A sprawling network of secret underground tunnels is being transformed into a major new London tourist attraction.
Hidden 40m (130 ft) below the streets of the capital, the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels were built to shelter Londoners during the Blitz in World War II as a deep-level air raid shelter but was only completed after the war ended - and so never used. Londoners just used the existing tube stations instead.
So, since some of the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels were capacious enough to fit a double-decker bus inside, they were used by the government as a telecomms centre and a base for the secretive Special Operations Executive.
SOE was the clandestine British organisation responsible for espionage, sabotage and supporting resistance movements during Nazi-occupied Europe. The space was probably even used by Ian Fleming, author of the 007 Bond books, whilst he worked in naval intelligence. As a result, the location is widely thought to have inspired Q Branch, the fictional division of the Secret Service, where Bond goes to get his specialist equipment.
The tunnels were kept secret for nearly 70 years, says London Metro, as part of the Government’s Official Secrets Act, until 2007. They were then put up for sale and eventually purchased by an entrepreneur with the intention of turning the tunnels into a memorial to the Blitz, housing a museum, exhibits and entertainment spaces.
There are also plans to open the ‘deepest licensed bar in the United Kingdom’.
The London Tunnels is expected to open in 2027.