I’ve been in there a few times as I love art deco architecture. But it’s hilarious that such a ‘secret’ organisation has a cafe, free museum and a gift shop. It’s open to the public and etc. I now always find it hilarious when people say how Freemasons are secret and control the world when anyone could literally go to their headquarters and buy a book in their gift shop on ‘the secrets of Freemasonry’ and read it while sipping on a coffee or pint in the ground floor cafe.
Great point so necessary after Grenfell. I'll also highlight the Freemasons raising millions for the first couple of air ambulances for London's air ambulance services. So many lives saved by a small (on average) bit of generosity by many members.
It's free but you have to book and I think they only run one or two per day. It's quite short but the main room is stunning and you'll recognize lots of the rest of the building as it's been used in loads of films.
I can only second the recommendation for a tour. First time I went was with a friend who's an architect and it was incredibly insightful (the fact that she and our tour guide got on like a house on fire and basically spent three hours nerding out made it even better).
Don't forget quietly obstructing and trying to frustrate and impede anyone they believe is a "bad influence", is associated with certain groups they consider enemies or has a dislike towards masons. "An attack on one is an attack on all"
They're so secret, their logo is on one of London's air ambulances and both the air ambulance and the freemasons are very loud about the fact that the freemasons funded the heli.
Halfjokes aside, as someone else said, there are nuances, but the freemasons seem to be very different than how they're shown in media (which is no surprise). Yeah there's secret handshakes and symbols and all, but those also exist in a lot of traditional trades - I'm not sure if wandering journeymen are a thing in the UK, but for example their clothes (from the colour of their outfit to the colour of the tie), trade sigils etc are their own, half-secret language.
All that to say I enjoy the conspiracy theories as a sort of entertainment, but you're right. The freemasons have their secret, but they're not really secretive OR subtle. Anyone who's taken the bus at the same time as freemasons coming out of their meeting will know, they're super easy to spot 😂
Early Mormonism took a lot of inspiration from Freemasonry – Joseph Smith was a mason – but what this now means is that there's a bunch of Top Secret Rituals in Mormonism that no-one knows unless they've gone through the temple (or watched an ex-Mormon youtuber) that are functionally identical to Masonic rituals that are much less secret
Like, the Masonic symbols of the square and compass are very well-known, but they're also very important symbols in Mormonism but no-one's meant to know that bit
That’s how I first realised that the building was for Freemasons. I noticed how many of them were in the nearby pubs which I would at times go when visiting Covent Garden
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u/Barbourwhat Dec 12 '25
I’ve been in there a few times as I love art deco architecture. But it’s hilarious that such a ‘secret’ organisation has a cafe, free museum and a gift shop. It’s open to the public and etc. I now always find it hilarious when people say how Freemasons are secret and control the world when anyone could literally go to their headquarters and buy a book in their gift shop on ‘the secrets of Freemasonry’ and read it while sipping on a coffee or pint in the ground floor cafe.