Meet you there? The safest UK places to vibe (and survive) if WW3 actually kicks off

Grab the lads, we’ve got a bunker viewing at 10


With fears surrounding WW3 ramping up across the globe, people are naturally wondering where the safest places in the UK are – if there even are any. WW3 would not be your grandmother’s World War. The little trigger-happy men in power have weapons of mass destruction this time, but in the time-honoured tradition of mutually assured destruction, fingers are still hovering over those big red buttons. Even if we do manage to survive the initial onslaught, the chances of surviving in a radioactive wasteland are slim – we’ve all seen Mad Max, and it just looks exhausting.

The bigwigs in parliament no doubt already have plans for sheltering in place, so why shouldn’t you? You might not have the resources available to the Prime Minister, or the funds to build yourself a fallout shelter like Elon Musk, but these places will certainly be safer than your local Maccies car park.

Wood Norton Hall is one of the safest places in the UK for WW3

Located in Evesham, Worcestershire, Wood Norton Hall was used as an emergency broadcasting station by the BBC during the second instalment of the World War franchise, WW2. If it was good enough for them, surely it’s good enough for the final instalment in the trilogy?

Though it’s relatively cramped, housing just 90 BBC staff, it does come equipped with a ping-pong table and a stockpile of pre-recorded programmes to drown out the sounds of bombs dropping. It’s also got its own bunker called PAWN, Protected Area Wood Norton, and an adjoining fallout shelter.

Pindar bunker

This one might be a bit more difficult to get to, given that the Pindar bunker is located beneath the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) main building in Whitehall. Following £126.3 million renovations before the Cold War, the bunker’s contents are relatively unknown, but it’s widely reported to protect against everything from nuclear fallout to chemical weapons. Pindar Bunker would reportedly shield people from “all but a direct hit or very near miss” from a nuclear bomb. Naturally, the site is reserved for government officials.

Can someone see if they can get on the guest list?

What are the safest areas in the UK during WW3?

Benjamin Elliott

Credit: Unsplash/Benjamin Elliott

Major UK cities such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow are obviously first on the list of intended targets if WW3 kicks off. The same could also be said of key areas housing critical infrastructure, such as GCHQ in Cheltenham, big airports, and various high-profile military targets.

Of course, you have to worry about the initial fireball created from a nuclear attack, but if you want to survive, being outside of the blast radius and radioactive dome is crucial. As such, remote areas such as the Shetland Islands, Cornwall, Inverness, and Aberystwyth are safest- but still not completely safe.

A full list put together in 2020 includes:

  • Cornwall
  • Weymouth
  • Folkestone
  • Dover
  • Margate
  • Clacton-on-Sea
  • Felixstowe
  • Brixworth
  • Bideford
  • Aberystwyth
  • Skegness
  • Isle of Anglesey
  • Barrow in Furness
  • Lancaster
  • Whitby
  • Carlisle
  • Dumfries
  • Berwick-upon-Tweed
  • Inverness

Okay, what about buildings?

Credit: Unsplash/Evgeniy Smersh

Credit: Unsplash/Evgeniy Smersh

If you can’t get to a fallout shelter or a remote space, then finding a suitable building is your next best option, according to The Week. Concrete-reinforced buildings are generally thought to be the safest option, albeit a rather sketchy option, but there are also underground spaces such as tube networks to consider.

It should go without saying, but your local pub would not survive the apocalypse – Shaun of the Dead is not a documentary.

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