Under Oxford Street

What a star! :thumbsup: ... nice one barnslou.

... yes, hopefully somewhere somebody knows a little more about this... I'm sure we'll get the answer any day now! :smug:

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wow! this is so amazing i use to work in selfridges wish i knew, i been in the basement of selfridges its very creepy! Its like in Edinburgh the underground streets there ive done all the tours i love it!!!

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I got a book recently which talks bout a whole network of tunnels underneath London's streets, not meaning sewers, either. However it seems to be a closely guarded secret, hence why you can't find much information about it. I'll find the story if anyone is interested... could even contact the author and find out if he has more information.

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Yeha this is so intruiging, i use to live next to an old tube station york road station use to be on the picadilly line! i want to know more!!

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I will try to pop some stills up as soon as possible just so we can see what we are all talking about and looking at.

Maybe a route to take to find out about this is via Robert Elms from Radio London, given that he has a London Historian on his show most days.

I've also wondered many times when down in the tube stations is where all those heavily bolted and obviously not been opened for many years.

Oh i'm pleased this thread has restarted.

x

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this is pretty much my knew favourite thread - i have been trying to track down old journal articles and newspapers from the early 1980s and then for the newspapers and trade routes around london - i suggest mayb people search for old postal routes and goods and services routes around town from the early 1900s or even earlier if possible - should have the best chance.

anyone else new here know anyone from selfridges??????

this is like the coolest modern day treasure hunt ever

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This is a quote from TimeOut magazine talking of the basement of Selfridges

There are two levels of basement beneath the lower-ground shop floor: the ‘sub’ and the ‘sub-sub’, descending 60 metres below street level. These are split into two more areas: the dry sub and sub-sub, and their ‘wet’ equivalents. The wet area, more dank than watery, is beneath the original building, while the dry is under the rear building, known as the SWOD (after the four streets – Somerset, Wigmore, Orchard and Duke – that once enclosed it).

During WWII, the SWOD’s basement was used by 50 soldiers from the US Army Signal Corps; there were even visits from Eisenhower and Churchill. The building had one of the only secure telex lines, was safe from bombing, and was close to the US Embassy on Grosvenor Square. According to Jarvis, a tunnel was built from Selfridges to the embassy so that personnel could move between the two in safety. Interrogation cells for prisoners were hewn from the uneven space available.

But this is not the answer we all want, i will dig more.

x

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Dig dig dig!

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Going a little off track but still interesting though, i have just been sent these two small documents from an old pal in Sweden.

I quote, ( well ok, copy/paste

I've got a book from the 80s called London Under London which covers all sorts of tunnels, sewage "streets", bunkers, railways etc

However, I have been down to the third level basement under Harrods. And there there is a huge turbine room containing the diesel turbines that provide electricity for the whole shop. These machines are really old, loads of copper and brass, and a wonder to behold. On the level above (2nd basement level) is a "road" that goes under Brompton Road, then
under the shops opposite Harrods and connects up with their warehouse in Trevor Square. This underground road is trafficked by Harrods only little trains, basically electric locos pulling trains of wagons containing all sorts of goods. The first level basement is partly "shop" partly staff area and immediate storage.
Harrods also takes water from its own artesian well.

I can reveal something else about hidden London and one of those bits of little known London history, about a very interesting place I got access to when I was a police officer.

And it is the secret strong room under the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road that held Rudolph Hess prisoner on his first night in London after he'd been transported down from Lord Hamilton's estate in Scotland where he crash landed. He was then removed to the Tower.

I got to see this special room in the early 90s, when the security office at the NH museum was a tea hole of mine and the head of security there showed me round the "back stage" areas one afternoon.

Apparently this strong room was more than once used as a secret prison to protect the kind of prisoners that were likely to be lynched if the public or other prisoners got hold of them.

Which is why Hess was there and why he went to an ancient cell in the Tower.

x

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Interesting... I found the plaque that marks the very centre of London this week lol that's not so interesting, but I bet loads of Londoners don't know where it is

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