Award-winning attraction, Jersey War Tunnels re-opened its doors to the public on Friday 1st March following significant investment in a new 1940s café and second escape room.
Over the winter months, Jersey War Tunnels has designed and created a new 1940s café in its visitor centre called Vega Café. The café is named after the SS Vega that brought Red Cross supplies to starving Islanders in the Channel Islands during WWII. Complete with floral wallpaper, authentic furniture, vintage china, gingham curtains and green carpet, the café provides visitors with a truly authentic 1940s experience. The café will be staffed primarily by Islanders of retirement age and will serve a selection of cakes as well as hot and cold meals. The ‘Library’ section of the café will be available for weekend afternoon tea bookings and private parties.
Jersey War Tunnels’ Operations Manager, Kathy Bechelet, said: ‘At Jersey War Tunnels, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer, offering equal opportunities to all Islanders. We’re extremely excited to open our new 1940s café, which will not only offer a wonderful authentic 1940s tearoom experience but will also provide a fantastic opportunity for retired Islanders, who wish to continue working, to stay active and meet new people.’
Jersey War Tunnels has also invested in a second escape room experience called ‘Escape to Blighty’, which was designed and constructed by Kathy Bechelet. In a room deep inside the Tunnels, teams are tasked with the mission of fleeing the Island from German rule and arriving safely in Blighty by solving a series of mysterious puzzles and clues within one hour.
‘I designed the room to really challenge people’s team working skills and ability to think logically and creatively under intense time pressure. It was certainly a lot of fun creating all the puzzles and building the room and we’re really looking forward to seeing how many people can successfully ‘escape’ and make it to Blighty,’ added Kathy.
The Tunnels opened its first escape room, ‘Operation Constellation’, in May 2017. Similar to ‘Escape to Blighty’, teams are tasked with cracking a series of clues and puzzles to gain access to the German Commandant’s Office and find the locations of newly constructed fortifications.
To allow companies to compete against each other, during March corporate leader-boards for the two escape rooms will be activated on the Jersey War Tunnels’ website. The leader-boards will list the teams that have successfully escaped and their respective times.