The Hub

The Hub was the main base of operations for Torchwood Three.

Location and entrances
The Hub was located directly below Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay, (TV: Everything Changes, etc.) built in and around the remains of a Victorian water pumping station. (PROSE: Another Life) It was accessible by a lift at the water tower which benefited from the effects of the Doctor's TARDIS perception filter, making whoever used it invisible. (TV: Everything Changes) The main entrance, however, was disguised as a Tourist Information Centre on Mermaid Quay. (PROSE: Another Life) There was also an entrance hidden in the basement of the Bute Place car park which was used for the Torchwood SUV. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

Ianto Jones once stated that the Hub was "the most secure place in Cardiff". (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)

Features
The main hall of the Hub included workstations, the Rift Manipulator and entrances to other rooms. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness, etc.) The lowest level of the central area was several inches deep in water and hosted a colony of mosquitoes in the summer. (PROSE: Slow Decay) The water rose and fell with the tide, sometimes trapping fish. It had a valve to prevent flooding. (PROSE: Another Life)

Upstairs was an office used by Jack Harkness, (TV: Everything Changes, etc.) where he kept his personal belongings including TARDIS coral. Other rooms located off of the main room included the Autopsy Room, (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts, etc.) the interrogation room (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie) and the boardroom. (TV: Everything Changes, etc.)

Other rooms included the cryo-chamber room, (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie, etc.) the holding cells, the firing range, (TV: Day One, etc.) the kitchen, (PROSE: Another Life) the archive, the deep-sea aquarium, (PROSE: Slow Decay) the rest and recreation room, (PROSE: Another Life) the secret dock leading into the Bay (AUDIO: The Sin Eaters) and a pteranodon habitat for Myfanwy.

History
The Hub was in the process of being built when Jack Harkness was taken there by Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd in 1899. (TV: Fragments)

After being seriously damaged in an explosion, (TV: End of Days) the main area of the Hub underwent some remodelling, but remained basically the same. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) It experienced more damage when the Earth was relocated to the Medusa Cascade. (TV: The Stolen Earth)

Following the destruction of the Hub during the 456 incident, Gwen Cooper was able to retrieve Harkness' vortex manipulator from the wreckage. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One, Day Two, Day Five) Angelo Colasanto's men were able to salvage a null field generator. (TV: End of the Road)

By 2011, Roald Dahl Plass had been rebuilt — Gwen, Jack, and Rex Matheson visited the site prior to Jack and Gwen's rendition to the US, but all signs of the Torchwood Hub had disappeared. (TV: The New World)

By 2017 the reestablished Torchwood team had moved back into the ruins of the Hub. The invisible lift moved much faster than it was supposed to, with St John Colchester describing it as a "death trap" and commenting that the team should be wearing hard hats at all times due to the Hub's damaged state. The Hub's power was being stolen from a local fusion restaurant called Thaixicana. (AUDIO: Changes Everything)

Torchwood were locked out of the Hub by the Disaster Recovery Committee after they were found responsible for the deaths caused by the tsunami. (AUDIO: ScrapeJane)

The Hub was again destroyed when Yvonne Hartman prevented the Committee from emerging through the rift. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers)