Western Daily Press - Wednesday 07 November 1990 Cheltenham converted the basement of the Municipal Offices into a bunker which is used for storage, a porter’s room and the repair of parking meters. Avon is the only West country council without its own bunker. “We got rid of ours in 1981 said Councillor Terry Walker who was chairman of Avon public protection committee at the time; Mrs Thatcher’s government wanted to raise the rent from £400 to £4000 for the bunker which was built in 1953 with walls five to eight feet thick. Labour-controlled Avon refused to pay and were given notice to quit. “Generators didn’t work, there was water on the floor. It was thoroughly unsatisfactory” said Councillor Walker The sodden bunker - in the grounds of the Social Security buildings at Flowers Hill Brislington Bristol - is now disused. Most of the district councils in Avon took a dim view of the county attitude and continued making their own arrangements.