EXCLUSIVE Inside the secret tunnels under London where 'Ian Fleming dreamed up James Bond in WWII'

Daily Mail​

21-06-2025

In central London, just off the bustle of High Holborn, there is a nondescript blue door.
Commuters who walk past it on their way to Chancery Lane station will note the bright red and yellow signs adorned to it.
The warning that 'trespassers will be prosecuted' is perhaps the giveaway that this is not your typical storeroom or building entrance.
Instead, as MailOnline's exclusive pictures and video reveal, it is the gateway to a network of tunnels with a fascinating history.
James Bond author Ian Fleming is believed to have worked in the sprawling complex in his role in naval intelligence during the Second World War.
This labyrinth is thought to have inspired Fleming in his creation of the lair of gadget chief Q for his novels.
After the war, the network - which lies around 100feet below the ground - was expanded to house a telephone exchange that routed calls between the Kremlin and the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
The complex was later sold to British Telecom (BT) and had a licensed bar installed for workers to relax in.
Around 30 years after the site was mothballed, MailOnline was given a tour by current owners The London Tunnels Company, who are in the process of raising around £150million to re-develop the site as a tourist attraction.
The development will include the re-opening of the bar, as well as a memorial to the victims of the Blitz and various displays paying homage to Fleming and the world's most famous fictional spy.
James Loxton, director of investor relations at the London Tunnels, told MailOnline: 'We are going to create an attraction that is three things in one.
'Firstly, it is a huge immersive experience. Secondly, it will be a selection of permanent and temporary exhibition spaces.
'And thirdly, it will have the world's deepest bar under a capital city.'
Planning permission for the project has been granted by Camden Council.
The complex - officially known as the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels - was built between 1940 and 1942 and initially intended to be a deep level shelter for Londoners seeking refuge from Nazi bombs.
But by the time the network was completed, the threat from bombing raids had largely subsided as Hitler gave up his ambition of forcing Britain to surrender.
The initial footprint was two 1,250ft-long tunnels that were just over 18feet in diameter.
Had they been used as a shelter, the Kingsway tunnels could have housed around 8,000 people.
Instead, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) - created on the orders of Winston Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze' - moved personnel in.
Fleming - who closely collaborated with the SOE and other clandestine units - was among the staff who worked down there, according to Mr Loxton.
He said: 'He was working in these tunnels from 1944 to 1945 and this is where he came up with the idea of James Bond.
'So you know you see Q in all the Bond movies? He's always working in an underground lair? Well, this is where he got the inspiration.'
Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953.
The author is known to drawn significantly on his wartime experiences when writing his books, which were first adapted for the big screen in 1962 film Dr No.
After the war, the Kingsway tunnels were used until 1949 by the Public Records Office to store documents on around 15 miles worth of shelving.
The complex was then handed over to what was then the state-owned General Post Office, which turned it into a telecommunications hub.
The expansion was carried out from 1952 and completed in 1954.
Four additional tunnels were built in a north-south direction. Much bigger than the originals, they are around 280 feet long and 24 feet wide.
The update means there is space makes to accommodate what is hoped will be nearly 50,000 visitors a week in the complex's new guise as a tourist attraction.
As well as the bar area, which is still fitted with tables and chairs from when it was last operational, there is an infirmary and a well that could have provided fresh water had it been needed in the event of a nuclear attack.
And occupants were protected by thick metal blast doors, including one that was - according to the stamp on it - repurposed from the Royal Mint.
The first transatlantic telephone cable, known as TAT-1, ran between Oban in Argyll and Bute and Clarenville in Newfoundland.
The sale to BT went through in 1981. As well as the bar, a canteen, kitchen and games room were installed for workers.
The site had largely been mothballed by the early 1990s but was used as part of the Government's top secret Pindar bunker facility until the middle of the decade.
In the years since they have been out of use, the tunnels have been broken into by urban explorers, a fact evidenced by graffiti that has been sprayed on walls.
BT put the tunnels up for sale in 2007 and they were finally bought by the hedge fund-backed London Tunnels Company for around £10million in 2023.
The re-development plans were approved by Camden Council last year.