Downing Street became the official residence of the premier, the building has performed the dual role of both residence and place of work for Britain's Prime Ministers.

Number 10 has been upgraded – including new technology – throughout its history, to ensure both an acceptable standard of living for its residents and to keep the Prime Minister at the heart of decision making within government. Often, the prompt for new technology or an upgrade was the arrival of a new Prime Minister.

Here are some of the more notable developments across 3 centuries of history, from the arrival of hot running water to the first tweet:

1877 – hot and cold running water installed. The living quarters were renovated for Benjamin Disraeli – including a bath.

1894 – installation of electric lighting and first telephones. Following Disraeli's departure William Gladstone redecorated the building and oversaw the installations.

1902 – first motor-car driven onto Downing Street. Arthur Balfour brought the first car and since then, Prime Ministers have looked to select British marques for their official car, with a procession of Wolseleys, Humbers, Rovers, Daimlers and Jaguars sweeping successive Prime Ministers into – and out of – Downing Street.

1937 – first central heating.

1963 – electrical and telephone systems were replaced. 1963 was a major period of renovation for the building.

1982 – the first direct hotline between No10 and Washington was established during Margaret Thatcher's first term of office.

1982 – first ‘micro-computer’ and microfilm reader installed.

1983 – wider roll-out of computers machines for Number 10 staff following a review of the building's needs.

1990s – first video conference. John Major used the technology from his study.

1996 – desktop PCs installed at all workstations.

1996 – the launch of the first No10 website .

1998 – internet access became mainstreamed across Number 10 staff desktops.

2002 – dedicated video conferencing suite was installed. This followed the events of 9/11 and allowed the Prime Minister and his team to be in face to face contact with counterparts around the world in an instant.

2005 – a new e-mail account allowed the public to contact the Prime Minister directly.

2008 – Number 10's very own online TV station – Number10 TV

2008 – Number 10's first tweet – and there have been over 3,000 since.

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Larry has been in residence since 15 February 2011, he is the first cat at Number 10 to be bestowed with the official title Chief Mouser.

Larry was recruited from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home on recommendation for his mousing skills. He joined the Number 10 household and has made a significant impact.

Larry the cat

He has captured the hearts of the Great British public and the press teams often camped outside the front door. In turn the nation sends him gifts and treats daily.

Larry spends his days greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality. His day-to-day responsibilities also include contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house. Larry says this is still ‘in tactical planning stage’.

Is this page useful?

Yes this page is useful
No this page is not useful

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab) .

Open House Festival

I’ve forgotten my password

10 Downing Street

William Kent, 1735

10 Downing Street, SW1A 2AA

10 Downing Street has been the residence of British Prime Ministers since 1735. Behind its famous black door the most important decisions affecting Britain for the last 284 years have been taken.

Getting there

Westminster, Embankment

Charing Cross, Waterloo

12, 24, 88, 11, 453, 3, 87, 159

George Downing was responsible for the street, its name and the building we know today. A former diplomat at The Hague serving the Commonwealth, he changed allegiance with finesse. He traded enough secrets to gain a royal pardon in March 1660 and, by the Restoration in May 1660, to be rewarded with a knighthood.

Sir Robert Walpole took up residence on 22 September 1735, - once the townhouse on Downing Street and the house overlooking Horse Guards had been joined together and completely refurbished. Walpole employed architect William Kent – who had already worked on Walpole's Norfolk home, Houghton Hall – to undertake the work.

Kent carried out extensive work on the 2 houses, connecting them on 2 storeys. The main entrance now faced onto Downing Street rather than towards Horse Guards, and the Downing Street building became a passageway to the main house. At the back of the house, where the Walpoles lived, Kent created grand new rooms suitable for receiving important guests, and built an unusual 3-sided staircase. It is still one of the most impressive features of the building.

Restoration and modernisation

An ongoing programme is in place to upgrade facilities to modern standards, and to ensure the preservation of this historic building for years to come.

See www.gov.uk/government/history/10-downing-street

The Banqueting House

historical house, palace, concert/performance space

Stunning regal building, the only surviving building from Whitehall Palace, one of the first examples of the principles of Palladianism being applied to an English building. Site of a set of magnificent ceiling paintings by Rubens.

Inigo Jones, 1619

Walking tour

Tyrants, Colonialism and Slavery walking tour

A diverse walking tour, with a qualified guide, in the heart of Westminster where we visit some statues and places that have a significance to tyranny, colonialism and slavery. The walk is accessible to all and ends in Trafalgar Square.

The British Academy

institution/profession

One of London's finest examples of Georgian architecture, Carlton House Terrace is a Grade 1 listed townhouse originally designed by John Nash and built between 1827 and 1833. Today it is home to the British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

John Nash, 1827

The Royal Society

institution/profession, scientific, education, library, online

A spectacular Grade I listed building designed by famed architect John Nash. Built in 1831, these former townhouses have undergone refurbishments throughout their history. The building is now home to the UK's national science academy.

John Nash, Decimus Burton, 1831

Guided tour

National Liberal Club

An impressive Victorian neo-Classical building overlooking the Embankment of the river Thames. It is the second-largest clubhouse ever built, the first London building to incorporate a lift and to be entirely lit by electric lighting.

Alfred Waterhouse, 1886

The Mysterious Black Tudors - Westminster Family Trail

Celebrate the Open House Festival with this fun and interactive family event about Britain's forgotten history of the Black Tudors.

