Victoria Tunnel Tours

We had a fantastic trip into the history of this local site. Our tour guide Trev was an absolute gem! Such an immersive and knowledgeable guide! Have already recommended it to everyone I know. If you haven’t been you absolutely should!

Excellent tour & my second time visiting! This time I took my Granda (aged 88 for context) & he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and managed the tour well. Pete (the guide) was equally knowledgeable and enthusiastic keeping the tour both interesting & lighthearted. 100% recommended

Great tour, Ian was very knowledgeable ams interesting to listen too. We did the 1.25hr tour, definitely recommend.

We had a fantastic tour of the Victoria Tunnel! Our guides, Graham and Steven, were incredibly knowledgeable and brought history to life with their great storytelling. Our group of two adults and four kids were all captivated. Beyond learning about the harsh realities of WWII, we were deeply moved by the stories of human warmth and mutual support among those who sheltered there. Highly recommended!

Absolutely outstanding experience – made by the guides The Victoria Tunnels tour was worth every penny, and that’s almost entirely down to the guides, Pete and Graham. Their depth of knowledge was exceptional — not just rehearsed facts, but real historical context, stories, and answers to questions that clearly came from years of genuine interest and research. What really stood out is that they are volunteers. Despite that, the professionalism, enthusiasm, and care they brought to the tour exceeded many paid attractions I’ve been to. They didn’t just walk us through the tunnels — they transformed the experience, making the history feel vivid, human, and memorable. You can tell they care deeply about preserving and sharing the site’s history, and that passion carries the entire tour. If you’re on the fence, book it. And if you do, hope you get Pete and Graham — they make it unforgettable.

My husband, sister and I visited on 12/1/2025. We are Gordie's and have known of the tunnels all our lives . Really enjoyed our visit, it's was very informative and fun . Thank you lads we had a great time.

Interesting tour. I have lived in Newcastle for 6 years and this tour taught me a lot. I would recommend it. The guides (I think one was called David) were great and super knowledgeable. Only feedback I would give is to please clean inside the helmets provided. I had to give mine a clean because it obviously had never been cleaned.

Really great experience. The two tour guides Trev and Mick were fantastic both knowledgeable, kind and funny. Definitely worth a visit if in the area.

Well this was something I've never experienced before: being down tunnels that was once a coal mine and a communal air raid shelter during the war. I was visiting from Edinburgh and wanted to do something a bit different and this was definitely it! Our tour guides Micheal and Rory were fantastic, very informative and passionate and really brought the tunnels to life with stories and at one point cool sound effects and pointing out interesting features such as strange prints, a crucifix and the point to where we were standing underneath Hadrian's wall which was amazing! Inside the tunnels was dark damp and muddy but were provided with hard hats and torches but I would suggest wearing comfortable sturdy shoes or boots (not heels) and there is a point on the tour where you walk up a steep incline and it's tough but you have the choice to wait behind and then the decline could be slippy so hold onto the handrail but apart from that it's a very interesting, very cool memorable experience and Micheal and Rory were great!

We booked this tour based on a recommendation and was not disappointed. The two volunteer guides had a good manner & was enjoyable to listen too. The tunnel was a cool 13 degrees but in this recent hot weather was a nice cool break Without spoiling your visit it's worth a visit.

Very cool attraction in Newcastle, and well worth checking out. The Victoria Tunnel is run by a local non-profit trust, and I believe most, if not all, of the tour guides are volunteers. I was happy to pay the £6 tour fee to help this local group continue with their historical work. The tunnel has two main storylines, one from the original building during Victorian times. It was built for the massive coalmines of Newcastle, and allowed easy transport of the coal to the river without bothering the city's wealthier residents. The second storyline is from WWII, when the tunnel was used as an air raid shelter. There are still benches and beds from that period in the tunnel, and the story is a fascinating one to hear from the guides. Some comments: first of all, as a tall person, I had to duck for pretty much the entire tour. Hard hats are provided, so your head shouldn't feel any pain at any point, but it's annoying nonetheless, and can be hard on the back after some time. Secondly, the tour takes 2 hours, which I think is slightly too long. Perhaps this is related to comment 1, and I only found it too long because of needing to duck the whole time. However, overall, the tour is definitely worth taking when in Newcastle. There's a lot of history in the Ouseburn section of the city, and the enthusiastic guides are always delighted to answer questions and explain the history. They really love their city!

Fab piece of history directly underneath our Geordie feet! The Ouseburn trust offer tours of the Victoria tunnel while telling you of its history and significance both as a wagon-way in transporting coal and as an air raid shelter in WWII. What amazes me is the length of the tunnel and how understandably you can be quite oblivious to what's under your feet whilst crossing the Town Moor for example. Interesting stories about the construction and tragedies within the tunnel but also entertaining as the tour guides are keen to inject a bit of humour into the tour. It's surprisingly wider than I first thought and even people who are considerably taller than my 5"4 height didn't struggle to stand upright in the centre of the tunnel. I only did a taster tour for which you don't get to enter very far but it was sufficient to get the gist of the place and its historical value. I would recommend it to anyone as a one off glimpse of Newcastle history! That said, now I have seen it I'm not sure I would return unless there was a specific event on.