- Western Approaches HQ Museum - The Battle of the Atlantic Experience - Western Approaches HQ is a secret WW2 bunker underneath Liverpool’s City Centre, close to The Town Hall.
Walk through hidden rooms and discover the stories locked in the wartime bunker that protected the tactics and secrets of the British Armed Forces plotting to bulwark the Western Approaches and aid the Allied victory.
Glimpse the documents and tools the forces used to monitor enemy convoys and inform the British government of their findings whilst keeping their intelligence secret from the enemy, including one of only two surviving wartime phones which had a direct connection to the war cabinet in London.
See where commanders and WRNS and WAAF personnel worked every day and night in the Map Room, the nerve centre of the Battle of the Atlantic. Here they monitored convoy routes and vital shipping lines, and pin-pointed enemy locations on a huge map laid across the table; total accuracy was necessary to enable the Royal Navy to contact and destroy the enemy.
The Map Room which was the nerve centre of the bunker has remained exactly how as it was left when the doors were closed on 15 August 1945.
Experience a self guided tour of the museum where you can walk through the corridors, sit at desks, play with typewriters and teleprinter machines, look at the telephone exchange and try on uniforms.
There is also a room at the end of the tour where hot drinks are available at war time prices and there are traditional games to play and a film to watch about life in Liverpool during the war.
- Receive an authentic identity card as your museum pass.
- Enjoy free return admission for 6 months.
Western Approaches takes you to an unseen, clandestine world that held a significant position and function in a war-stricken Liverpool.
Presently, the bunker shines as a concealed treasure and time vault, preserved just as it was in 1945. A visit to the bunker not only sheds light on the crucial operations executed within its walls but also brings back the tales of the people who served and resided there.
Out of the 300 staff members who worked there at any given time, 80% were women between the ages of 17-22, showing the immense contribution, hard work, and skills they provided along with the functions they performed.
Walk through concealed rooms and uncover the stories stored in the wartime bunker that safeguarded the strategies and secrets of the British Armed Forces planning for the defense of the Western Approaches and support the victory of the Allies.
Although the bunker is a museum, we strongly support visitors to sit at the desks, handle the typewriters and telephones used by the team for an authentically immersive experience.
- Please note there are steps down into the bunker
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.