Canada House

embassy/high commission

Canada's diplomatic home in the United Kingdom, the revitalised Canada House serves as a showcase for the very best of Canadian art and design in the 21C.

Sir Robert Smirke, 1823

Benjamin Franklin House

historical house, museum

In the heart of London, just steps from famed Trafalgar Square, is Benjamin Franklin House, the world's only remaining Franklin home. For nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775, Dr Benjamin Franklin – scientist, diplomat, philosopher, inventor, Founding Father of the United States and more – lived behind its doors. Built circa 1730, we are a Grade I listed house in central London.

Baron William Craven the Younger, 1732

Reform Club

Built as a Whig gentleman's club and inspired by Italian Renaissance palaces. Lobby leads to an enclosed colonnaded courtyard with complementary glazed roof and tessellated floor. Tunnelled staircase leads to upper floor.

Charles Barry, 1841

College of Optometrists

institution/profession, library, museum

HQ of professional and examining body for UK optometrists occupying two terraced houses, No. 41 (Flitcroft c1730 with later additions) and No. 42 (rebuilt by Tarmac plc, c1989) including Council chamber, print room, library and museum.

Henry Flitcroft, 1730

Beating the Bounds

Setting off from the Festival of Britain site we cover icons of the South Bank before heading into the back streets to see different types of social housing. We travel over to Bankside to see an overview of the historic and contemporary.

Unknown, 19

360 Virtual Tour Case Studies
Environmental Policy
Testimonials
360 Virtual Tour
Gigapixel Photography
360 Photography
Video Production

Get inside 10 Downing Street

VIEW 360 VIRTUAL TOUR

It’s three years since Eye Revolution were commissioned to give the public their first glimpse inside 10 Downing Street. Now we are pleased to announce that we have worked on new and updated virtual tours for the new No.10 website. In fact, the tours offer much more than a glimpse, giving the viewer the opportunity to inspect a full 360 degrees around many of the rooms inside 10 Downing Street in high resolution and at fullscreen size. You can zoom in to see the detail, such as the Union Flag which was carried to the moon and back by Apollo 11!

Viewers can stand right outside the famous Number 10 door, taking in the view up and down Downing Street, and look at the black bricks – these are no longer blackened by London smog but were artificially blackened after the 1960s renovation as people had grown so used to seeing them as black!

We hope you enjoy viewing the 10 Downing Street virtual tours as much as we have enjoyed creating them. Please visit the link to see the 10 Downing Street virtual tours .

10 Downing Street London, United Kingdom

10 Downing Street, the home of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world. Behind its iconic black door, the most important decisions affecting Britain for the last 275 years have been taken.

In the 20th century alone, the First and Second World Wars were directed from within it, as were the key decisions about the end of the empire, the building of the first British nuclear bomb, the handling of economic crises from the Great Depression in 1929 to the modern day, and the development of the welfare state.

Number 10 has overlapping functions. It is the official residence of the Prime Minister: it is their office, and also the place where they entertain guests from Her Majesty The Queen, world leaders and other British and overseas guests from business and charities.

Meet two of the most iconic British Prime Ministers

10 downing street, take a tour through the historic rooms of 10 downing street, in this collection, godfrey kneller, harold wilson, 8 museum views.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

Backchannel
Newsletters
WIRED Insider
WIRED Consulting

Matt Burgess

Take a virtual tour of 10 Downing Street in Google Street View

Image may contain City Urban Animal Cat Mammal and Pet

Its corridors of power are typically reserved for the select and chosen few, but the doors of 10 Downing Street have now been opened thanks to Google Street View.

The Prime Minister's residence – currently occupied by Theresa May – has been opened up to those wanting to get a glimpse inside the walls of the 332-year-old building. Every prime minister since 1735 has lived inside the building designed by Christopher Wren, and the doors to the building are rarely opened to cameras.

Google's Street View cameras were used to capture nine areas of the building. These include the Thatcher Room , the Anterroom (covered with images of the Queen), and the entrance hall , which mysteriously has a painting blurred on the right-hand side. (WIRED contacted Downing Street which clarified the image is blurred for copyright reasons).

One of the few familiar sights captured by the Google team include the rose garden – where former prime minister David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, first publicly appeared as part of the coalition government of 2010.

Elsewhere in the captured rooms are the White Room , Cabinet Room , a state dining room and some of the stairways linking the building's 100 other rooms.

The historic building is not open to public tours and Downing Street, where the residence is held, is only opened to invited members of the public on special occasions . Google isn't the first to create a digital walkthrough of Number 10, though, as a team from Eye Revolution were allowed inside the building in 2015.

This time around the innards of 10 Downing Street were captured by Google's Arts and Culture team. The team, which has been creating a massive digital archive has captured details from more than 1,000 institutions. Amit Sood, Google Arts and Culture director, told The Telegraph he was pleased to be able to document the history of an "emblematic British institution".

The Cultural Institute includes thousands of artworks and the Googlers have also been capturing historic buildings and monuments. In June, the cameras opened up the royal halls of Buckingham Palace .

