Shunt Vaults

This really is wierd. You enter through a small door off the tube concourse under London Bridge station. Walk for about 500 metres underground down a poorly lit tunnel with what I can only describe as caves left and right of you. Eventually you walk through a cinema/theatre round the bend and then into a huge space under the station. 8 or 10 metres tall easy. All the time dodging rubble and puddles.

We walked through (picking up drinks at the small bar) and found space at a grand piano painted with egg-shell white emulsion, where we could perch and chat.

By this time I still couldn't see anything - it really is VERY dark. I therefore can't tell you what the crowd is like - I couldn't really see anyone's face.

This place is now a members bar (25 per quarter or 5 per day) open wednesdays to saturdays. Cheapish wine and changeable drinks. Table football - impossible by candlelight. Although cold its a strangely nice feeling of coolness/relaxedness.

I think Nigel (barman?/owner?/bloke who i met who knew more than I did and who also knew the other members of staff) said it best when he said that it is "a decadent waste of space in a city where space it at a premium".

Worth a visit just for the spectacle. And cheaper than the London Dungeon...

Look out for 'special secret gigs' (a common place for them apparently) and guerilla performance art. On the night I was there a completely naked man appeared to 1950s B-movie music and proceeded to stand on chairs before buckets of glue, cement, glitter, pingpong balls and water were dropped on him from the ceiling. Interesting. Especially when you see said naked bloke, with rapidly solidifying cement/glue/glitter mix having a drink at the bar afterwards...

You're intrigued now aren't you?