And emails, mainly from people saying: ‘Money is no object, how much would it cost to rent the place for a year, or five years?’ The same thing happened after 9/11…” In 2001, he had over 200 people make enquiries, though he also got death threats from people who thought he was cashing in on the tragedy. Lately, as the war in Ukraine has made the threat of nuclear attack more pronounced than at any time since the Cold War, he has been taking a lot of phone calls. Radio equipment, air conditioning, its own water supply and phone network – it has the lot and, despite being decommissioned in 1992, remains as serviceable as ever, thanks to Parrish’s caretaking. The prime minister would have been whisked to Kelvedon Hatch or to another major government bunker in Corsham, Wiltshire, before calling the shots from below ground for as long as it took. “This is the London bunker,” Parrish says, meaning it was designed for the Government to keep running if the capital was under threat.
It has three floors and can accommodate 600 people. It was built by the Government beneath a fairly nondescript-looking bungalow in the Essex countryside in 1952, after they requisitioned the land from Parrish’s farmer grandfather, who played his part by hiding all evidence of it from spies flying overhead. “Untouched and unspoilt,” Kelvdeon Hatch is one of the largest subterranean shelters in the country. It may be secret but, every year, 60,000 visitors manage to find it. Sometimes he will post on Facebook, but generally the place sells itself. Every day at 10am, Mike Parrish unlocks a few gates, keeps near the phone and waits to see who’d like to visit his Cold War relic.
As befitting of a secret underground nuclear bunker, Kelvedon Hatch has a fairly inconspicuous opening.
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