Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building. The Council, which was set up in 1860, was instituted to promote British trade abroad, and to give aid to British subjects in foreign parts. In the 1880s, when it was moved from 8 St. Helen’s Place, London, to 4 Trafalgar Square, it began to acquire a building of its own, and in 1900 bought the Palacete from a resident British engineer, Richard Palmer, who had lived there for 35 years. It has remained a goodwill property since, costing less than $350,000 to maintain and staff. British Council in Spain, an old-established organisation for promoting British trade, has been selling its home in Madrid. The British Council in Spain, an organisation which was set up in 1860 to promote British trade abroad, and to assist British subjects in foreign parts, has sold its property in Madrid, and the historic Palacete building in Paseo del General Martinez Campos will soon disappear. London headquarters are to be retained; Madrid, as a regional office, will be closed.
Original dispatch: Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building