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pip pip talo jws from Jews guides here
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except today I'm in chsv lane and I've
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teamed up with City am and we're going
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to go and take a look 40 M below street
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level I bet you didn't know there are
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hundreds of meters of tunnels not the
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tube I'm talking about it's London's
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most exciting new development and it's
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going to be a real tourist attraction
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and we're getting an exclusive peek at
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it cuz it hasn't really been touched for
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the last 70 80 years it's just a really
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remarkable space so let's go and have a
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they're called the Kingsway exchange
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tunnels and what I love is look at the
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look at the colors on I expect this has
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probably not been redone since like the
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40s or something well at least it it
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really evokes that era doesn't it they
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were built as bomb shelters during the
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second world war as you probably know
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they have other ones at bsize Park and
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they've got them at claen North and
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South it feels a bit like being in
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Scooby-Doo give this thing I'm like
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Scooby-Doo yeah Yik scoop we're going
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depths whil my Alter Ego gets lost in
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the tunnels I'll give you some more
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history first off he's right these
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tunnels were originally built as a bomb
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shelter but by the time they were ready
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the blitz had already ended so they
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weren't really used by the public so
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this is Chance through Lane tube through
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there and originally the intention was
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to have people come down into the bomb
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shelter via the tube station back in
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those days it was much better if you
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could stay down in one of these bomb
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shelters than sleeping on tube platforms
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loads of people slept on the tube
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platforms but you didn't really get
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given blankets or you know there were no
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public toilets up there whereas a bomb
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shelter like this would be much more
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luxurious and there would probably be
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fights and stuff would break out if you
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trying to get into these places but
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that's what happened at the other bomb
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shelters like clap and South but this
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one was never used for that by the
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public then in 1944 it became known as
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as the London civil defense Regional and
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Ministry of Works to disguise the fact
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that it was really the Special
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Operations executive a top secret
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offshoot of MI6 Ian flaming would have
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been in these tunnels in early 1944
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leading up to dday and so along with the
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Special Operations executive Ian Fleming
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was in these tunnels associated with uh
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Special Operation executive or the
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Special Operation executive and that
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inspired him to create CU from James
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Bond so this TR is the location of cubr
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Bond during the Cold War it was down
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here that the first Transatlantic cable
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was constructed which kind of operated
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as a hotline between Moscow and
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Washington and it was used during the
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Cuban Missile Crisis so these
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historical it's really atmospheric you
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can hear the trains going by but
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actually I'm a little bit scared we've
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been detached from the group and you
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don't want to get lost noway so let's go
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back so it's a very l space for up to 3
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million people a year of London is a
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fantastic City for tourism and I think
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and and hope this adds to something that
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people come and see if I was in London I
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want to come and see the history of
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London this is definitely part of that
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history the London tunnels will have
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three eras of focus history and Heritage
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culture and the Arts and bringing alive
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what will be the deepest licensed bar in
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a metropolitan City can I have a Don
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Peron 65 please have that we got be I
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myself this is where the main entrance
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is going to come down and what's
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interesting is that this is one of the
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reasons that they're able to redevelop
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these whole tunnels down here unlike the
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ones that they've got in clam and belliz
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park and to for row is because they've
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got more entrances to the tunnels than
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they have in those other places I think
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these details here are just Fantastic
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look at that thing those lights those
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would light up I don't know what they
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did I quite like the floor in here as
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well actually look at that it's quite
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nice is it parket I can't tell not bad
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that cost a lot of money you know
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these I mean h be I shatter to think how
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much it will cost to redevelop all this
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well yeah about 82 million should be
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enough to get you started on your basic
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refurb and then to get it ready for your
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public you're looking at oh well you got
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Cups of Tea five sugars skip higher
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parking V8 plus the number your first
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thought of but seriously if all goes to
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plan work should start later this year
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and finish by 2027 and yes Jules the
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full cost could be in the region of a
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mere 120 million smackaroonies
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well this is a parallel tunnel to the
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other one in which all those people are
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in and I'm telling you I'm quite glad
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that they actually gave us these lights
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that God's will I pray thee wish not one
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man more or rather Proclaim it West
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through my hope it's amazing to think
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cuz you know if you come down here it's
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just a lovely record to have of this
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these tunnels before it finally gets
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transformed you know it will never be
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like this again after a couple of years
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I'm quite pleased that they're actually
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doing something with this space part of
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me is slightly sad that it won't be as
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it was but it seems such a vast space to
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wasted that was most excellent I really
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enjoyed that um really exciting to see
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these endless tunnels where no one's
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been really for the last 50 years or so
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anyway if you enjoyed the video don't
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forget to hit the Subscribe button City
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am have lots of other videos about
6:29
history and stuff on their Channel and
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if you like what I do you can head over
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to jwes guides don't forget to subscribe
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then I've even got a new book coming out
6:37
in March which is called Jewels gues
6:39
rather Splendid London pub walks um very
6:41
highly recommended so uh see you next
