Another in my periodic series on how to visit little known places.

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Whilst well known in subterranean and military lore – there are few members of the general public who are aware that in addition to the infamous Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall, there was in fact a second reserve bunker for the War Cabinet in London.

Built to come into action if the main Whitehall bunker was hit by bombs, the reserve bunker was only once used for a Cabinet level meeting – and was largely forgotten after the war.

Built about 40 ft underground on the site of a former Post Office research facility – the bunker is in North London, a short walk from Neasden tube station.

I am not going to give you a detailed history of the place, as it is very well recounted elsewhere, and a good summary exists over at my friends at Subterranea Britannica.

However, what I am going to tell you about is how to visit the place.

The bunker is generally closed to the public as it is very, very damp and quite mucky – but as a condition of the land ownership being transferred to the housing trust above ground, they have an obligation to open the bunker on two days per year.

The main date is in September when they open on London Open House Weekend, but I personally would avoid that visit if possible as it is usually busy and also there are a lot of other places to visit that weekend as it is.

The other date – and in my mind a better one, is a Thursday in Springtime and on that date, members of SubBrit are there to take people round the place.

The next date for 2009 is Thursday 7th May and if you want to book places send an email to Katy Bajina who can then sort out a time slot for you. Specify how many tickets you want and any preference for am/pm. Visits are free of charge.

As mentioned above, it is very wet and dirty so if going, you should wear the sort of clothing you would wear if going out for a walk in the countryside.

I particuarly like this bunker as it is unrestored, and indeed in quite a poor state, but that only adds to the experience of a visit. Being in Neasden, it is also coincidentally only a short trip on the Jubilee Line to Westminster to its more famous brother for a comparesson visit.

Untitled photos from a previous visit on my old gallery.

More information from the Stadium Housing Association.

A lobby group has been pushing for a pedestrian bridge to be built linking Canary Wharf with Rotherhithe – a route currently serviced by either a ferry service or (via a short walk) the Jubilee Line. It is being reported, with the expected screams of anguish that the plan will not be getting any funding from Transport for London – and is hence highly unlikely to go ahead.

Now, I happen to think a pedestrian link between the two points would be very good, so while disappointed that a link is not going ahead, I am bouncing with delight that the proposed bridge has been scraped.

Something slender such as the wobbly millennium bridge at Bankside would add greatly to the area, but the proposed monstrosity would have ruined it. The bridge has to be over-sized for its usage due to the need to allow boats to pass upstream to Tower Bridge and hence it would dominate the area, and not in a good way.

Personally, I think a sunken tunnel would have been a much better idea. By dredging out a channel and then dropping in pre-cast concrete tunnel units, a large pedestrian/cyclist tunnel could have been swiftly built. I also note that there are two former dock inlets on both sides of the river which would provide ideal landing points and the necessary length for the tunnel to slope down to the sub-aqueous sections. Once the sloping tunnels entrances are built, the docks can be reinstated above them again to hide the tunnel.

I’d expect the cost to be similar to the bridge (if not cheaper) and it would not result in the gigantic spiral eyesore ruining the area.

The Times newspaper is reporting that some 36,000 Gurkha soldiers and their families will be allowed to settle in the UK – after the government lost a legal fight over settlement rights.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic decision as people who are willing to serve in the British army have earned the right to settle in the UK. It’s not just a financial issue as the right of settlement is part of the “benefits package” for the soldiers, but also a moral issue.

If people are willing to die for British politics (and wars are always political), then they damn well should be allowed to live here as well.

This reminded me of the ongoing, and in my opinion, disgraceful treatment of Iraqi’s who helped the British army by serving as translators in that troubled country and now face a very real threat to their lives from insurgents as the British army withdraws from the country. I’ve written about the benefits to the UK of allowing them to settle here in the past.

Lets hope that there is a way found to challenge that decision in the courts and accord the Iraqi’s the same treatment as their Nepalese counter-parts.

For your enjoyment, some nice photos taken by Time Magazine of the London underground night time workers – and the work they do.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870615,00.html

The Londonist and Annie Mole went down one evening and wrote about the night-time activities, which adds a level of detail to what the photos above are showing.

Is it me, or does Photo 3 in the Time article look a bit photoshopped?

Been a busy few days – went to talks this evening and yesterday evening. Considering that I normally work in the evenings, these nights out result in coming home and having to put in an extra hour or two before crashing.

Last night was a long planned wander over to the Post Office Archive for a talk about the infamous Post Office underground railway – more affectionately known as the Mail Rail. There was a showing of a 10 minute video made in 1987 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the railway – and then a talk about the Archive’s curator.

To be honest, he didn’t really say a lot I didn’t already know – but it was good to have a refresher course to remind me of what I knew.

However – he mentioned a report compiled in 1911 to promote the railway and it went into a lot of detail about the earlier pneumatic based post office railway. I didn’t know about that document and shall have to wander back to the Archive centre to have a read as it could be quite helpful for my own researches.

This evening though – I wandered along to the LSE in Holborn for an "in conversation" type talk with Cherie Blair, wife of our former Prime Minister. Cherie Blair is undeniably one of those people who elicit very strong reactions in most people. I certainly veer towards the "heads in hands in despair" opinion about her time when in 10 Downing St., but I have a lot of respect for her work as a lawyer and human rights campaigner.

Incidentally, I go to so many events where I am often one of the youngest people in the room, but this evening I was in a room where probably two-thirds of the people were younger than myself. Makes a change!

The first two thirds of the evening was basically Howard Davies of the LSE in chat with Cherie Blair and talking mainly about her life and anecdotes about being the wife of a national leader. In all, very amusing stuff and worth listening to – along with the odd bit of politics thrown in.

Who the heck voted Tony Blair as gay hunk of the week – although he was apparently quite flattered by the decision!

The final bit was questions from the audience, and we got a bit more human rights discussed, which was a very interesting to hear her views on. There was a book signing event afterwards, but to be honest, I doubt I would read the book if I had brought a copy, the reviews put me off a bit. I also prefer my political books to be by the politicians themselves.

Cherie Blair is one of those people who can command huge prices for public speaking – so it was a rare treat to be able to hear her opinions for free.

Despite some very tempting options, I’m going to try and avoid the lecture circuit tomorrow – I need a night off