Site Records

LEEDS: Yeadon: ROC group HQ No 18

Harrogate Road
Yeadon
Near Leeds Bradford International Airport

OS Grid Ref: SE219415
Date protected accommodation opened: 11.4.1964
Date closed: October 1968
Location: On an industrial estate on the west side of the A658 Victoria Avenue just to the west of Leeds Bradford Airport.

Description: EXTANT The centre is located in a very secure compound which is used for storing cars. When the Corps was re-organised in 1968 the Group HQ closed with most posts being transferred to 20 Group, York. After closure the bunker was taken over by the Royal Naval Reserve who used it as a training centre. They vacated around 1995 and the bunker was incorporated into the adjacent industrial estate and is currently available for rent. See www.austinhayes.com/nuclear.htm.

The bunker is of the sub surface variety with steps up to the entrance on top of a grass covered mound. The surface building has been re-painted in its original white colour and is in good condition. On the south side of the mound is an emergency exit consisting of a standard ROC type hatch with a siren platform next to it. A ladder up to the roof of the surface building is still in place. On the roof their is a GZI mounting and another siren platform.

The entrance door opens onto the small top floor of the three level bunker. On the right is the filter room with the filters still in place and on the left is the decontamination room. Beyond these rooms steps lead down, round a corner to the main north - south spine corridor. The first room on the right is the plant room. Some of the original ventilation plant is still in place but some of it has been replaced with new equipment. A door at the rear of the plant room leads into the small stand-by generator room. The diesel generator is still in position. The next room on the right is the canteen/kitchen. There is a short corridor running from the main spine corridor with a door into the kitchen on the right, it then opens out into the canteen. There is a serving hatch between them. There is a cabinet on the rear wall of the canteen containing electrical boxes. The kitchen equipment is all intact although the cooker is not original.

The next room is the BT room which has been stripped, followed by stairs down to the bottom level and then a door opening onto the balcony around the control room. The control room is completely empty. It has been fitted with flashing coloured lights and ultra violet tubes (all still working) so presumably the RNR have been in use as a disco. At the far end of the balcony the corner has been walled off with doors in and out making a small room that would have contained the large floor standing light box. At the far end of the balcony is a second door back out into the spine corridor. Turning right through a door there is a ladder up to the emergency entrance hatch. As this is an early closure there is no emergency exit door.

Returning to the bottom of the stairs from the top level there is a sewage pump room opposite the plant room with all the equipment in pristine condition. Running down the spine corridor on the left are the male and female toilets still intact and in good working order, the male and female dormitories (female bigger) which have been stripped of all original fittings. The final room on the left was the officers room but this has been converted into a store with a new strengthened door.

On the lower level the partition wall between the control room and the communications centre has been removed (more room for dancing! ) and a new steel ladder with a cage round it up to the balcony has been installed. The radio room contains a large floor standing metal cabinet, a lot of wiring and a long table divided into individual booths.

Internally and externally the bunker is in fine condition although it is starting to suffer a little from damp. A new tenant and a dehumidifier should sort the problem out quickly.

Date of visit: 5.5.2000

Home Page

© 1997-2001 Subterranea Britannica