'It was used as a bin for 70 years,' Serge Colliou tells Ouest-France.
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In 2017, the 52-year-old Breton decided to buy a 900-square-metre plot of land in Saint-Pabu, Finistère, for the low sum of £34,000. His goal: to completely refurbish a gigantic bunker located 12 metres below ground, built in 1944 by the German army before being left abandoned after the end of the Second World War.
'When we got it back, it was a rubbish dump!'
The man, who is so passionate about bunkers that he wrote a book on the subject in 2017, recalls to BFMTV:
I knew it for a very long time because I am originally from the commune of Saint-Pabu. So I visited it when I was little. We all go and play in his blockhouses.
The seller had put everything in place to hide it, to bury it well and to be able to present his land well.
Unsurprisingly, the premises were in a very poor state when the land was bought. Serge Colliou explains to Ouest-France:
When we got it back, it was a rubbish dump! We had to empty everything, it took us two months, and we had to call on eight people.
A caterer by profession, Serge did not give up and devoted himself for a year and a half to the renovation of the Nazi bunker 'out of passion' and by putting in 'all his savings.' He first dug up the building before renovating it, bringing in electricity, water and sanitary facilities over the months.
A bunker for rent on Airbnb
In order to make the place habitable, the 22 rooms spread over a surface area of 400 square metres were converted into bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bar... and even a smoking room. And the result is quite striking, as you can see by visiting the listing on Airbnb, where it is now possible to rent this bunker.
Today, the building is available for rent and the owner offers two options: renting the first floor only for six people for £400 per night, or reserving the entire bunker for twenty people for £1,300 per night. And party-goers are welcome, provided there is a security guard on site. This summer, the booking calendar was full on most weekends, according to Serge Colliou.