This article was originally published by WIRED UK

Hackers Detail How They Allegedly Stole Ticketmaster Data From Snowflake

By Kim Zetter

Banks Are Finally Realizing What Climate Change Will Do to Housing

By Chris Baraniuk

The Titan Submersible Disaster Shocked the World. The Inside Story Is More Disturbing Than Anyone Imagined

By Mark Harris

Crypto Scammers Are Targeting Trump’s MAGA Supporters

By Vittoria Elliott

David Howard

Laura Kipnis

The 18 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

Angela Watercutter

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Finally Gives Zelda Her Own Game

Megan Farokhmanesh

The 38 Best Shows on Max (aka HBO Max) Right Now

Jennifer M. Wood

The 22 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now

TopDogDeals

Select from the attractions below to see up to date deals...

10 Downing Street Tour

Yes, that’s right Topdogdays went to 10 Downing Street a few years back!

OK, so I was not invited to see the Prime Minister to discuss tourism or other such world events, (mind, I’m always agreeable if the invitation comes my way), but rather was successful in a recent ballot run by Open House London to tour 10 Downing Street. I have to say it was better than winning the lottery. Find out how you too could enjoy a FREE tour of Downing Street house & gardens within our guide below.

LOOK OUT FOR OUR Cheap Ticket Guide to London Eye packed with valid 2 for 1 vouchers, online offers and joint ticket promotions!

10 Downing Street tour with Open House London

Topdogdays at 10 Downing Street!

10 Downing Street Tour; Open House London

Billed as the ‘capital’s largest annual festival of architecture and design’ Open House London gives the public free access to many of London’s historic & iconic buildings around the city. Whilst the vast majority of the buildings open on a first-come-first-served basis, a few of the most popular attractions require participants to apply via a ballot. Open House London runs every year during mid September offering entry to 800+ historic houses, government buildings, museums & private homes including 10 Downing Street.

A couple of years ago we applied for tickets for the 10 Downing Street tour and won 2 tickets for the morning tour. Excited? I couldn’t quite believe my luck. Joining us on our journey of 10 Downing Street were 3 enthusiastic tour guides, each of whom focused upon different aspects of the building.

Find out how we got on below or find out more details on how you can apply over at 10 Downing Street Ballot – Open House London .

open house london pictures outside 10 downing street tour

10 Downing Street; Tour Guides

Our first guide was drawn from the Government Art Collection that provided the art work found within 10 Downing Street, (and many other UK government buildings around the world). Second up was a conservation expert who focused on the history, design & preservation of the building. Our third guide came from 10 Downing Street itself who provided anecdotal observations into the workings of the people within the building. Their interest in their subject matched our own to the extent that they obligingly extended the hour long tour to over 2 and half hours! You could not have hoped for better guides.

As we walked through the front door of Number 10 Downing Street, the proverbial hairs on the back of your neck began to move. Immediately all media devices were placed within an old fashioned wooden pigeon hole storage area located close to the front door. As even Ministers & advisers are instructed to leave their phones here, this didn’t seem the moment to suggest Topdogdays readers might be interested in a couple of interior shots. Wasn’t going to happen.

As we moved through the rooms, our guides brought to life the stories behind the rooms and the political characters that have shaped our history through the years. We slowly made our way through to the Cabinet Room, pausing outside in The Garden before taking the Grand Staircase up to the State Rooms. To walk freely through rooms, notably seen as the backdrop for various Prime Ministers during official engagements/governmental work, was a unique experience and a dream come true for my accompanying 12 year old.

Mind, I just had to take them up on the chance to use the Downing Street loo – well, it’s all part of the Topdogdays experience!

larry the cat autograph 10 downing street

10 Downing Street Tour; Autograph from Larry the Cat

Open House London is an annual event that offers free entry to over 800 historic houses, government buildings, museums and private buildings, many of which are not normally open to the public. The vast majority of these settings open on a first-come-first-served basis, whilst a small number require participants to apply in advance via a ballot.

More information available at Open House London .

10 Facts About 10 Downing Street That Were News To Me

1. Whilst the well known black brickwork seen to the front of the building was original caused by soot pollution, the bricks are now simply re-painted black to match the original look of the building.

2. The Prime Minister’s chair within the cabinet room is thought to be located in the middle of the table, (rather than head of the table), as it is closest to the fireplace. An important factor before central heating was invented.

3. Within the garden of 10 Downing Street, you’ll currently find a Barbara Hepworth statue, the iconic rose garden and a very ordinary looking swing-set.

4. Whilst portraits of every Prime Minister line the walls of the Grand Staircase, set within chronological order, there is only room for around 50 more pictures.

5. Damage to the outside of the building remains, (deliberately), visible following a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in 1991.

6. Around 200 people work within 10 Downing Street – it is definitely bigger than you think!

7. Emergency evacuation plans for 10 Downing Street include the 2 Turner paintings located within the White Drawing Room, (currently valued at £15 million & £17 million).

8. The Study was revamped during Tony Blair’s time in office where he left 6 small bumble bees, one for each of the family, at the top of the white bookcases. Apparently the bee is a firm favourite with Cherie.

9. Unfortunately 10 Downing Street lies above boggy ground that causes frequent sighs from those commissioned to look after the building.

10. Larry the cat is alive and well who even provides signed autographs on request.

Questions and Comments

Ask me something

Or just leave us a comment

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

Latest Comments

Hello, I live in a Care Home; and some of the residents – together with 2 of the staff – want to visit and go inside 10 Downing Street.

Please advise on this.

Many thanks for your help, Keith.

