The lease of the site of the former Serjeants' Inn on
Fleet Street was taken on in 1737 by the
Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, the first life insurance company in the world, who raised a new building on the site in 1792–93, designed by
Robert Adam. The site was redeveloped after the destruction of this building in the Second World War, but retained its name and a physical connection with the
Inns of Court, since the modern buildings, although commercially occupied, stand around a small courtyard used for parking which connects to the Inner Temple through an archway which allows pedestrian access. That site is now, therefore, effectively part of the precincts of the
Inner Temple and the wider legal area of
the Temple. Moreover, in 2001 the Inner Temple acquired the freehold from its former commercial occupiers. The Inner Temple announced its intention to use the space for barristers' chambers, like those in the Inner Temple itself. However, in March 2008 it informed its members that both refurbishment and rebuilding for this purpose had proved to be financially unviable, and that it had therefore granted a long lease for hotel premises at 1–2 Serjeants' Inn to recover its acquisition costs. The
Apex Temple Court Hotel opened in March 2012. No. 3 Serjeant's Inn has been a barristers' chambers, occupying commercial premises, since 1986.
Mitre Court, which connects the Inner Temple area, Serjeants' Inn and Fleet Street, has been home to barristers' chambers since at least the 1970s. ==References==