A disused fire station has been uncovered after 60 years and it looks remarkable

It is a stunning glimpse into what life was like in Britain 60 years ago.

This former fire station has been untouched for more than half a century.

Discovered in the cellar of an old Co Op factory in Dudley, West Midlands, the station still has its firefighting equipment, pumps, hoses and uniforms.

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Some of the equipment in the secret station dates back to the 1920s.

The station contains a red pump engine (Picture: SWNS)

Among the remnants of a former firefighting age are a half-drunk bottle of lemonade and exercise programmes.

The fire station was uncovered by staff at shop-fitters The Allan Nuttall Partnership, which is now based in the building.

Coiled hoses lined on a wall (Picture: SWNS)

They had originally thought the hidden station was an urban legend, but found the treasure trove when marketing manager Anna Bramford dug out an old set of keys.

“It was just amazing,” she said.

“There are people who have been on this site for 30 or so years who had never heard of it.

“People just thought it was an urban myth. No one’s actually been down there until now.

A half-full bottle of lemonade was found in the station (Picture: SWNS)

“When I walked in I just couldn’t believe it. It looks like they just finished work one day and then never came back, it really is a time capsule.”

The partnership is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so staff decided to explore the rooms in the building that hadn’t previously been opened.

The station has been out of use for more than 60 years (Picture: SWNS)

“No one expected to find anything of much interest but the secret fire station is a treasure trove of old artefacts,” said Miss Bramford.

Firefighters’ uniforms, including jackets and caps, remain intact and are hung on pegs with names above them in chalk, such as I Silk, W Price and A Round.

There is a red diesel-powered pump trailer and rolled-up canvas hoses.

Documents were found among the artefacts (Picture: SWNS)

“This is a very large site and the station is hidden in a sort of cave underneath, so it’s hard to find,” said Miss Bramford.

“We think it might have been an air raid shelter before.”

The detail of a button on one of the firefighters’ uniforms (Picture: SWNS)

The original building was a munitions factory built in 1916 by order of prime minister Lloyd George as part of the First World War effort.

Factories of a certain size were obliged by law to have their own working firefighting crew should a blaze break out in the workshop, so the station continued to operate after the war.

The fire station was hidden away for more than a half-century (Picture: SWNS)

The Co Op group took over the building in the 1940s and added its insignia - CWP - to the firefighters’ uniforms.

How the building looks from the outside (Picture: SWNS)

Nuttall’s, which is renovating the site to celebrate 50 years in business, bought the factory in 1986.

Miss Bramford said: “Now we want advice from experts as to what to do with it. We don’t know whether we should give it away or keep it as a time capsule.”