As a former engineer I have walked every inch from Ardwick to Dial House and then on to the Crescent, it's a fantastic experience. And just to confirm the blast doors are enormous !!. Spent months working down there and enjoyed every minute and of it. In the main sections of the exchange you could drive double decker buses quite easily which shows the scale of how big they are. There are two giant generators still down there but most of the exchange equipment has well gone. The fire caused major damage and took a long time to repair, engineers were working around the clock in shifts to sort it out. it is truly a fascinating place .

I've been researching Guardian for a long while. If I may add a bit of a narative to what you've already said. The Ardwick Exit (they were originally designed as emergency exits), originally was identical to Salford. However some people managed to penetrate Guardian via Ardwick, so the entrance was rebuilt to make it more secure. The entrance from Dial house is via a shaft in the basement of Dial house. Not from that works hatch outside. The unit on Back George Street is not the main entrance. Its the goods entrance. Where they took the telecoms equipment in and out via a massive goods elevator capped by a huge steel and concrete slab. The main entrance (the ones the workers used), was inside the York House telephone exchange. Behind a guards desk, and a locked door, was a series of steps that took the workers down, under the road, to a closed off basement below Rutherford house, where the main elevator down into Guardian was. There was no direct access to this elevator from Rutherford House itself, designed that way to confuse people. This entrance was backfilled and sealed off when York House was sold to its current owners. It is unknown if access from within Rutherford House was opened up. I suspect so, but not with certainty. There is a rumoured but unconfirmed entry shaft from the basement of Picadilly Plaza. The Ardwick site is also interesting because that was once the surface works where they brought out all the rock and spoil they dug out, then backfilled the massive surface portal at that location. The site is still in semi-active use, albeit not as a telephone exchange anymore, but as a way for BT to lay cables without digging up the city. The only known access point these days, is in the basement of Dial House. There may be others, but thats the only one I know to be still in use.

My dad used to work on these tunnels in the eighties and come home and tell stories of an underground Manchester. Blew my mind. Now i know they exist. Ta mate!

As someone who used to work down a R3 bunker (underground RADAR bunker) I’m always fascinated by people’s preconceptions and misconceptions about them. Interesting to see a reasonably sensible description of a Cold War complex.

As someone who has studied the BT cable tunnels and other underground stuff in the UK. THIS. IS. BRILLIANT. Beautifully made, well explained. Thank you.

I was working there from 2004 onwards. I was there for the fire which was bad. Loved every minute working there.

The mechanicle parts in those exchanges were called "selectors".The one connected to your phone was called a "uni selector" that had some electro mechanicle arms with contacts arranged in a semi circle .When you put your finger in "4" and dialled that digit it would send 4 pulses to the selector and move it to the forth contact and so on as you dialled the number.you can imagine the racket going on in a large exchange.I used to build those exchanges in the late sixties.

I cannot even convey how happy I am that finally I know that pipe has been flowing non stop for decades. I’ve just turned 30 and it’s always been a mystery to be, every time I walk past it I notice it. Thank you so much.

When our class ended our school days in 1968, a friend got a job as an engineer for GPO Telephones, and spent some time at Guardian, and we kept in touch for a while He said that in an emergency they could close down or isolate most domestic telephone lines, and concentrate on those for essential services He also said that they had a small TV & Radio studio. Again in an emergency if normal broadcasting was disabled they could still broadcast basic information He added that the tunnels were very handy for avoiding the crowds on Market Street if he wanted to nip out for shopping in his dinner time There was also a telephone line to the USA, and for a while part of his job each morning was to contact a similar operator in America to check that the connection was still functioning and adjust the volume, static, clarity, and so on. They would talk about their girlfriends, the latest pop music, and anything else that was of interest to a young man, for an hour or two, as they needed the speech while they made any adjustments and corrections

Well done, Martin! Very engaging and obviously well researched. I'm a splicing technician for a huge telco and I never miss an opportunity to lurk around central offices, all of which were built to withstand nuclear attack. I live and work in Pittsburgh, which was a prime target during the Cold War. 98% of the fiber trunk lines and large copper cables (most of which have paper insulation of the conductors and lead sheathing!!) are underground. No tunnels like Manchester though. Cheers + all the best from Pittsburgh USA!

Terrific stuff Martin. As a Manchester kid in the 50s I often wondered what some of these strange buildings were. My dad would say 'left over from the war'.

