What to do with Churchill’s rooms?

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 12

What to do with Churchill’s rooms?

Ken Coates

By

in London

Government officials apparently cannot agree on the future use of one of London’s quieter tourist attractions, the Cabinet war rooms beneath Whitehall, which were used by . Sir Winston Churchill during World War 11.

Although the Prime Minister (Mrs Thatcher) says that the rooms should be opened to more visitors, future access is still undecided.

Various options are being considered to make “public access more readily available,” according to the. Property Services Agency, which is responsible for the rooms. The rooms were built .in the utmost secrecy, and

myth has it that bricks were smuggled in by briefcase. Defence chiefs and members of the War Cabinet used the underground rooms during the Blitz. Visitors may see them only by special arrangement with the custodian. The Imperial war museum is providing advice on their preservation, history, and how they might best be displayed., One problem is their small size, and the- timber structure used. New arrangements, say the experts, must deter the steady stream. of souvenir hunters who have stripped many of the fittings over the years — including a silk cushion on which Churchill sat during Cabinet meetings.