Tunnels built to shelter Londoners during World War II bombing by Germany are set to be transformed into the British capital’s biggest new tourist attraction for years, according to the company that has bought the sprawling network of passages.
The tunnels, which are 1.6km (one mile) long and tall enough in parts to fit a double-decker bus, lie under Holborn in central London. They were dug by hand starting in late 1940, when German planes were bombing the city almost every day and night in what was known as The Blitz.
During the bombing raids, Londoners headed into underground train stations for safety. By 1942, when the purpose-built tunnels were finished, the Blitz had ceased, so they were never used for shelter.
“It’s real. It’s emotional,” said Angus Murray, chief executive of The London Tunnels, standing in an arched steel cavern as London Underground trains rumbled overhead.
Murray, a former investment banker, hopes to turn the tunnels into a memorial to the Blitz, which he said would be part museum, exhibition and entertainment space.
The tunnels housed spy headquarters in 1944, when James Bond author Ian Fleming worked in them for naval intelligence. The location is believed to have inspired Q Branch, where Bond goes to get his specialist equipment.
