I arrived at Clapham South not knowing what to expect, I exited the station had a little walk into the park and back around meeting everyone to start the tour.

We slowly descended down the spiral staircase and made our way to the bottom. There was a gentleman there who was re-enacting as an original staff member during the time of the shelter. He gave us all a replica ticket, this would help us find our beds later.

We had our introduction and walked to a room which shows some of the bombs that fell on London. I never knew about a bomb called a butterfly bomb. That was certainly interesting to see.

Upon exiting this room, I noticed one of the top brass Chris Nix (curator for the London Transport Museum) had joined us. I said hello and we had a little bit of a chat as we went round the complex.

We walked back out and into another very large tunnel room. These rooms go on forever! We were told there are two miles of tunnels so you will certainly get your steps in at this location you have to do. They showed some pictures of the raised level of Clapham Common but when I enquired after, (was that the spoil from creating the tunnels) The lady said yes it was. So it seems Clapham Common once had raised level area’s after many digs to create the tunnels and then over time they had that taken away.

We walked all the way down and round into another tunnel, told to look at our tickets and then find our beds we were staying in. I noticed that I was standing right in front of my bed for the night. (Least I wasn’t really staying for the night! It’s spooky down there.) And there are multiple tunnels with different names with thousands of beds.

After the war the tunnels became a cheap hotel to help the homeless and later the Windrush generation. After more knowledge consumed we carried on, found a lost teddy bear, the mess hall, James Bond’s secret layer and finally out. But then I had to get back up those stars. That really is a tough climb! As quick as I have written this, this wasn’t a quick visit either. It was a good 90 minutes walking, wondering and I really enjoyed it. These hidden London tours just seem to get better and better. This is a must for any WW2 fan, historian and schools really need to book in to visit as this will be an exceptional learning aid for young children to know what it was like during the war years.