Barry.

PS. Pioneer is (was!) actually an automatic trunk exchange built above ground in Dial House again on Chapel St.

Tony B.

I grew up around Lockton Close and in the 70’s were regular inhabitants of the tunnel. I can assure you that the ‘ventilation shaft’ falls deeper than the depth quoted and at the time was shielded by what appeared to be a steel door (this was sealed from the Manchester side). Some of my friends had better luck during the 70’s when the old GPO vans used to park outside Lockton Court. I do recall on more than one occasion seeing military vehicles (that we thought had got lost from the Kings Regiment’s barracks just across at Ardwick Green) coming down into Lockton Close, finding it’s a dead end as they turned right at the substation, and then turning around. Odd at the time but certainly explanable. Never saw them any other time.

The old head of the shaft (I’ve scaled the old green railings and sat on the flat slab roof many times) was about 2m square, the roof was almost white concrete, the walls were recessed in about 8 inches under the ‘roof’. The brickwork was very thick and around the top or the brickwork were louvered slats in timber. Below which (forming a doorway about 1.5 x 1m) were steel doors which were painted green and secured by a hasp and staple which had bee welded thickly to the doors.

Oddly enough, we found the thick brass padlock (I recall it being a heavy duty Yale item) missing (officer) and it was of course rude not to open the doors. The top of the shaft had a narrow metal ladder fixed to the shaft wall which curved over at the top. When you’re 12 it’s not the easiest thing to just climb down there – there was no lighting then and you always ran the risk of your mates either leaving you or just dossing about and locking you in there. I was very wary of the ladder coming away and when you shone a torch down there, the stairs seened to just drop down forever. It also seemed to drop down at a slight angle.

There were light switches at the bottom of the shaft (and I mean it went down forever) and of course they didn’t work. The shaft bottom had a thick steel door at the bottom (it was painted grey (I think) and it had louvres that were shut. It also had grilles to the sides.

That’s as far as I got with it but I had friends who told me that they got through the door as it was open? I always doubted this until I read about other tunnels which lead off the main tunnel (they described a canteen with a piano in it, a dart board and oads of phones) and evidence that workmen had recently been down there. I had a mate who also said that he’d gone in, had a look don another tunnel, bottled it and then gone up a very long ladder at the top of which he could see Woolworths (in Piccadilly Gardens where the fire occurred in 78/79?).

Any road up, I note from my recent visit to the site the fence has been upgraded, and the ‘entrance’ has been rebuilt – it looks a lot more substantial than before. Let not kid, there’s a lot of money been spent and it’s not because it’s been decommissioned. Just like a mine, you’d just fill it it and level it.

Apologies for the length of this note nut that’s how it was in the 70’s – it’s obviously still part of our emergency / war planning procedures and contingencies and so ladies and gentlemen – you have it from the working class Kid who served his time on the estate.

Given the significance, engineering excellence, cost and obvious potential for massive public interest, drop the pretense, come clean, open it up and stop playing games. We know aht it is, where it is and at the end of the day, worse care scenario, I doubt the ‘intended’ occupants will even get there in time.

Tony B.

They have certainly spent some money building a new concrete platform structure on the Ardwick site in the last year. Seems strange if that entrance isn’t functional?

Is the large building alongside, a sub-station? It is one of only a couple of buildings in the area that pre-dates the slum clearances of the early 1960’s.