Looking for a property with history, good transport connections, outdoor space — and, crucially, somewhere that will keep you safe from nuclear attack? Look no further.
A nuclear bunker near Dent railway station in the Cumbria countryside is up for auction with a guide price of £15,000.
The bunker, which at first glance “just looks like a bit of concrete sticking out of the ground,” as Jim Demitriou, valuer at SDL Property Auctions puts it, is buried underground. It is entered via a metal ladder that extends down from a hatch at ground level.
The bunker was built in the 1950s for the Royal Observer Corps (ROC), a group of appointed civilians who manned the 1563 similar bunkers installed across the country during the Cold War, between 1947 and 1991.
They were designed so that, in the event of a nuclear attack, they could be used by ROC volunteers to report on the location and power of the attack, and to monitor the radioactive fallout.
Like others, this post was designed to accommodate three observers, with food and water for fourteen days. It was also furnished with a landline and radio communications, with the landline still connected today.
Thankfully, however, a nuclear attack never came. The ROC stood down at the end of the Cold War in 1991, and many posts were decommissioned and sold off in 1993.
This bunker in Dent was purchased by its current owner in 2008, according to the Land Registry. He tidied, redecorated and refurbished the bunker itself, adding a wooden shed, driveway and gate outside.
“He bought it by chance. More than anything else, he was intrigued,” says Demitriou. “He used it as a retreat – somewhere to get away. You can park on the land that’s there, and it’s not far from Dent train station. There’s a nice little village nearby, and there is beautiful countryside around there.”
Demitriou, who successfully sold another nuclear bunker in Louth, Lincolnshire, in December 2022, was enlisted by the seller for his expertise (“I’ve been called ‘Jim the bunker man’ a few times,” he says).
The Louth bunker had been owned by a veteran who wanted an off-grid retreat, and was purchased for £31,000 by a buyer who also intended to use it as a countryside getaway.
Demitriou believes that the bunker in Dent could appeal to someone similar.
He says he has had “a myriad of different enquiries” for the property, with interested buyers considering creating a unique Airbnb experience or a music studio. 75 per cent of other decommissioned bunkers were bought by telecom companies for their optimum position for signal, says Demitriou, so there is also the potential to generate income from the bunker.
“There were a whole raft of [bunkers] that didn’t get bought up by telecom companies that people bought as a bit of post-war history, or something a little bit different. You get people sometimes that just want to buy a piece of Great Britain,” says Demitriou. “If you’ve got a mobile home or you want to camp out, you could have a plot of land to go to. It’s a bit of fun and there’s somewhere to sleep underground, which is a bit unusual.
“You can never tell who’s going to buy, but it’s either going to be somebody looking to do something entrepreneurial, or somebody that just wants to while away the time and be at peace.”
For the bunker’s current owner, it is time to move on. “As is sometimes the case with these types of properties, [the seller] has been a custodian of a piece of history; taken it and made it into what he thinks it should be. He almost feels obliged to let someone else have some enjoyment out of it.”
The property will be auctioned by SDL Property Auctions online on 25 July from 9am. Interested buyers must register to bid by 5pm the day before and can bid online, on the phone or by proxy. The guide price is £15,000 to £20,000. “It’s always hard to put a specific value to it,” says Demitriou. “It will reflect what it’s worth to the people who are bidding.”
“Cumbria is a beautiful part of the world, and I think people would dream to have something there. It does make a very affordable opportunity for somebody,” he adds.
“What makes this one favourable compared some of the other bunkers you can find, or that have been for sale in the past, is that it’s right next to the road, there’s a train station within walking distance and there’s vehicle access. It does tick a lot of boxes. It’s a pretty special one.”