Hi Keith, we were fortunate to visit 10 Downing Street a few years after successfully been chosen through a ticket ballot run by Open House London. Open House London runs every year where over 500 historic houses, government buildings, museums & private homes, many of which are not normally open to the public, open their doors free of charge. Some of the most popular attractions use a randomly selected ticket ballot to limit numbers. Unfortunately 10 Downing Street hasn’t been taking part in this scheme over the past few years but worth keeping an eye out next year to see the full range of settings participating, Liz

Filip Hronek signs, but Canucks won't be able to sign all their free agents, GM Patrik Allvin admits

Canucks: Why Elias Lindholm's expected exit sparks more Sean Monahan intrigue

Home invasion led to death of surrey woman, says family, looming capital gains tax changes spark 'unprecedented' rush in b.c. property sales, canucks: why final contract line in the sand for nikita zadorov is hard to draw, the secret to visiting #10 downing street.

You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account.

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Article content

Tourists visiting Washington, DC, invariably want to see the White House. Why not? That’s where the President of the United States lives. In London, England, crowds line up against the fence to get a glimpse of #10 Downing Street, the home of the British Prime Minister. Unless they know the secret to getting a sneak peek, they will never see that prestigious individual. You see, #10 Downing Street may seem an ordinary residence on a (formerly) working class street, but that doesn’t mean you get to walk up and ring the doorbell to say hello.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
Support local journalism.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account.
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
Enjoy additional articles per month.
Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Sign In or Create an Account

While 10 Downing Street appears to be a modest-looking brick terrace house from the outside, there’s more than meets the eye. The original residence, built on the site of a medieval brewery, is a portal leading to over 100 rooms in several houses all connected by a warren of hallways and staircases. The terrace house is the epicentre of British power, with world famous guests arriving regularly. Should you wish to be in attendance at such a moment, don’t expect to stand right in front of the building. The photos you see of #10 in newspapers are taken only by accredited photojournalists.

The secret to visiting #10 Downing Street Back to video

Downing is in the middle of a district of London named Whitehall, where many important government buildings are located. There are two entrances to Downing Street, east and west. Arriving from the west where St. James Park features a lovely lake, you find Downing Street blocked off for security purposes. No entry. Walk south down Horse Guards Road, past the Churchill War Rooms and Her Majesty’s Treasury to Birdcage Walk, which becomes Great George Street as your turn left (west). Proceed to Parliament Street, passing by statues of Winston Churchill and Mahatma Ghandi. (There are even more statues in London than there are museums.)

You may be tempted to walk over to the Parliament Buildings, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, located right behind the iconic clock tower of Big Ben, but first you are on a mission to find #10 Downing. Turn left at Parliament and walk north, passing King Charles Street to your left with the mighty Foreign and Commonwealth Offices looming large. While the sign for Downing Street is rather small, there is usually a large crowd pressing against a tall wrought iron fence, where a single Bobbie (police officer) stands with a clipboard checking off the names of official visitors on a piece of paper, dignitaries that arrive via armoured limos.

If you think this is an innocent instance of casual British security, have an eye beyond the gates to the heavily armed officers carrying automatic weapons. This is where the secret clue to getting a glimpse of #10 Downing comes in, and perhaps a look at the Prime Minister. What you need is a zoom lens on a quality digital camera. You won’t see anything at all using a smart phone from this distance. On the other hand, should you bring a camera armed with a large telephoto lens mounted on it, you may find yourself in the “Clink” (jail) in a jiffy.

Looking through the zoom lens will reveal several very serious looking officers staring you right back in the eye, and they aren’t smiling. Over their shoulders you can see the prestigious passengers stepping out of their limos, off to have a spot of tea with the PM. If there is an important announcement to be made, perhaps the Prime Minister herself will emerge from the ordinary looking terrace house. Now you know the secret to getting a photo, perhaps you will get a peek. Cheers.

Michael McCarthy is a freelance journalist and owner of mccarthy-travels.com.

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here . By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy .

You've reached the 20 article limit.

You can manage saved articles in your account.

and save up to 100 articles!

Looks like you've reached your saved article limit!

You can manage your saved articles in your account and clicking the X located at the bottom right of the article.

Type and press Enter.

10 Downing Street Restaurant & Bar

Elevating taste, celebrating diversity, monday to sunday, full-service catering, follow on instagram, our chef creating some magic in the kitchen, food philosophy.

At 10 Downing Restaurant, we are committed to culinary excellence. We meticulously select premium ingredients, blend them with our culinary expertise and served with the side of community warmth, Our menu is a symphony of flavors, embracing cultural diversity to delight diverse palates, providing a dining experience that transcends the ordinary.

A Culinary Experience

Asian delights, start & share.

Salads and Bowl
Pastas and Flats
Burger and Sandwiches
From The Grill

Shotengai tempura

Steak & salmon bites, surf & turf shumai basket, korean caulies, double dusted calamari, chicken wings, balinese chicken satay, salads & bowls.

Burrata Salad

10 downing spring mix, tuna poke bowl, caesar salad, soba noodle salad, marinated beets.

All Asian dishes comes with a portion of rice

Cantonese style sweet & sour, thai prawn curry, nasi goreng, korean stir fry, kadhai paneer, butter chicken, chicken biryani, chicken tikka masala, pastas & flats.

Spaghetti bolognaise

Lobster risotto, pappardelle alfredo, vegetarian flat, southhall flat, italian flat, creamy wild mushroom fusilli, burgers and sandwiches, beer battered fish & chips.

Katsu Burger

Philly steak sandwich, 10 downing burger, new delhi wrap, shawarma wrap, double decker classic club, the grilled cheese, from the grill.

