Brixton Hill Bunker

[Nick Catford22]

Speaking as someone who lived right next to Pear Tree House, are you that Nick Catford? If so I'd like to extend my thanks for your work - I believe I've been hoovering up your facts and photos for at least a decade.

Yes I am that Nick Catford. Here's Pear Tree House in 1982.

 

[pogofish]

I thought you were already here Nick? Old accounts can be recovered.

 

[spitfire]

Yeah, Lang mentions it as being under Windrush Square and Hatboy says:

I can help you. I know where you mean. There was a WW2 bunker on the corner of Brixton Hill where the one-way and Town Hall Parade meet.

It was squatted for awhile. There were a few parties, then it was bulldozed.

Others on this site never knew about this place because above ground was only a small hut with a door, the squat was short-lived or before some of their times here, or people on u75 just weren't a part of that sub-culture.

I went to a couple of parties at that bunker. I was always a bit squeeee at the fire escape options.

 

[not-bono-ever]

 

[not-bono-ever]

Reinforced Concrete bunker AR complex connected by tunnels herme hilly. Not in the urbex map but I will dig out more. but Totes private. Too seriously thick to easily be removed

 

[not-bono-ever]

 

[not-bono-ever]

There are about 7 separate rooms with tunnels connecting. More pics of inside when I get time

 

[Rushy]

Where is that?

 

[not-bono-ever]

It’s on private land

 

[teuchter]

fires up google earth

 

[not-bono-ever]

fires up google earth

Pls don’t post it up

 

[not-bono-ever]

Let’s see if I can get legit access and get more pix

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and don't go putting signs like this up

 

[Jimbeau]

Reinforced Concrete bunker AR complex connected by tunnels herme hilly. Not in the urbex map but I will dig out more. but Totes private. Too seriously thick to easily be removed

A pal of mine used to overlook that place. The original access arch was turned into a flat a couple of years ago, so it's now even tricker to get the kind of kit on site needed for demolition.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Yeps.

 

[Nick Catford22]

I have found a picturte of the Civil Defence training center in St Matthews Road. The entrance to the bunker was behind the building. Sadlt still no photos of the entrnce or inside the bunker.

 

[Casaubon]

I have found a picturte of the Civil Defence training center in St Matthews Road. The entrance to the bunker was behind the building. Sadlt still no photos of the entrnce or inside the bunker.

I should preface this post by saying that all this happened a long time ago, and my memory is quite possibly incomplete or inaccurate. I’m happy to be corrected.

That building may have served, or been grandiosely designated, as a ‘Civil Defence training center’ at some point, but it was really a ‘Community Centre’.

Not many survive now but until the 80s there were loads of these, owned and operated by councils everywhere.
They were typically a small hall with kitchen that could be hired for parties, wedding receptions, playgroups, jumble sales, scout groups etc.

I lived on Rushcroft Rd, and until ’85 or ’86 our residents’ association hired the St. Matthews community centre for our AGMs. For a local group like that the hire fee was something like 20 quid for the evening.

Around ’86 the council raised the cost of hire to £300. Nobody was willing or able to pay the new rates, and the place fell into disuse, giving the council the excuse to close it.

At some point in the mid or late 90s it was squatted. If I remember correctly the leading squatter was Irish Des (R.I.P.), a celebrated (or notorious) figure on the local squatting scene. He was assisted by others including Glynn and Phil who lived on Rushcroft and briefly ran an unlicenced club (the Penguin) in a squatted railway arch on Station Rd around this time, until grassed up by Dogstar Larry.

When they discovered the bunker they had the idea of turning it into some sort of shebeen, but it was quickly clear that it wouldn’t be practical or safe.

I went down there a couple of times. Entry was via a steel ladder down a shaft, there was no power or sanitation, and I think ventilation and fire safety would have been serious issues. There was a huge, ex-War Department diesel generator in a small back room that looked like it hadn’t run in decades. When it became obvious that there was no profitable use to be made of the bunker, Des’s attention turned to the possibility of dismantling the generator so that it could be removed and sold. I don’t know if he managed it.

I can’t remember if the squatters left or were evicted, but when they’d gone the council promptly demolished the building. I was told they’d sealed the bunker entrance with concrete.

 

[Nick Catford22]

Thanks very much for responding to this. Your information about the squatting is very useful and I will add it to the info I already have. The building definitely started life as a Civil Defence training centre but it may well have ended up as a community centre after civil defence was stood down in 1968. The picture I have posted shows two civil defence vehicles in the car park and probably dates from the 1950s. I Inow in the 70s and 80s it the building was available for hire. Entrance was originally down a steep flight of steps. The ladder was for emergency escape if the steps were blocked so I assume they were blocked when you were there. Here is the information I have about the bunker so far.

Nick

During the Cold War London was divided for defence purposes into four (later five) groups, each reporting directly to Kelvedon Hatch RGHQ. Each group was subdivided into the individual boroughs, each of them having its own control centre.

The South West Group War HQ at Churchill Road, Cheam had six sub-controls: Wandsworth (D1), Lambeth (D2), Merton (D3), Sutton (D4), Kingston (D5) and Richmond (D6). Also the Police District War HQ which was at Sutton Police Station.

The Lambeth control, designated 51D2, was located beneath the Civil Defence training centre in St Matthews Road at its junction with Brixton Hill, SW2, just south of Brixton station. The entrance was down a steep flight of steps on the east side of the building with an emergency escape shaft and ladder in the car park.

The bunker and training centre were built in the early 1950s. The building included a hall which was available for hire. During the miners' strike in the 1980s it was used by the Lambeth miners' support group and visiting miners from South Wales.

The bunker was decommissioned c.1992 following the end of the Cold War in 1991. During the 1990s it was used illegally for raves/parties for a number of years and at one time had squatters. A post on a Brixton forum in 2009 states “We squatted the bunker on Brixton Hill for about 6 months about ten years ago and did indeed do some squat parties. It was quite small (5–6 rooms) and only one steep staircase entrance. When it got too hot down there, we used to have to put on the ventilator fan which drowned out the music in all three dance rooms. Happy days.”

Another person commented, “I remember those parties, they were great, went a few times, but thought it was longer than ten years ago, was it the one opposite St Matthew's Church? The toilets were all smashed to bits, and that staircase was often so stuffed with people that no one could get up or down. It did get hot down there; I wasn't surprised when it got closed up, it must have been a real fire hazard waiting to happen.”

The training centre was demolished c.2004 and the site is now the Brixton Orchard (a community green space). It is assumed that the entrance stairway has been backfilled and the bunker remains intact below ground.

The urban designers working on the Brixton masterplan which was commissioned by the London Borough of Lambeth in 2007 stated: “open and refurbish underground bunker on Brixton Hill” is one of a number of “potential projects for investigation”.

No photographs have been found showing the inside of the bunker or its entrance.

 

[not-bono-ever]

btw editor , I am working on getting access. will update