Secret bunkers hidden in Greater Manchester's streets, woods and buildings that were built amid fears of attack from Soviet Union

Tucked away in the far corner of woods, hidden hundreds of feet underground and filled with subterranean corridors and rooms that serve as an eerie reminder of past tensions - Greater Manchester is home to a string of little known nuclear bunkers.

They were built at a time when there was very real fear of a nuclear war, some in secret. During the Cold War Britain was as an ally to the United States, who were at war with the Soviet Union, and needed their own nuclear deterrent.

A fascination for urban explorers and even a destination for illegal ravers, here is a round up of some of the secret shelters and what they have now become.

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Trafford

Builders uncovered a 30-year-old nuclear bunker under Trafford town hall as part of its multi-million pound renovation.

A maze of bricked tunnels, foot-thick steel and reinforced concrete, the vast chamber was designed to house top brass if the nuclear sirens sounded.

The 10,000sq ft fall-out shelter was designed as part of the council’s 1980s extension to the town hall. Its inclusion in the plans caused outrage among anti-nuclear campaigners, who furiously attacked it as a waste of money.

But town hall chiefs said it was an ‘essential’ part of its civil defence against an all-out attack. Now empty apart from a generator and air filtration system, the labyrinth, built by structural engineer Ray Higham once included a cavernous storage room of dried food, government radio equipment and – rumour has it – a morgue.

The offices opened in 1983, complete with the fully-formed nuclear bunker. A year later Antony Mills, then 18 and working for the council’s chief executive, took a trip into its depths. He found a