It's amazing at what people walk by everyday and have no idea. Interesting video.

The television drama from the 1980s Threads, gives an idea how Guardian may have been used, in the ultimate eventuality. I'm not ashamed to say, that film scares the willies out of me!

In the mid '70s I was going out with a girl who's mother played in a Bridge School. One of the members of the club was a chap who was a senior engineer with BT, or Post Office Telephones as I think it was called. He took me down there, from, l think, around New York Street. I can't remember much about it except how unremarkable it was. We didn't go far. The analogue 'phone system you mentioned would have been a Strauger (sp?) system. The electro-mechanical nature of that system is why the dial on your phone went back so slowly to the start after you dialled.

From across the pond The Bronx you are doing a great job you got me exploring my own community. There was an old analog telephone building down the block from me that's no longer there. Now you got me wondering if there was tunnel under it branching out. We went through our cold war Boogeyman. I have found lots of abandon fallout in The Bronx in the 70s. Most of them being filled in by now. I did witness a new telecommunication tunnel being built here in the Bronx under one of the river in the early 2000s. The entrance looks similar to what you found. You'll walk by it and never know what it is. Cheer or Yo, that bad man, as we say here in Da Bronx. Bad is good in the street here.

I'm just subbed for a few days, but allready watch about 20 video's. I find this better and more satisfying to watch, then Discovery channel etc. I'm learning new things, even though I don't even live there. But i love the history over there, especially the industrial history. You are doing a wonderfull job at bringing small details of history to the public, that might otherwise be gone for ever!

This is the kind of stuff we all should be watching now, not that tv garbage they are putting out now, people like Martin are much better to watch and listen to. Manchester is quite an interesting place

I worked in dial house as a contractor when they were doing the refurb just before the fire in 2004. I was talking to a couple of sparks who had been working in the tunnels and you could gain access from dial house itself

Man I love your content, bloody fascinating and very detailed!

In the 1990's I worked for the BBC and they had a emergency plan which keep broadcasting for pre and post WW3 and what would have been the loss of many broadcast studio facilties in the big cities. The BBC had a small studio in each regional operation centre used by the government also had broadcast studios which would pass on local information to the public. All the broadcast facilties had generators with fuel tanks to keep them running for several weeks and all the main facilties would have been manned, so each site had beds, food store, bathroom and a kitchen. From what I can remember the plan was to split the BBC in to regions, so that local information can be provided/pass on to the public quickly and that meant the BBC would split its transmitter network so that could run this regional plan. The sound programme links between the studio's and transmitters would have used BT facilties such as Guardian and if facilties such as Guardian were off line for some reason, the BBC transmitters had the abilty to receive other transmitters in the BBC's network and re-transmit that signal onwards (Called RBS - Rebroadcast Standby in the BBC). My memory is poor here, but at certain times of the day the BBC would do a national programme which would be done from a BBC facility near Evesham which was also the location of the BBC's engineer training offices called Wood Norton Hall.

Very interesting. In the very early 80s, I started a job in the civil service in a department which looked after Government building in Manchester. At that time, BT hadn't been privatised so we also had P.O. buildings which of course included the Guardian Exchange. I never got the chance to go down there as I was office/admin based but a few of the technical guys (building surveyors and H&V engineers) often had to go down there for checking the structure and for maintenance.

Another amazing video Martin. Loved the music too!

Another really interesting video Martin, thanks. It incredible to find out about these things I must have walked above many times when I've worked in Manchester. I used to go out exploring Manchester and Stockport in my afternoon breaks as I worked for the Library Theatre Company in the basement of the Central Library. Back then it was before a lot of the recent redevelopment had happened. I love the way so many people share their own knowledge and stories in the comments... Brilliant!

Martin you are a legend mate I am from Manchester and its good to see someone as passionate as me about it keep up the good work mate 👍

There is a small nuclear bunker under Beaconsfield Registry office right at the back of the building, not used for yrs, I think it's used to store old docs I got a glimpse of it about 5yrs ago but it was intended for the local judge and some council officials. There must be hundreds of these bunkers dotted around the country. I was working in a bunker in Oxford back in the '90s to do with the ROC I was told it was a hub to collect blast and fallout data from remote observer stations. It was partially above ground it had been recently upgraded all-new HVAC plant, generator etc it was shut down shortly afterwards. Gone now, flats on the site for a Uni if my memory serves me right. An anecdotal story I worked with a bloke a good few yrs ago and he was on a military base lifting manhole covers looking for something and he lifted one cover to see a two-lane road with white lines down the middle he quickly put the lid back and fecked off... made me laugh because from his reaction it was something he wasn't supposed to see.

