Tourist Opportunities Below London’s Streets

The next time you take a trip to London, it may not be the attractions you can see that will draw your attention. Ajit Chambers wants to draw visitors underground into old subway stations and bomb shelters.

Old London Underground plans to open the first site, Brompton Road station, in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in east London, Chambers said. The station, owned by the Ministry of Defence, has been shuttered since the mid-1950s after serving as the headquarters of southern England’s anti-aircraft defenses during World War II.

Each station would cost 17 million pounds to 34 million pounds to renovate and they would all be opened within five years, according to Chambers. That’s if he can convince Johnson that developing empty parts of the London Underground network, also known as the Tube, won’t come at public expense.

Chambers, 38, said he could generate more than 300 million pounds in annual revenue from turning the derelict sites into restaurants, gyms, museums and art galleries.

At the Brompton Road station he aims to open a members club on the roof of the above-ground portion and house the London Fire Brigade museum in its tunnels and shafts, he said in the interview inside the disused property.

Screenshot from The Old London Underground Company

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