Inside ‘haunted’ Cold War nuclear bunker that’s now open to the public

Hidden away in the countryside lies a secret underground bunker used during the Cold War.

Hack Green, in Cheshire, is a nuclear government bunker that was named as one of the top 100 haunted places in the UK last year.

And now, the secret facility in Nantwich has been transformed into a museum.

It has a collection of military memorabilia – including one of the largest collections of decommissioned nuclear weapons in the world.

The bunker even has its own cinema,reports our sister site 2Chill.

During the Cold War, Britain developed a defence strategy made up of secret plans that would come into play in the event of a nuclear war.

Part of these plans involved building specialised bunkers, like Hack Green.

Civil servants had "golden tickets”, which gave them access to the underground constructions, but in return, they were tasked with commanding the region if a national emergency was declared.

Those who survived the nuclear attacks would be left responsible for rebuilding Merseyside.

The cavernous underground complex offers visitors guided tours, showing them around and sharing the stories of those who used to work there.

It was abandoned after the war, before being purchased by the Home Office Emergency Planning Division in 1976 to be converted into a protected seat of government.

The radar bunker was cloaked in secrecy over the five year period when it was transformed into a vast underground command centre.

Lucy Siebert, who runs a museum at the bunker said: “The country was divided into 12 regions and Merseyside falls within our region, so we would have made sure that as many people as possible survived in this section and we would have looked after you.

“There are no public shelters and there were never any public shelters, it wasn’t like the Blitz. Your shelter was getting under a table at home. If you survived that your continued survival was down to us.

“We are a command level of defence – we would know where the clouds of fallout were going to be, where to send help, the movement of bodies or distribution of medicine and food," she explained.

More recently the facility has renovated its cinema, which is now showing BBC's The War Game – a film produced to educate the public what would happen in Britain if a nuclear war was declared.

Children can enjoy navigating through the rooms in a game to find the "Cold War Spy Mice," the aim being to spot as many mice as possible before returning their findings to the desk for a prize.

Meanwhile, grown ups can explore the more disturbing spaces of the bunker such as the medical room where a mannequin with burns and radiation poisoning is on display.

While the bunker remains working and operational, it would not resume its Cold War role in the unlikely event of modern day nuclear attack.

Hack Green is open seven days a week, 10am to 4pm.

Tickets cost £10 for adults and £7 for children an concessions.

The venue is also dog friendly and you can hire it our for events too.

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