That’s a-maze-ing.
A sprawling labyrinth of disused underground spy tunnels central to the James Bond novels could become London’s next can’t-miss tourist attraction.
The neglected network, covering a subterranean area stretching to approximately 86,000 square feet, is set to be opened to the public by 2028.
The down-below destination will be part museum, part memorial, part art gallery, part cultural hub and part nightlife spot, with the world’s deepest bar, CNN reported.
Construction is expected to start late next year, to the tune of about $149 million.
The team behind the project hopes the space will eventually have three million visitors a year — on par with the National Gallery and more popular than the Tower of London, two other top local attractions.
Built between 1940 and 1942 as a deep-level air raid shelter, the tunnels were dug by hand by the British in response to the Blitz bombing raids — one of eight similar structures.
Stretching over 365 meters long and 5 meters wide, the two parallel “streets” run alongside the city’s Northern and Central Underground lines.
Their original purpose was to provide safety from Nazi bombings, but with Germany’s attentions later turning toward Russia, the spaces were never needed as intended.
Instead, the tunnels found a new, top-secret role, becoming the headquarters for the Special Operations Executive, an offshoot of MI6, the British intelligence agency.
Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, worked there in 1944, inspiring the creation of Bond’s famous Q Branch.
The tunnels’ next claim to fame came in 1949 when they became the home of Britain’s “hot line” to the United States during the Cold War — an essential communication link during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
By the 1980s, British Telecom took over the site, transforming it into the world’s deepest licensed bar — but reportedly for staff only.
The bar, with billiard tables and a tropical fish tank, hosted a thriving social scene — which the team behind the new project wishes to revive, planning a large center bar with room for a couple hundred guests.
Many of the relics from the past — huge generators, mysterious machines, and bundles of wires — remain and will soon be available to visitors in a History and Heritage section.
Other areas will be used for rotating art exhibitions, interactive structures and immersive displays.
