Last year in London, I got to visit my 30th country overall. A friend took me in June so I could visit family and do such fun tourist things like visiting the London Eye and the Harry Potter Studio Tour. On our second day in the city, we already managed to do a bunch of tourist attractions and after visiting Westminster Abbey, we happen to be right by the Churchill War Rooms and had to check it out.
About the Churchill War Rooms
The Churchill War Rooms is one of 5 branches of the IWM (Imperial War Museums). It started out as the Cabinet War Rooms in 1939 and is located underground beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster. It was operational throughout World War 2 before being abandoned in 1945.
In the early 1980’s, IWM took over the administration of the site, and the Cabinet War Rooms were open to the public in 1984. Major renovations occurred in 2005 and by 2010 it was rebranded as the Churchill War Rooms.
Getting There
My friend and I actually walked and wheeled from our Premier Inn Hotel to several attractions around the area before arriving at the Churchill War Rooms. It was easy to get to and not too far at all. The entrance to the museum is kind of hiding right by a large staircase and can easily be missed if you are not paying attention.
yes there is an elevator to visit this underground museum
The door is easily wheelchair accessible and there is an elevator to get to the underground museum. It is open daily from 9:30am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm. Adults normally cost £27.25, but disabled guests get a reduced rate of £24.50 and can bring in 1 carer for free. We each got an audio guide with headphones which were included with our admission and were ready to start our own tour.
War Cabinet Room & Transatlantic Telephone Room
the War Cabinet Room
We start with the War Cabinet Room which is quite small and cramped. Winston Churchill has his seat right in the front in the middle, which is differentiated with a different chair.
members of the War Cabinet
The Transatlantic Telephone Room is just a tiny cupboard room disguised as a private bathroom. This is where Churchill would secretly speak to the President of the United States.
Transatlantic Telephone Room
Winston Churchill Museum
This part of the museum is almost like a shrine to Winston Churchill. There are newspaper clippings, pictures, photos, posters, personal belongings and even some of his diary writings. It was really neat to see and read about all this. Although some of the hallways between rooms can be narrow, I was still able to see everything.
Churchill’s gun
There was a lot of information about the build up to the war and the even the individual battles. We then saw a collection of some of his impressive medals that he has earned and then some of his watercolor paintings.
one of his uniforms
Chief of Staff Conference Room
The next area that we visited was the Chief of Staff Conference Room which is next to Winston’s wife Clementine’s bedroom. Some of the rooms are a bit small but I can still poke in to see the wax figures reenact whatever the theme of the room is. There are rooms with file cabinets and folders with letters everywhere.
Chief of Staff Conference Room
The Map Room
The Map Room has large charts and graphs with little pins in them and colored strings detailing out the military front. Apparently, the room is left exactly as it was at the end of the war. Everything perfectly preserved like it was back in 1945.
desk in the map room
Winston Churchill’s Bedroom
The last area is Winston Churchill’s bedroom. There were candles and a portable urinal pot right by the end of his bed. A big map of the battlefront is on the wall with a wooden desk complete with a BBC microphone where he recorded some of his most memorable and important wartime speeches.
Winston Churchill’s bedroom
Final Thoughts
The Churchill War Rooms was very informative and interesting as my friend and I spent almost 2 hours looking at everything. The museum is actually underground and is really wheelchair accessible but with some tight rooms and narrow hallways. Disabled visitors do get a slight discount on admission and do get to bring a carer for free so it is definitely worth checking out.
his kitchen