Albertan prime sirloin (06 oz or 09 oz)

Aaa ny steak, salmon steak, ribs and chicken combo, roasted cajun chicken breast, baby back ribs (full or half).

Beverage Menu

10 Downing Classic cocktails
10 Downing Signature Cocktails

Classic Cocktails

Long Island Ice Tea 2oz

Negroni 2oz, old fashioned 2oz, moscow mule 1oz, margarita 1oz, classic caesar 1oz, signature cocktails.

Martini 3oz

Osaka cosmo 2oz, coconut mint margarita 5oz, 10 downing caeser 5oz, blood ornage gin fizz 5oz, peach bellini 5oz, signature sangria 5oz, bottle/ can domestic.

Molson Canadian

Coors light, bottle / can international.

Bourgogne Pinot Noir, France

Murphy goode merlot, california, 19 crimes cab sav, australia, crios malbec, argentina, campo vielo, rioja, gabbiano chianti, docg, italy, 19 crimes shirz, australia, norton malbec, argentina, woodbridge sav blanc, usa, kim krawford, chardonnay, new zealand, land lust organic riesling , germany, whatchamacallit chardonnay,usa, rufﬁno pinot grigio, italy, la vieille ferme, france.

CATERING AND PRIVATE EVENTS

Are you looking for a catering service that can make your special occasions even more memorable? Whether it’s a birthday party, a wedding, or a graduation, 10 Downing Street Restaurant can provide you with a delicious and customized menu that suits your taste and budget. We use fresh and local ingredients to create dishes that are satisfying and flavorful. We can cater to any event in Fort Saskatchewan and surroundings .Contact us today and let us help you plan your perfect catering experience. We look forward to catering you soon!

Elevating taste celebrating diversity .

Multi cuisine premium dining

Reservations

Dress attire.

#103 ,8711 101 Street ,Fort Saskatchewan Alberta Canada T8L 0H8

Monday – Saturday 11am – 10pm

Sunday -Closed

What Was Barack Obama Doing At No.10 Downing Street?

Barack Obama prompted intrigue among Westminster watchers after making a surprise visit to No.10 Downing Street.

The former US president was pictured arriving at prime minister Rishi Sunak’s residence on Monday, flashing a smile and waving at the assembled media before entering the famous black front door.

Speculation quickly faded as Downing Street said Obama was paying a “courtesy visit” to discuss the work of his foundation with Sunak, who may have welcomed the distraction from his domestic woes .

He left No.10 after around an hour following the meeting.

The former US president said “I’m tempted” when asked questions by the media as he re-emerged and got into a Range Rover car with Jane D Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK, just after 4pm.

Obama last visited Downing Street in 2016, when he was still in the White House and David Cameron was UK prime minister, and issued a warning on Brexit.

At the time, he warned Britain would be at the “back of the queue” for a US free trade deal if the UK left the European Union.

Trump Compares Himself To Obama In Bonkers Boast About His Health
Michelle Obama Says 2024 Election Worries Keep Her Up At Night
Barack Obama Says 'Nobody's Hands Are Clean' In Complexities Of Israel-Hamas War

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Former United States President Barack Obama arrives in Downing Street to meet UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, on March 18, 2024 in London, England. President Obama has been in Europe this week and appeared at a moderated debate

Election latest: SNP to launch manifesto later this morning

The SNP will be launching its manifesto later this morning, with John Swinney pledging it will be the most left-wing policy platform of the election. Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak is set to take the public's calls this morning in a radio interview.

Wednesday 19 June 2024 07:26, UK

General Election 2024

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Election news

SNP launching election later this morning
YouGov and Sky to reveal major poll at 5pm
Tories heading for worst-ever defeat - poll
The senior Conservatives who could lose their seats
One of Tories' biggest 2019 donors endorses Labour
Sky News Daily: 'We need an adult conversation about migration'

Expert analysis

Jon Craig: Poll and defection are double trouble for Tories
Tom Cheshire : The data behind the public's view of immigration
Darren McCaffrey: PM's trip to luxury village shows no seat is safe

Election essentials

Check parties' manifesto pledges: Conservatives | Greens | Labour | Lib Dems | Plaid Cymru | Reform
Trackers: Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
Campaign Heritage: Memorable moments from elections gone by
Follow Sky's politics podcasts: Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
Read more: Who is standing down? | Key seats to watch | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency is changing | Guide to election lingo | Sky's election night plans

The rate of inflation dropped to 2% in May - down from 2.3% in April and ending a three-year battle to return price rises to target levels.

It hasn't been this low since July 2021, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

A drop to 2% had been forecast in a poll of economists by Bloomberg.

The target for the headline CPI figure is 2% - set by the Bank of England and central banks across the world.

Economists think the Bank of England will still want more evidence inflation is sustainably under control before cutting interest rates - with a hold at 5.25% widely expected tomorrow before a potential cut in August.

Rates are kept high in order to tame inflation by squeezing the economy.

You can read more about the inflation rise in our Money blog.

The latest in a series of YouGov and Sky News MRP polls is set to be published at 5pm today.

It is an MRP (multiple regression and post stratification) poll.

This is the first time we have gathered the data since candidates were confirmed, and manifestos were launched.

It is also the first poll since Reform's Nigel Farage said he would stand at the election.

Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates says: "We've had lots of them from other parties, but I think YouGov is the gold standard, which is why we use them here on Sky News.

"And it will tell us basically how the campaign has been going for the political parties.