Fascinating! Thank you Martin 👍🏻

Another brilliant video Martin. I feel a visit to Manchester coming on

Excellent video - one of the best I have seen on the topic. Well done, a solid report

Fantastic video! I'd love to see more like this about secrets of Manchester hidden in plain view

I worked as an operator at Manchester Peterloo telephone exchange in the early 60's. My Dad worked in the tunnels beneath the exchange in the 50's and 60's

Brilliant Martin, for me an education and enjoyable to watch.

Brilliant little documentary and very informative - nice one Martin!

As a former Telecommunications and data cabler, these types of buildings and exchanges, really peak my interest big time! Nicely done Martin.

My city of around 200,000 people in the US has a bunch of U-shaped vent pipes emerging from the ground at several public places around the city. A baseball diamond, a popular park, a shopping mall, etc. There is no underground structure known to the public but there is a small military base and a military landing strip in the city. Ever since I realized how many of those identical and inexplicable vent pipes there are, I've wondered if there is a secret military presence underground.

Guardian as an exchange was still in use well into the 1980’s. post office telephones and then BT used it as a private network . As telephone operators we used it to connect to other exchange operator’s around the country.it was particularly useful when the public network was congested. You could call another operator in the place you need to call, this would bypass the public network and the remote operator would connect you to the local number. There was another exchange called Manchester pioneer which I believe was adjacent to guardian

Incredible ,Your video makes me wonder just how many more places like this exist throughout GB unknown to us. Another great video, Thanks Martin, really interesting stuff.

What can I say mate, well worth the wait! By far your best put together video yet, loved the intro. Some interesting stuff I didn't lnow too. I've got one about the backbone network involving Heaton Park that's been on my to do list for the best part of 2 years if you fancy joining me.

thank you so much for this videos, amazing work. Love it!!! Thank you very much

the most informative video on the tunnels ive found! great video

I remember my Dad talking about this as a kid. (I'm now 69) he was a brickie and worked on Dial House. I think he may have worked on the tunnels as well. Never took much notice of him at the time. But in later years I got into urban exploring, well reading about it and found it fascinating. Great video really enjoyed it, thanks for you time and effort in doing it.

Should have chucked a high vis on and climbed down one of the shafts. No one questions a vest

You were right about the other access tunnel it might not look well protected but looks are very deceiving. A few years ago I was working next to the entrance when the range rover pulled up with very serious people. Very important exchange even today.

Great video. I did the Free Walking Tour Manchester and they explained about the tunnel. I worked with an electrical engineer who told me he went down there years ago and they came out in the lobby of an office building.

4625Khz is the home of 'The Buzzer' or ZhUOZ as its also known. I love the cold war stuff. I love your video of the Manchester Exchange, it shares lieange with the Anchor Exchange in Birmingham. Your video gives a lot more interesting facts than stuff I have read on the internet :) Thanks for sharing! :) love it :)

Do crispy critters need phones? Humans are so silly.😂😂😂.Thank you Martin.😊

I'm loving the t-shirt Martin .... 😎 Good to see another fan

Very cool Martin, this is exactly the kind of thing that I love knowing more about. I like how you use maps to show where stuff is as well. Great work man!

Great video Martin. It's amazing what's right underneath us all these years which we don't know about.

I never realised that there was such a series of tunnels under Manchester like these, Martin. You did well to find the other entrances at Salford and Ardwick, apart from the main one in the city centre. There must have been masses of hard sandstone rock excavated and then taken away to form these, and all on the quiet too. Great video, and many thanks.

The United States had another approach to a nuclear-resistant telephone network: the AT&T Long Lines network. It consisted of a network of towers housing huge microwave horns, forming a line-of-sight network spanning the entire country. The equipment at the base of many towers was housed in concrete bunkers that were blast resistant to a nuclear bomb as close as 5 miles. The network was not only a backup network, however, as it was used for long distance telephone calls, television broadcasts, and data transfer throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, until it was deactivated in the 90s. However, many of the towers still stand, and occasionally you can see them with the microwave horns still attached. If you ever see an odd looking tower with huge horns on it while travelling America, you have seen an AT&T Long Lines tower.

