Subterranean London
“The history of the tunnels, their scale and the location between London’s Holborn and the historic Square Mile, could make these tunnels one of London’s most popular tourist destinations,” Murray said in a statement.
The plan is to invest £140 million ($170.5 million) in the restoration work and then another £80 million ($97 million) into all the immersive bells and whistles.
With architects Wilkinson-Eyre on board, they certainly have a stellar team assembled for this very ambitious of projects – which far outscales anything else on offer in the city. London’s best developed permanent underground tourist attraction currently is the Churchill War Rooms – located just 12 feet below ground level and a fraction of the 8,000-square-meter space occupied by the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels.
London Underground also periodically puts Hidden London tours exploring the city’s abandoned tube stations and tunnels. The tours are always hugely popular and over-subscribed, with tickets snapped up as soon as they’re available.
They’re still your best chance of subterranean adventure for a few years yet, however, as the London Tunnels project – if it goes ahead – won’t be welcoming its first awestruck visitors until 2027. It sounds like it could well be worth the wait.
