How much of Downing Street is accessible?

[Markanddonna]

Can I get a view of 10 Downing Street? I'm descended from the scoundrel for whom it is named and even requested a special pass, but the government refused. A Londoner had suggested I try.

 

How close can I get for a photo?

[Globaliser]

Simple answer: you will not get access. Downing Street is closed at its junction with Whitehall by large and well-defended gates.

 

It's probably one of the few places in the UK where you can pretty much guarantee to be shot dead if you try to get in when you're not supposed to be there.

 

[CruiserBruce]

Globaliser is correct. I walked it back in the 1990s, piece of cake. But the view in the picture is correct as of last summer...actually I think there was more armed people around then.

[newport dave]

Here's the same view but without all the pedestrians. As you can see the Police are armed with automatic weapons.

 

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[Markanddonna]

Thanks for the advice and photos. Now I can see why my request was denied.

[Bob++]

Can I get a view of 10 Downing Street? I'm descended from the scoundrel for whom it is named

 

I looked him up:

 

Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet(c. 1624/25–c. 19 July1684) was an Anglo-Irish preacher, soldier, statesman, diplomat, turncoat and spy, after whom Downing Street in London is named. As Treasury Secretary he is credited with instituting major reforms in public finance. His influence was substantial on the passage and substance of the mercantilist Navigation Acts. The Acts strengthened English commercial and Naval power, contributing to the security of the English state and its ability to project its power abroad.

More than any other man he was responsible for arranging the acquisition of New York from the Dutch, and is remembered there in the name of two other streets named after him in New York, one in Greenwich Village and one in Brooklyn.

Most of his misdeeds were during the Civil War and he was far from the only aristocrat to turn his coat.

[LondonTowner]

That's very interesting and something to be proud of.

 

 

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[Markanddonna]

I wrote an article about him for the New England Historical Society

 

http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/massachusetts-scoundrel-downing-street-named/

[Bob++]

Interesting and well written - thank you.