Given a thermonuclear attack on Manchester in the 50's, with the megaton bombs the Soviets had, 150 - 200 feet underground would not be enough. The crater would be deeper, the electromagnetic pulse would fry any electronics and even if not, the pressure wave of several mega pascals would have probably crushed everything. Even if the infrastructure survived, doubtful if people would. Cool video Martin!

The tunnel entrances in Salford and Ardwick were changed at some point. When I walked to see them about 25+ years back, they were both rather scruffy looking small brick buildings with louvred vents and doors. Both a similar size to the one now in Salford. You could hear the air handling plants moving air though them. Both of these were demolished and the entrances that you see more were formed. I think there are some pics of the original entrances online still. I also think this was in response to the fact that someone from Salford broke in to the Salford tunnel one night. I can't remember the time frame. My understanding is that the entrance to the tunnels from within the Back George Street building is a horizontal 16ton slab that retracts. This was to be used for the purpose of sealing the entrance against bombs. As you said it was not fit for purpose by the time construction was complete. I was also lead to believe that the main entrance to this building was from the other side. If you go to the other side, from memory, there used to be a black garage type split opening door which was bricked over some years back..

Great video. My Dad used to work for BT and had the keys to that car park in China Town; we used to park there because it was free! The lift that goes down is completely mechanical, I think diesel powered so it wouldn't be affected by the EMP from a nuclear weapon. As someone else has said here, my Dad said there was a secret entrance in a cleaner's cupboard in some offices somewhere.

Great video, Martin, very interesting

Fascinating. The world beneath our feet. Another Brill video

Again a cool video also the music in it is very kraftwerk sounds so vintage synth

My Mother used to work down there. It wasn't until the wall of secrecy was lifted, in the 80's I think, that she spoke about it. All we knew from her was that she worked at Piccadilly. Later she said that her access point was a secret lift in the Piccadilly Plaza hotel. There is also a miniature rail system underground in Manchester to handle mail services.

These Manchester UK videos are great. Watching them makes me want to visit Manchester. We have a Manchester here in New England, but it's not half as old or interesting.

Knew about Guardian and it’s purpose, also knew there was a shaft somewhere in there a it is but didn’t know about the Salford shafts. Always laugh at all the urban myths. Heard you can’t visit due to the amount of B.T. Cabling. Great video once again Tony

What a great story so well put together brilliant.

Fascinating video! Some of those tunnels remind me of the passenger tunnel between platforms on the London Underground.

Good stuff Martin. 👏

Great video Martin, thank you 👍

My late father was responsible for bridges and tunnels for what then was Manchester Corporation. He visited Guardian several times. Also in the late 40’s I can remember that there were normal colliery style head sticks where the brick shaft is now. The things which turn and click are Strowger selectors !

Another good one martin i have heard the buzzer transmision on my prc 320 clansman hf radio

Martin, another fascinating insight into Manchester. Catching up on back catalogue on a damp day in Weardale

Absolutely great information brilliant video Martin. Thanks john Rooney

The entrance to the shaft you was looking for in Salford, is actually in the basement of Dial house and can also gained through two manholes outside the building into the basement. I have been in it, when I Was a contractor on the building of Dial house in the seventies.It was said at the time, the exchange equipment on each floor cost more than it did to construct the entire entire building.

Bit late to this party, loving the videos you have produced, but the fact none of the 165 comments (so far) on this one mention your Mr Benn on the mantelpiece... WTF , judging by your musical tastes hobbies and attitudes you're a brother from another mother, keep it up pal xx

The artesian well was for drinking water and was capped off years ago. The only thing pumped into the sewers when Guardian was operational was sewage.

One of the best Videos about Guardian

Brilliant thanks, and Great Music!!! :-D

Hi Martin thanks again for a very interesting video

Nice work, well done!

I worked there for 1 year of so 2004 while the uplift works were being carried out. During this time almost all of the old telephone operational stuff left from the 50s was removed. Still an old tennis court marked out though. BT arent keen for this to be public knowledge. Though this video is available still after a year later.

That was a really interesting video Martin iv been looking for videos by people like your self about my ares but with no luck so far. Well done mate well done.

