Each year, London holds an Open House event. Seven hundred buildings around London are open to the public over one weekend in September and we're allowed a sneak peak behind usually locked doors.

This year, Andrew and I elected to visit The Paddock, Churchill's top-secret 1940s bunker in North West London. After our visit to The Pension, I was inspired to take a look at another top-secret bunker. As our tour of The Pension was in Latvian, I was looking forward to maybe finally being able to piece together some of the puzzle that was The Pension.


However, there are some major differences between The Paddock and The Pension.

Firstly, the Paddock is a World War II bunker. It was designed to survive a direct hit in a bombing raid. (Our guide mentioned that the bunker would not be a safe haven against today's bunker busting bombs.) Because a WWII raid only lasted for a few hours the bunker also doesn't have any sleeping or kitchen facilities like a nuclear bunker. It didn't even have a toilet! (I guess you just had to cross your legs and hold on.)


Secondly, the Paddock is in a derelict state. At the end of 1944, the Paddock was no longer required. After the war, the bunker was used by the Post Office Research facility in the building above as a meeting place for a social club, and in 1976 it was abandoned. When it was reopened in 1997, the lower floor was flooded and in some rooms, dry rot fungus was growing two-feet deep from the walls and ceilings. Although, no longer a flooded dry rot jungle, the bunker is still in a dilapidated state. Today, a visit to the Paddock requires a hard hat, a pair of wellies and a very good imagination.

The Paddock was designed to be a back up bunker if the cabinet rooms at Whitehall were destroyed. In truth, only two cabinet meetings were held at the bunker, only one of those was attended by Churchill. The first meeting was held to test the bunker's facilities and the second to impress the Prime Minister of some backwater country (Sir Robert Menzies). Churchill pleaded a cold for the second meeting and did not attend. The theory is he was chucking a sickie, as he was not a fan of the The Paddock.


Can't say I'm a fan either. It was interesting from an urban decay perspective but I would have loved to see the bunker in a working condition.

More photos on Flickr