London's Secret Wartime Tunnels To Invite Tourists: Spy Museum

London's hidden tunnels will soon be a new attraction. The space once housed wartime operations. It will feature a military museum and a memorial. Developers claim it will have the world's deepest bar. The tunnels were built in 1940. They served as a shelter and later a communication hub. The attraction is set to open by 2028.   

An extended secret network of tunnels under Central London is set to open to the public as a significant new attraction combining military history, spy stories, and a record-setting underground bar. The 90,000 sq ft space located 100 feet beneath Holborn once housed Britain's wartime communications and intelligence operations. Now, it is being transformed into one of the city's most unique tourist sites.

Local authorities have approved the site, featuring the relocated British Military Intelligence Museum, an interactive World War II memorial, and what its developers claim will be the world's deepest bar. The tunnels were first constructed in 1940 to shelter Londoners during Nazi air raids. Designed to hold up to 8,000 people, they were completed in 1942, but by then, subway stations had already been repurposed as shelters. Instead, the tunnels became home to the Special Operations Executive, Britain's covert wartime sabotage unit.  

Naval officer Ian Fleming, who served as a liaison to the SOE, is believed to have drawn inspiration for his James Bond novels from his time in the underground complex. "This truly is the Q Branch of James Bond," said Angus Murray, CEO of the London Tunnels, developing the site.

After the war, the tunnels expanded into a secure communication hub. In the 1950s, they served as a terminus for the first transatlantic telephone cable and later carried Cold War hotline messages between Washington and Moscow. At its peak, around 200 people worked underground, complete with a canteen and bar. A government bunker for nuclear emergencies was also installed. By the 1980s, British Telecom had left the site, and the tunnels had fallen out of use. They remained untouched until a private equity group acquired them in 2023.

Museum, memorial, and bar. The restored site will host:

• A memorial for 40,000 civilians killed in WWII bombings
• A relocated and expanded British Military Intelligence Museum
• Cultural exhibitions
• And an underground nightspot billed as the world's deepest bar.

The museum will showcase over 300 years of British military intelligence, featuring rare artefacts from the SOE. "A heavy theme… is how do you tell the truth from lies?" said the museum board chair, Alistair.

Today, the entrance is a plain door in an alley. Still, once inside, visitors walk through dim corridors lined with wartime machinery, a retro bar, and remnants left behind by urban explorers, including a bear costume. The developers aim to open the attraction by 2028 and estimate up to 4.2 million visitors annually. "If you go home and say, 'I went to this cool tunnel today', we are halfway there," said Murray. "If what's inside is even better, you will go. "That's fantastic."

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