Stockport Air Raid Shelters is this year celebrating 30 years since opening their doors to the public. 

First built on the cusp of the Second World War, the shelters have served the people of both Stockport and Greater Manchester since 1939 – a full year before the first bombs landed on the town the following October. 

Spanning over a mile underground, five networks of tunnels run between Chestergate, Wellington Road North, Brinksway, Heaton Norris, and Portwood, with a maximum capacity of over 6,500 people. 

They still feature original furniture and fixtures, including a sick bay, flushing toilets, and electric lighting in the days before they became widely available in domestic homes.

All of it has been refurbished thanks to original building documents and photographs, which are now displayed throughout the tunnels. 

Following the end of the Second World War, the shelter was largely sealed off – until thirty years ago when, according to tour guide Roger, a post on the noticeboard snowballed into it being fully restored and reopened to the public. 

 "When we opened as a full visitor attraction, that was 1996," he says, speaking to Nub News. He gestures to the shop front. "That's when this was built, just here. But we've actually shown people around since 1988 - just as and when was required. 

"Our then-curator, Frank Galvin, who was responsible for a few of the museums in Stockport, found out people had been coming down into the Air Raid Shelters with people who worked for the council who were key holders, like local history groups.

advertisement

"So, Frank thought, I wonder if people would like to have a proper tour? So one lunchtime, we put a series of posters up on the staff notice boards in the Town Hall - he thought if we got about a dozen people it were worth doing. 

"That first afternoon, he said, he had over 50 enquiries." 

The entrance to Stockport Air Raid Shelters (Image - Nub News)

Roger has worked in the shelters for over a decade, guiding children and adults alike from as far away as Bury through the labyrinth below the town centre. Slipping easily between himself, an air raid warden, and the occasional Eric Morecambe, the shelter tours are as much stand-up as they are 'get down'. 

With the shelters now nearly approaching ninety years old, they remain some of the oldest intact shelters in the country, and has joined the Hat Museum as one of Stockport's defining cultural institutions. 

In the decades since reopening to the public, the Air Raid Shelters have become a key part of primary school history classes, educating children from as far away as Dukinfield and Bury on the war effort. 

The experience includes a full tour of the underground alongside a visit to the museum, where children are given the chance to take part in popular activities for evacuee children their age. 

"There are so many fun parts," Roger says. "In fact, before my time, the kids used to bring vegetables in. We would get a big pot and they would actually - in the museum - make a great big pot of soup. It was a bit of a health and safety issue because some of the kids would occasionally grate their fingers. 

advertisement

"This was 25-plus years ago - you can see how it's changed." 

The Air Raid Shelters are open from Tuesday to Sunday every week. In depth explorer tours are available once a month, with both heritage and arts events held across the year. 

~

Free from clickbait, Stockport Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

To get our top stories in your inbox each week, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Please consider following Stockport Nub News on Facebook or X