"So we'll be looking to see whether it's been getting better for the Tories since Rishi Sunak launched the campaign - or maybe worse - and how Labour are fairing.

"And what is going on in Scotland today, of course, with the SNP launching their manifesto.

"And what about the smaller parties? Are they benefiting for some unpopularity of Keir Starmer?

"So one of these big campaign moments at 5pm today."

What is an MRP poll?

You might come across the term MRP quite a lot in the coming weeks as we head towards the general election on 4 July.

An MRP poll – which stands for multilevel regression and post-stratification – is a type of poll that gets pundits excited because it draws from large amounts of data, including a large sample size and additional information like locations.

MRP polls first ask a large representative sample of people how they will vote. They then use that information of how different groups say they will vote combined with information about the sorts of people who live in different constituencies. This allows the pollster to estimate how people will vote in each constituency across the country - even when they may have surveyed just a few people, or even none, in some places.

This can then be broken down into smaller groups to see how voters in different areas say they plan to vote. Rather than making more generalised assumptions that everyone behaves the same way in different constituencies, it takes into account the fact that every constituency is its own race and local issues and trends may be at play.

What MRP can't do is account for very specific local factors - such as a hospital or large employer closing down in a constituency, or a scandal relating to a particular candidate.

It still involves a lot of assumptions and estimates – and some races are too close to call with any level of certainty. It also only gives a snapshot of people's opinions, and a lot can change over the course of an election campaign. However, it does give us a more nuanced idea about what the general election result could be than other more generic polls.

By Faye Brown , political reporter

The general election may be "the last chance" to fix the UK's "broken renting system", housing organisations have warned as they called on party leaders to come up with bolder solutions to the crisis.

In an open letter to Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, groups representing tenants said thousands more people "face homelessness, poverty and exploitation" unless a "serious policy offer" is put on the table.

It comes as one renter told Sky News how he has been priced out of his home following a 40% increase in rent - despite the flat having "an excessive mould issue".

The groups, including the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and Generation Rent, want all party leaders to commit to rent controls, a full ban on no-fault evictions and greater investment in social housing.

In the letter, shared exclusively with Sky News, they said: "As organisations representing and working with tens of thousands of private renters across the UK, we are warning the next government that the housing emergency is set to deepen unless major action is taken as part of a serious housing policy offer.

"This could be the last chance to fix our broken renting system before countless more renters face homelessness, poverty and exploitation. "

Read the full story here:

Welcome back to the Politics Hub.

Today is a big day in the election for Scotland, with the SNP launching its election manifesto this morning.

The nationalist party is looking to turn around its fortunes after being gripped by scandal and controversy over the past few years.

John Swinney - who is not standing for a seat in Westminster - will be unveiling the plans today, in which he will call for a boost to UK-wide NHS funds by around £10bn to trigger a £1.6bn increase in Scotland.

Mr Swinney is the party's third leader in just over 14 months, after Nicola Sturgeon stood aside, to be replaced by Humza Yousaf.

Since standing down, Ms Sturgeon has been arrested - and released without charge - as part of a police probe into SNP finances.

While still in office, she unsuccessfully challenged the UK government in the courts over whether Scotland could unilaterally call a referendum, and legislation around loosening gender reform requirements.

Mr Yousaf stood down earlier this year after he collapsed the party's coalition at Holyrood with the Green Party.

In Westminster, the latest poll from Ipsos shows the SNP getting 15 seats - with a range of 13 to 23 likely - as it fights off gains from the Labour Party.

This is noticeably down from the 48 they won in 2019.

Ahead of the launch, Mr Swinney said: "The SNP manifesto will set out a different approach in line with Scotland’s centre-left values – with an end to Westminster cuts and a major new investment in our health service."

Stewart Hosie , the SNP's campaign director, will be speaking to Sky News just after 8am.

Also on this morning will be:

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride at 7.15am;
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves at 7.30am.

Thank you for following our live political coverage as the general election campaign continues.

Please see our 10pm bulletin for the key points of the day's news.

Join us again tomorrow from 7am for the latest political updates.

Earlier we brought you the breaking news that billionaire Tory donor John Caudwell had endorsed Labour (see 7.31pm post).

The Phones4U founder said the "failures" of the three prime ministers in government since then, alongside Labour's "transformation" under leader Sir Keir Starmer had led him to switch allegiance for the first time in his life.

You can read more about his decision here ...

It's 10pm and here is your rundown for today's political news...

The Conservative Party is heading for its worst electoral defeat in history , according to a poll of almost 20,000 people;
The Ipsos poll also suggested Nigel Farage will win Clacton from the Tories, overturning the incumbent party's huge majority there;
It estimated Labour could win 453 seats, while the Conservatives would take just 115, giving Sir Keir Starmer's party a 256-seat majority ;
The result would mean senior Tory figures such as Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Gillian Keegan, Johnny Mercer and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg losing their seats ;
Our chief political correspondent Jon Craig said the poll is "terrible news" for the Tories;
Meanwhile former Conservative Party donor John Caudwell has announced he is endorsing and voting for Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party.
Our weeknight politics show Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge focused on the issue of immigration, with Labour's shadow equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds saying the country needs a "clear plan" to tackle migration;
During the panel discussion Jim Murphy, former leader of Scottish Labour, said a Labour policy that may work to reduce immigration is "dealing with the gangs in the same way you would deal with terrorists";
And former Conservative MP Philip Dunne said the government's Rwanda scheme is a "deterrent" for illegal immigration, but said the UK and France need to cooperate more.
In Scotland, Anas Sarwar has today launched Scottish Labour 's manifesto, with a focus on improving the future for young people in the country;
He also confirmed that Scottish Labour is against the two-child benefit cap , despite there being no plans to scrap the measure if Labour wins the keys to Downing Street.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was in Eastleigh, where he discussed sewage - and claimed the Tories would "fail in opposition" just as he says they have in government;
And on a day of special coverage of the migration crisis here on Sky News, an exclusive poll suggested more Britons think immigration has had a negative impact on society than positive.

