'Cold War City'

[Panther_99FS]

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/04/cold-war-city/

[Tako_Kichi]

That was certainly one of the largest facilities but during the cold war every large town and city in the UK had a nuclear fall-out shelter cum emergency operations centre. In most cases the majority of the local population didn't even know they existed.

When I still lived in the UK I was a member of the local Ham Radio emergency network and also a Civil Defence Volunteer. Once a month I would go into the local shelter (hidden under the parking lot of the town hall) and set up the radio communications equipment then spend the next two hours sending and receiving messages as if we were in a state of war. This was around 1988-90 and these monthly exercises took place in every county in the country.

The entrance to the complex was disguised and you would not know it was there if you didn't know about it. Once inside there was a labyrinth of interconnected rooms and corridors with each room having a specific use. Some were set up as conference rooms, some as bunk rooms with rows of steel bunk beds while others were set up as shower/decontamination facilities.

I have often wondered if they are still there or if they have been converted to other uses now.