Saw this today so decided to keep it for posterity - I was policing Carmarthen at this time though not directly involved . Story from Wales on Line
Nuclear bunker hidden underneath car park in Welsh town and nobody realises
During the Cold War, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher implored local councils to build nuclear bunkers at a cost of £400,000 in case World War Three started. Naturally, Carmarthen District Council thought it was a good idea
It’s easy to miss, buried away unused beneath a Carmarthenshire Council staff car park in Spilman Street in Carmarthen. On a recent visit, a Ford Fiesta is parked right on top of it. You can’t access it anymore and it’s no longer in use; it’s now a relic of the Cold War and an underground memento of a scandal that tarnished the now defunct Carmarthen District Council.
Amid escalating mid-80s tensions between the US and Russia - which saw the former planning to set up cruise missile bases in the UK - Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher urged local councils to construct nuclear shelters, promising a grant to cover most of the rumoured £400,000
For younger generations, it’s hard to imagine the day in 1986 when approximately 7,000 people flocked to Carmarthen town centre to form a human chain in protest against the creation of the bunker.
One protester, a young woman, attempted to climb a 12ft high metal fence topped with spikes. As she did so, a security guard pulled her down and her little finger, caught on the fence, was torn off.
One individual who had a prime view of the chaos was Carmarthenshire councillor and former Carmarthen mayor, Alun Lenny. As a BBC journalist at the time, Mr Lenny found himself stationed in a room at the town’s Ivy Bush Royal Hotel, which provided a clear view of the car park.
“It was a very tense time, politically,” said Mr Lenny. “There were instruction videos at the time of what to do in the event of a nuclear war - take off one of your doors, lean it up against a wall and barricade yourself. They also told you to stock up on baked beans!
“It was a tumultuous time - farmers were protesting against EU milk quotas, and it was the height of the miners’ strike, on top of this issue with the bunker. It was a good time to work in news!”
As is the case with many protests, the message from those involved fell on deaf ears and the nuclear bunker was constructed, seemingly against the will of the masses who accused the powers that be of giving in to Prime Minister Thatcher’s advice and an overall sense of panic.
“Despite most people being against it, the council decided to go ahead and build the bunker and it backfired horribly,” said Mr Lenny. "It, and Carmarthen, became a focus for anti-nuclear protests. I was here on a bank holiday weekend in 1986 when thousands of people took part in a CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) protest.
“I was on the top floor of the Ivy Bush Hotel with two other newsmen from the BBC, all taking turns to keep lookout at what was happening down below.
“It was an amazing scene. Thousands of people formed a human chain down Spilman Street, down Castle Hill, along Station Road and up The Parade. The bunker was surrounded.”
Despite trying to persuade the council to allow access, entry into the bunker in the modern day is prohibited due to health and safety reasons. Mr Lenny is one person who has been inside, and he confirmed that expectations of a highly advanced subterranean dwelling - resembling something from a James Bond film - are wildly off the mark.
“There are three rooms, a generator, a map on the wall, and a telephone,” he said. “It looks like an RAF control room from the Second World War.”
The expense and controversy surrounding the build meant the bunker became a source of shame for Carmarthen District Council, which disbanded in the mid-1990s.
After the demonstrations subsided and the building work was finished, the bunker developed into something of a white elephant, one that remained unused beneath a car park as the Soviet Union collapsed, the Cold War drew to a close, the Berlin Wall fell, and the world stepped back from the ultimate precipice.
More recently, the horrific possibility of nuclear devastation has, according to some, emerged once again with political tensions growing more heated across the globe especially in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
So, in the hopefully unlikely event of a catastrophic worldwide nuclear fallout, is there a possibility that a lucky few could avoid an agonising and radioactive demise by making their way to a car park in Carmarthen town centre?
“No,” said Mr Lenny, bluntly. “The bunker is not operational, and I don’t see how it would have been operational back in the 1980s. It was tokenism. It was ludicrous. If there ever is a nuclear war, that’s it. I don’t see how jumping into a hole in a Carmarthen car park is going to save your life.”
The bunker remains in the centre of Carmarthen. It’s dormant, and probably useless, just as it was as soon as it was built.
