DDiscover AloneMap About A

Churchill War Rooms

Museum

Churchill War Rooms — Photo: Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph · Report the wrong picture

Explorer Tom

Churchill War Rooms hides beneath Westminster with the alarming calm of a place where people had to keep working while bombs fell above them. The Cabinet Room, Map Room and narrow passages formed a working centre for Britain's wartime government, not a film set with a conveniently timed siren. Walk in and the low ceilings make the weight of decisions feel almost physical. The underground rooms were prepared in 1938 as the risk of war grew, and the Map Room was staffed from 1939. Winston Churchill's War Cabinet first met in the Cabinet Room in July 1940, when invasion seemed possible. Maps, telephones and reports helped ministers and officers follow events that were changing by the hour. The people operating that equipment mattered too; leadership depended on clerks, typists, plotters and messengers doing precise work under pressure. A small room was later converted for secret transatlantic telephone calls with the United States. After Japan surrendered in August 1945, the Map Room lights were finally turned off after six years of use. Some spaces survived with their wartime character, and Imperial War Museums opened the War Rooms to the public in 1984. The museum now lets you follow the original rooms and the lives entwined with them, while remembering that the war's danger was outside these walls as well as inside. I suspect Tom would have been removed from the map table for drawing a moustache on a coastline, quite rightly. The real staff had no time for such nonsense. Go below street level, listen to the quieter stories, then emerge into Westminster with a different sense of what happened under your feet.

This does not grant access. Check current paths, opening conditions and ownership before entering.

What do you know about this place?Tap to add a comment or ask a question

More pictures of this place

Churchill War Rooms conference room. — Churchill War Rooms conference room. · Photo: WFan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Churchill War Rooms corridor. — Churchill War Rooms corridor. · Photo: WFan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Connected story: Westminster Abbey has a whole city of power beside it.

What is recorded here

Visit Churchill War Rooms, part of Imperial War Museums, to discover the original Cabinet War Rooms, the wartime bunker which sheltered Churchill and his staff during the Blitz.

The Churchill War Rooms preserve the underground command centre from which Britain's leaders directed the Second World War. Opened in 1939, they sheltered cabinet meetings, military planning and transatlantic calls; closure in 1945 left maps and fittings unusually intact.

Why it was built

The basement complex was adapted so government could continue during air attack, with protected offices, communications and sleeping rooms.

People and work

Churchill, ministers, commanders, typists, telephonists and map officers worked long shifts here while London was bombed.

How it changed

Cabinet and map rooms coordinated war, and a disguised telephone room connected Churchill securely with Roosevelt.

What survives

Map pins, desks, clocks, bunks and communications rooms survive in place under Imperial War Museums care.

Why it mattered

The rooms mattered because national decisions depended on crowded clerical and technical labour as well as famous speeches.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 16 August 2026.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) w197206542

Places near here

Photo credits

N Chadwick, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Stephen Richards, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
A J Paxton, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Chris Thomas-Atkin, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Marathon, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Green ParkRegistered park or garden · 1097 yd

Statue of Goddess DianaMonument or public art · 1109 yd

Devonshire HouseListed building · 1202 yd

8, Stratton Street W1Listed building · 1268 yd

Fanny BurneyMemorial · 1274 yd

The Cavalry ClubListed building · 1458 yd

11, Hertford Street W1Listed building · 1477 yd

13, Hertford Street W1Listed building · 1494 yd

RAF Bomber Command MemorialMemorial · 1499 yd

1, Chesterfield Street W1Listed building · 1540 yd

2, Chesterfield Street W1Listed building · 1544 yd

Statue of Simon Bolivar, Belgrave SquareMonument or public art · 1.0 mi

More things to do in City of Westminster · All of City of Westminster

Add to this placeAdd a picture Add a detailed tip Add a story

Explore the map1,095,414 places to discover

Next place · or swipeGreen Park