Here are some other stories you might find interesting:

On the Sky News Daily podcast, Niall Paterson is joined by community correspondent Becky Johnson to discuss what voters think about elections, while economics and data editor Ed Conway digs into the statistics to reveal exactly how big an impact migration, both legal and illegal, has on the UK.

Covering a general election campaign as a journalist can largely be summed up in two words - battle bus.

Not too dissimilar to the coaches that rockstars use for their tours, battle buses are the vehicles each political party uses to transport their leaders, candidates, and advisers around the country during the election campaign.

Sky's political correspondents have each been following a different party - often joining them on the buses.

Here we take you behind the scenes on the campaign trail for the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats.

Rishi Sunak's "soaring" personal wealth has come under fresh attack ahead of crucial inflation figures coming out tomorrow.

In what will be a key moment in the election campaign, the rate of inflation is expected to ease back to the Bank of England's target of 2% for the first time since spring 2021.

The figures could provide a much needed boost for the embattled prime minister, whose key offering to voters is that the economy has "turned a corner" under his leadership and they should not risk change with Labour.

But the Labour Party says this claim is "rubbished" by data showing more than half of Brits think the cost of living crisis has become worse in the last month.

The party says that Mr Sunak's wealth increased by £122m in the last year, while data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows millions of people continue to struggle.

IMAGES

10 Downing Street Virtual Tour
Get a peek into the garden at 10 Downing Street in London
Google's latest virtual tour takes you inside 10 Downing Street
From your home to the Prime Minister's: Take a virtual tour of 10
10 Downing Street Virtual Tours
10 Downing Street is now available on Google Street View

COMMENTS

The Ultimate Guide to visiting 10 Downing Street
Visiting 10 Downing Street. Unfortunately for tourists, 10 Downing Street (as well as the majority of Downing Street itself) is blocked off by a black gate and heavily patrolled by police at all times. (However, visitors can now take a look at the inside of 10 Downing Street by taking a 360-degree virtual tour on 10 Downing Street's official ...
Take a tour through the historic rooms of 10 Downing Street
This room has seen some truly monumental moments in British political history. Simon Schama's Tour of Downing Street. Pt2: The Cabinet Room (2015-06-15) by 10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street. On 7th February 1991, a terrorist mortar bomb exploded in the garden of Number 10, just a few metres from the Cabinet Room.
Inside 10 Downing Street
Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. Prime ministers come and go, but one resident of 10 Downing Street has no plans to leave any time soon. Larry the cat, whose official title is Chief Mouser, has been living at 10 Downing Street since February 2011. He has now seen two PMs come and go.
10 Downing Street 360 Virtual Tour
10 Downing Street 360 Virtual Tour. ENTER FULLSCREEN. EXIT FULLSCREEN.
Downing Street Tour
There are portraits of the first Prime Minister Robert Walpole (1721-42), Henry Pelham (1743-1754), and William Pitt the Elder (1766-68). The latter two remembered as leaders in peace and war respectively. A portrait of George Downing is to the right of the door. An 18 th Century view of Horse Guards Parade is above the fireplace on the right.
History of 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, the locale of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world in the modern era. Behind its ...
10 Downing Street, London
10 Downing Street: Our most recommended tours and activities. London: Tootbus London Discovery Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour. Experience the best of London in just one day with the Tootbus London tour. Board an open-top bus that takes you around the city, providing breathtaking views of top landmarks including the Tower of London, Tower Bridge ...
10 Downing Street, London
Book your 10 Downing Street tickets online and skip-the-line! Save time and money with our best price guarantee make the most of your visit to London!
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, the locale of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world in the modern era. ... A diverse walking tour, with a qualified guide, in the heart of Westminster where we visit some statues and places that have a significance to tyranny ...
10 Downing Street Virtual Tours
VIEW 360 VIRTUAL TOUR. It's three years since Eye Revolution were commissioned to give the public their first glimpse inside 10 Downing Street. Now we are pleased to announce that we have worked on new and updated virtual tours for the new No.10 website. In fact, the tours offer much more than a glimpse, giving the viewer the opportunity to ...
Downing Street , London
Downing Street Tours and Tickets. 17,799 reviews. One of London's most famous addresses, 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the British prime minister. The chancellor of the exchequer, responsible for the UK's money and economy, lives next door at number 11. On any given day, you can see streams of important politicians walking ...
10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom
Follow. 10 Downing Street, the home of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world. Behind its iconic black door, the most important decisions affecting Britain for the last 275 years have been taken. In the 20th century alone, the First and Second World Wars ...
10 Downing Street
4 Day London Private Tour with Stay at English Host Family. Historical Tours. from. $2,427.14. per adult (price varies by group size) The area. Downing Street, London SW1A 2AL England. Neighborhood: Westminster. If you only had an afternoon to experience London on a grand scale, Westminster would be a wise place to start.
10 Downing Street is now available on Google Street View
Take a virtual tour of 10 Downing Street in Google Street View. Explore 10 Downing Street's cabinet meeting rooms, corridors, and the Thatcher Room. Save Save. Getty Images / Justin Tallis ...
The BEST 10 Downing Street Tours 2024
Marvel at the amazing Buckingham Palace, home to the Royal Family, catch a glimpse of No.10 Downing Street, the residence of the Prime Minister, and watch the Changing of the Guard Ceremony. Stroll past the iconic Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Discover other notable landmarks such as the Queen Victoria Fountain, bustling Trafalgar ...
10 Downing Street Tour
10 Downing Street; Tour Guides. Our first guide was drawn from the Government Art Collection that provided the art work found within 10 Downing Street, (and many other UK government buildings around the world). Second up was a conservation expert who focused on the history, design & preservation of the building.
10 Downing Street Guided tours
Book the most popular Guided tours in 10 Downing Street. Best price and money back guarantee! Read the reviews of your fellow travelers.
The secret to visiting #10 Downing Street
While 10 Downing Street appears to be a modest-looking brick terrace house from the outside, there's more than meets the eye. The original residence, built on the site of a medieval brewery, is ...
Everything We Know About the Cat Living at 10 Downing Street
The 4-year-old tabby was known as a "good ratter" and Downing Street officials told the BBC Larry had "a high chase-drive and hunting instinct." Larry later became the first cat to hold ...
416 S Downing St, Piqua, OH 45356
Zillow has 1 photo of this $169,900 5 beds, 3 baths, 2,090 Square Feet multi family home located at 416 S Downing St, Piqua, OH 45356 built in 1898. MLS #913021.
10 Downing St
Welcome to 10 DOWNING ST. 10 DOWNING ST, founded in 2023, is dedicated to all those who love to wander far and wide. We invite you on a wholesome culinary adventure, where you'll explore undiscovered gourmet experiences. Visit #103 ,8711 101 Street ,Fort Saskatchewan Alberta Canada T8L 0H8. Talk +1 (780) 605-0804. Write. [email protected] ...
What Was Barack Obama Doing At No.10 Downing Street?
Former US president Barack Obama (centre) with United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Jane Hartley, leave following a meeting at 10 Downing Street, London. Picture date: Monday March 18, 2024.
Sir Paul McCartney Liverpool tour date 'could happen'
The tour kicked off in April 2022 and has so far made more than £158m ($200m) at the box office. ... St. Helens Star. Man caught out after suspicious police officers noticed he kept looking at them.
10 Downing Street, London
10 Downing Street: Our most recommended tours and activities. 1. London: Tootbus London Discovery Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour. Experience the best of London in just one day with the Tootbus London tour. Board an open-top bus that takes you around the city, providing breathtaking views of top landmarks including the Tower of London, Tower Bridge ...
Election latest: Farage asked about Tory speculation
Thank you for joining us today for our live political coverage as the general election campaign continues. To catch up on the day's news please see our 10pm bulletin. Join us again from 7am ...

