During the 1980’s the Merseyside County Main Emergency Centre was located in the basement of the Walker Art Gallery in William Brown Street. Two small rooms were converted for use as the Merseyside Main Emergency Centre in the early 1980’s.
The Emergency Centre was equipped with 1 No 10+50 PMBX switchboard 5 private wires (to Standby EC, Wirral and Liverpool EC’s, RGHQ at Dukes House and UKWMO), 6 Type 7 Teleprinters, 3 Type 107A S+DX units (speech plus duplex), 2 5 line broadcast units 2 Auto transmitters and a WB1400 carrier receiver. The emergency centre remained operational until 1990 when it was relocated to Bootle.
There is now little evidence of the County Main. The two rooms have been sub-divided and are now used for stationery stores and as a staff locker room. There were no blast doors or forced ventilation but there was a standby generator which was located elsewhere in the basement. The generator and fuel tank were relocated to the new centre at Bootle in 1990 and there is no visible evidence where they stood.
Those taking part in the visit were Nick Catford, Keith Ward, Rod Siebert, Robin Ware & John Fogg.
