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We're not usually the sort of publication that uses the words ‘excited’, ‘massive’ and ‘shaft’ in the same sentence. But this week we are very excited about a massive shaft: specifically the massive Grade II-listed entrance shaft to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Thames Tunnel in Rotherhithe. Opened in 1843, it was the first ever tunnel under a major river, and home to the world’s first subterranean circus, pop-up restaurant and fairground. For the last 150 years it’s been closed to the public (except for rare special events) but this week the Brunel Museum has reopened it, complete with a cool new staircase from architects Tate Harmer. Over the next few months it will host an opera, a restaurant (from the brains behind Broadway Market’s Poco tapas bar), acoustic gigs and theatre productions, all popping-up after popping down to this vast space literally dripping with history. Tunnels: officially not boring.
See more pictures from the subterranean:
Images: Andy Parsons
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