Sheffield Megatron urban caving tours are finally back after two years - and demand is expected to be sky high

The tours, run by the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, are returning after a two year break due to the pandemic and tickets are expected to sell out soon after they go on sale.

The Megatron culvert is a large underground Victorian tunnel which carried water from the rivers Sheaf and Porter Brook.

The culverts are a favourite haunt of urban explorers but, through the trust, they are now open to the public for special guided tours.

Simon Ogden, who helps to run the tours, said: "The last time we did these tours, before the pandemic, they sold out very quickly, within hours of being advertised.

“Visitors can expect a 90 minute exploration of the historic culverts through which the Porter and River Sheaf flow. The structures are quite impressive in engineering terms, some are quite beautiful.

“It shows an interesting history of how the city developed in the Victorian era.

“People find lots of different reasons for going. To help us raise money for other activities that we carry out, or because they have an interest an interest in history, ecology or wildlife.

Other work carried out by the trust includes river clean-ups, promoting the de-culverting and re-naturalisation of the rivers and fundraising for key projects.

Simon added: “The exploration can be a little bit of a challenge but we do everything we can to make it safe. We have guides who cut their teeth on the caves in Derbyshire. We have lots of trained tour guides lined up.

“The name ‘Megatron’ came from an urban explorer, of course it is originally from Transformers. I believe there’s a cave in Manchester named after a transformer.

“The spaces are quite impressive and Megatron suggests a big space of some sort. Megatron is a much bigger space than some other culverts.

The tours will be running from the last weekend in July to the last weekend in August. More may be organised for September but that has not yet been agreed.

Tickets for the tours can be purchased from July 23, here.