Dad's nuclear bunker sells for almost double its guide price amid 'WW3 fears'

A man who put his converted nuclear bunker up for auction last week has sold it for nearly double its guide price amid fears of World War Three.

Jon Graves, 37, bought the 15 foot-deep bunker three years ago in a bid to restore it and preserve it as a piece of British Cold War history. After giving it a new lease of life, the dad then put the former Royal Observer Corps bunker up for auction last Thursday with a guide price of £15,000.

But much to his surprise, the ex bunker, which was used from 1964 to 1991, fetched £29,000 after going under the hammer - almost double what it was listed for.

This sale comes amid a surge in queries for shelters, especially with Vladimir Putin's war maneuvers edging dangerously close to triggering a catastrophic event.

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The sale comes amid anxiety over potential global conflicts rising. As recent Russian 'nuclear-capable' attacks in Ukraine have escalated worldwide concerns, there has been a surge in enquiries for bunkers and shelters across the UK.

Jon, who is preparing to move to Dubai, said: "It’s definitely topical with the way American politics is at the moment and with Russia and Ukraine fighting."

However, he cautioned that despite the bunker's appeal: "It wouldn’t survive a direct hit, that’s for sure, but from a novel perspective, it’s definitely interesting."

With no listed status, Graves pointed out that the new owner could freely transform the space, provided they secure planning consent, remarking: "It’s certainly big enough to record music in it. If you live locally, you could just probably go and chill out in it. It’s a big enough space that you could go down."

Jon, a local business owner with a passion for military history, had always been fascinated by the 1,500 observation bunkers scattered across the country. So when one of these pits came up for sale near his home in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, he seized the opportunity to purchase it.

The bunker, located on a secluded 40ft by 50ft plot of land, was initially sealed off with a six-inch layer of concrete. However, Jon was pleasantly surprised to discover that the bunker was watertight and in relatively good condition once he managed to break through the concrete cap.

He said: "I’d always wanted to own one, but every time I saw one come up, they were all down south, miles away from home. We’d never been in it. We took a punt really that it was going to be ok. The top of it was in a reasonable condition - all be it with the cap on top.

"And when we first opened it, it was bone dry inside, which was great. Then of course we could get on with decorating and renovating it."

Jon explained that if a nuclear weapon were to detonate somewhere in Britain, standard communication lines would likely be severely disrupted. Therefore, observers stationed in these bunkers would have been responsible for detecting any light produced by the bomb or measuring nuclear fallout using specialised instruments.

Jon's bunker, known as Upton ROC, is believed to have detected radioactive material from the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986. He's been keen to maintain the authenticity of the period with his restoration of the bunker.

Jon commented: "We tried to keep it in the same format, the same layout that was there originally, and I think we did that reasonably well. We ripped off all the old polystyrene tiles and cleaned it up, got rid of all the dead mice that were stuck in it, and just kind of decorated it."

Keeping it true to the era, he noted: "We furnished it and put back in what was already there. So we didn’t put brand new modern beds in, we put old metal beds back in. It was always about trying to tastefully restore it to a condition that you could stay and sleep in without the noise from outside."

Tensions have recently escalated with Vladimir Putin launching suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) attacks on Dnipro in Ukraine, following President Zelensky's alleged strikes inside Russia with British and American weaponry.

Mathew Wright from the company Burrowed, which specializes in 'fully fitted prefabricated underground bunkers', reported a significant spike in interest. Mathew stated: "In the last six months we’ve had a couple of thousand inquiries. And there probably been double the amount usual of inquires since Monday."

Andrew Parker, auctioneer and partner at SDL Property Auctions, remarked on the sale of the bunker, saying the massive interest garnered was 'not surprising'. He stated: "This is the fourth nuclear bunker we have sold at auction and not surprisingly they have all attracted huge amounts of interest."

He added: "There are not that many relics still around that epitomise the threat and paranoia of the Cold War era in the way a nuclear bunker can. And this one had also been beautifully restored, which makes it even more unusual."