Part of the network that included the Kingsway exchange in London and the Anchor exchange in Birmingham. System now carries many of the BT main trunk lines.

Only just come across this Martin. Fascinating would love to no the extent of highly secret subterranean activity that’s gone on over the yrs and how much is still in use or been abandoned

The Anchor Exchange in Birmingham would be another good place for you to go to!

When I was a kid my dad used to talk about working at Guardian with the GPO. He also mentioned a telegraph pole he said was one of the tallest in the country, all so how it was a pain to climb.

Excellent production mate

Many thanks, Martin (for this and for the other Urbex/Rly explorations - they've become addictive now). I did a couple of tours, incl. by Keith Warrender and I was spellbound. One tour paused at Parsonage Gardens - turns out that this could've become a 2nd Whitehall, potentially. WWII contingency plans had naturally included a scenario whereby Gerry invades and occupies southern England - hence THIS spot was 'prepared as a back-up' and would've become the alternative seat of government.

Many years ago (early 1970s) when working as a PO telephone engineer, I had to go down the Salford entrance to replace a telephone that had become damaged by water ingress, located at the bottom of the shaft, which was used for 'emergencies'. Back then, the entrance was just an 'innocuous' little brick structure with a heavy steel door, (without the steel fence) built to one side of an office car park. When they built the Dial House extension, the first thing they built was a concrete shaft about 20' in diameter, (reported to be 150 feet deep!) that would connect to the underground system. There is another 'exchange' besides Guardian, not too far away from Dial House, but I'm not sure that I can tell you under where it is - I had to sign the Official Secrets Act way back in 1969. There's a lot more down there than you think !!

Fascinating :) I agree that they should keep all of it as a time capsule for people to tour in the future :)

I did some work for BT in the Kingsway tunnels in central London about 10 years ago and what you've described is near identical to what I saw down there - loads of old analogue exchange equipment, and facilities for a lot of staff including a bar and full size snooker tables!

Fascinating history, love how you explained it and all the footage. I’ve subscribed to see more. I like some urban explorer channels but a lot of them don’t have a scooby what they are looking at and do zero research, just sensationalise everything. Cheers Andy UK

There is a telephone exchange building at the Ardwick End, or so I believe. Remember it from the 70's and it's still there.

great video mate, really interesting,

@6:29 I used to walk past this ever day going into Salford Uni down Chapel Street and had no idea that was an entrance into the tunnels.

we have this system in springfield illinois, there is no record of it, but i know its there because i was in it and saw the rows of computers and what they do, its operational to this day, it also has giant battery power back up system, the main entrance is a old abandoned brick building, it looks like nothing as you drive past it. and yes 150 feet deep. i took the secret elevator down, it was a very long ride,

Really interesting stuff in this video would love to do a tour of those tunnel would be amazing 👍

Fab stuff. Love this guy

Would love to visit this site, great vid, cheers

I used to go to the dentist off George St and aways wondered what that fearsome razor wire fence was all about. But being a little kid I couldn't see over it. Just a brick blockhouse to be seen.

Great vid.. my father worked for the post office as a telephone engineer in Manchester throughout the 50s till late 80s he’s 90 years old now I will ask him about any buildings he worked at .. I do know he had his photo wiring up a building of importance as it was in the Manchester evening news 1960s he also said he was on the team that wired up the post office tower in London .. All them years wiring them up and we at home never had a telephone ! (He said it was so they couldn’t call him out at stupid hours lol ) which makes sense. Keep up the great vids

Wow I never knew of these tunnels and I have worked in manchester for a long time...great vid......jim

Brill video Martin, very informative mate. I actually rode past the Chapel street shaft building earlier, obviously I only know that now but I've been past it so so many times in my life and never even thought about it, the same for the water overflow ! Thanks for the education. :)

A friend of a friend told me that he’s dad worked for the GPO and apparently there’s was a gang of crooks who somehow stole loads of the copper wire used for the telecoms as it switched over to fibre optics from these tunnels ,,,,,apparently they earned that much money scrapping the wire they all live in big houses now with swimming pools on far away shores ! Could be an urban myth but who knows ! ,,,anyway what a great show you do ,,,it’s fantastic so well done ! 👍

Super interesting!

I heard the telephone exchange was separate from the bunker. Just as they finished the bunker, the Hydrogen Bomb was invented, rendering it practically useless. I'd love to see what's down there tho', legally of course.