Want an escape? This nuclear bunker could be yours for less than £20,000

Feeling the pressure of the Big Smoke and wanting to escape? You could now get on the property ladder for less than £20,000 – although it might not be quite the dream home you had in mind.

A rare opportunity to acquire a piece of Cold War-related architecture has presented itself up north – in the form of a nuclear bunker.

Located in Sedbergh in Cumbria, the listing was described by agents as a ‘once in a generation opportunity’. It will soon go up for auction, with a guide price of £15,000 to £20,000 Yes, it is essentially £20,000 for one room underground – but you’d be buying a piece of history.

Also known as a Royal Observer post, the bunker is one of many built in the 1950s across post-war Britain, and was designed to provide ‘protective accommodation for three observers to survive a nuclear attack.’

(You’ll need a 5% deposit to secure this unique listing (Picture: Jam Press/SDL Property Auctions)

It wasn’t just constructed for safety reasons, though: the tenants were expected to provide updates in the event of a nuclear attack, and were provided with enough food and water to last them two weeks.

They were plugged in with radio comms and a landline – and the latter remains in place today.

Of course, the feared nuclear attack never came, and most of the bunkers like this one were decommissioned and auctioned off back in 1993.

Many of the sites were actually purchased by telecoms companies and have since been repurposed for use for phone masts.

(Many similar bunkers were decommissioned back in 1993 (Picture: Jam Press/SDL Property Auctions)

(The current owners have built a shed, too (Picture: Jam Press/SDL Property Auctions)

You won’t need to pay the full £15,000 upfront either – just a 5% deposit, which is a minimum of £5,000.