'Secret' wartime bunker at Dollis Hill, North London: opened for London Open House. Its code name was 'Paddock' and it was one of several underground 'Cabinet War Rooms'.
This was quite literally 'fun with a 43rds camera' - and the Panasonic 7-14 on my GH-2 was quite indispensable in this case. Very pleased at the results, mainly shot at iso3200.
This is the 'operations' room, about 200 feet below ground level and protected by blast and gas proof doors. Fluorescents are a post-war addition!
This is the old PABX frame, WWII vintage - some visitors assume it was Churchill's wine rack!
Here you can get a sense for how big this underground installation was. Churchill apparently hated the place and tried to use it as little as possible.
This gives a good impression of the stalactites and stalagnites that are growing within the bunker. Incidentally, the bunker was owned by the UK post office for many years after the war and the upper levels were used as a social club!
It is now abandoned and owned by a housebuilding company. The terms of owning the land is that they are supposed to open it to the public twice a year. This is the exit which is in fact an air-lock designed to create a higher pressure inside the bunker than outside, to repel gas attacks.
My favourite picture and a reminder of the original use of the installation. These are the telephone cable termination panels. The second from the right on the bottom has a red label with the letters 'CWR' or 'Cabinet War Room' which would have carried the telephone line into the meeting room for the government when they were in situ.
Although this installation is opened rarely, and is also difficult to get into (we entered a lottery for tickets), if you are ever in London you can visit the main Cabinet War Room in Whitehall behind Downing Street. Imho, one of the best attractions in London.