Once outside the Bunker, a member of staff will let you in just before the hour. It can be reached on the 412 bus, getting off at West Bank bus stop, while York also operates various Park and Ride services into the centre. It is a 10-minute drive from the centre following the A59, however there is limited parking (3 bays). York Cold War Bunker is situated approximately 1 mile outside the city centre in the small village of Holgate. Entering through the blast-door, a guided tour runs every hour and walks guests through the building’s operations room, canteen, dormitories, decontamination room and communications centre.Ī large illuminated perspex map of Yorkshire sits in the operations room, with landline and radio communication equipment and specialist 1980s computers also on display.Ī short film follows with testimonies from ROC volunteers themselves. The Bunker todayĮnglish Heritage now manages York Cold War Bunker, and it is today the only one like it preserved in its operational state.
In 1991, the bunker was was finally abandoned following the signing of START I by the USA and USSR, that limited their use of nuclear weapons. These features were intended to protect the ROC staff from the ravaged outside world. Thankfully that day never arrived, however the presence of a decontamination room fit with air-filters and sewage ejectors reminds us that the it was a very real possibility, particularly in 1962 as the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded. There they sat in wait, ready at any moment to begin collating details of nuclear fallout from bombs dropped on the area, dreading the terrible job of alerting the public to the dangers. During operation in the Cold War, it was home to 60 volunteer members of the ROC, including a 10-man scientific warning team. Cold War Bunker historyīuilt in 1961, the bunker served as the regional headquarters for the Royal Observer Corps until 1991. Designed to monitor nuclear fallout in the event of an attack in Yorkshire, the semi-submerged bunker affords visitors the chance to explore some of York’s more unusual history. A mile outside of the city centre, York Cold War Bunker tells the story of a country on the brink of nuclear warfare.