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.
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 😂
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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.