How a public loo played a pivotal role in a Cold War spy ring

Nestled in the heart of Hampshire, Alresford is a picturesque Georgian town known for its colourful high street, historic steam railway and riverside walks.

But for a small commemorative plaque on the wall of a public lavatory block, few passing through today would know the part the building played in a Cold War Soviet spy ring.

The inscription reads: "Secret information hidden in this toilet was collected periodically by Harry Houghton. In 1961 he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his part in the Portland Spy Ring."

Radio Solent's Eleanor Waite has been exploring the unusual and surprisingly devious episode in the town's history.

"Alresford likes to be different," said local historian Glenn Gilbertson. "Whereas you would expect this [plaque] to be to a local hero or a national hero, no, it's to a national traitor, Harry Houghton."

The building was used by the spy ring as a drop-off point for passing stolen top secret documents, he said, adding: "This was significant because we were just introducing nuclear submarines at the height of the Cold War."

A triangle of people was set up involving Gordon Lonsdale, who was well known in the antique book trade, US couple the Krogers, who had an antique bookshop, and Houghton, said Gilbertson.

"Recruited back in the 1930s, they had the equipment to photograph secret documents, produce microdots, put them into old books, which would then be picked up," he said.

"So now you've now got a triangle, each piece of which can have a reason for why it's happening."

In his memoir, Houghton described how he carried out the covert exchanges.

He wrote: "I was to go to the Gents' lavatory at New Alresford on my next trip to London at 2pm precisely. There were two WCs inside this public convenience.

"Going in at 2pm on the dot, I was to enter the one on my left side to get a package, which I would find behind the door, put it in my pocket and proceed to London.

"Whoever elected this pick-up point did so with total disregard for my nerves. The lavatory was in a cul-de-sac slap-bang opposite the New Alresford police station."

Houghton would then make his way to the Krogers' bookshop in the arrangement that saw the passing of highly sensitive information right under people's noses.

"This went on over at least a couple of years, much to the distress of the local police who knew nothing about this," said Gilbertson.

He continued: "The Soviets were very interested in anything which could make submarines less detectable. These were secrets and damaged the whole of Nato's ability to detect Soviet submarines, which were operating in the Atlantic."

"A Polish agent who was caught revealed that there was at least two spies for the Royal Navy handing over the secrets and he was certain at least one of them was working in Portland," Gilbertson said. "They were all arrested, given long sentences."

Houghton was released after nine years.

He "then seemed to have adopted a new identity and just evaporated", said the historian.

"The Krogers and Lonsdale were given long sentences but were swapped in some of the spy swaps," he added.

Alresford's fascinating link to espionage, deception and Cold War intrigue serves to show that sometimes the most interesting stories are the ones hidden in plain sight.