The Ultimate Guide to visiting 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street Highlights

Special Tips

Getting There

Ticket prices and Opening Hours

Free Tours in Your Language

Reserve Your Spot with Confidence! Full Refunds with 24 Hrs Notice. Reschedule at any point, even after tour, if space allows!

A Tour Inside 10 Downing Street

Things to Do Nearby

TOURS OF 10 DOWNING STREET

An Inside Look at 10 Downing Street

Outside 10 Downing Street

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

HISTORY OF DOWNING STREET

About The Author

North America

Downing Street Tour

The Black Door

The Entrance Hall

Cabinet Room

White Drawing Room

Terracotta Drawing Room

The Pillared Room

The State Dining Room

Small Dining Room

Related Content

The Responsibilities of the Prime Minister

Wolsey to Walpole: York Place to Downing Street

A short history of Downing Street, 1750-2023

Chancellors, whips, and Wellington: Numbers 11, 12 and…. 14 Downing Street?

Prime Ministerial Residences in History

The Deputy Prime Minister

Social Mobility and Prime Ministers

Stay updated...

Sign up to our newsletter here

Cookies on GOV.UK

10 Downing Street

Explore 10 Downing Street

Origins and early inhabitants

The emergence of Downing Street

Pelham to Pitt

Fall and rise of Number 10

Number 10 at war

World War Two – Chamberlain

Falklands Conflict – Margaret Thatcher

Restoration and modernisation

A place of entertainment

Installations at Number 10 timeline

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Open House Festival

10 Downing Street

Getting there

Restoration and modernisation

The Banqueting House

Tyrants, Colonialism and Slavery walking tour

The British Academy

The Royal Society

National Liberal Club

The Mysterious Black Tudors - Westminster Family Trail

Canada House

Benjamin Franklin House

Reform Club

College of Optometrists

Beating the Bounds

Get inside 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street London, United Kingdom

Meet two of the most iconic British Prime Ministers

Take a virtual tour of 10 Downing Street in Google Street View

TopDogDeals

10 Downing Street Tour; Open House London

10 Downing Street; Tour Guides

10 Facts About 10 Downing Street That Were News To Me

Ask me something

Latest Comments

Filip Hronek signs, but Canucks won't be able to sign all their free agents, GM Patrik Allvin admits

Canucks: Why Elias Lindholm's expected exit sparks more Sean Monahan intrigue

Article content

Sign In or Create an Account