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Old December 23rd 15, 07:08 AM posted to uk.transport.london,misc.transport.urban-transit,uk.railway
e27002 aurora e27002 aurora is offline
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Default Clapham shelter to be revived

On Tue, 22 Dec 2015 19:19:19 -0600,
wrote:

In article ,

(e27002 aurora) wrote:

On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:30:05 -0800 (PST), Offramp
wrote:

London Underground has secured planning permission and listed
building consent from Lambeth Council to turn a park-side rotunda
building near Clapham South Tube station into a new restaurant or
café with exhibition space, bringing the historic Grade II World War
Two shelter back to life.

A café or restaurant will be created on the site, offering views over
Clapham Common.

Under the Rotunda, 180 steps below ground and under the Northern line
tunnels, lie eight deep-level air-raid shelters that were built between
1940 and 1942. The vast tunnels are one of seven deep level networks
constructed along the Northern line. It was not until 1944, when the
bombing of London intensified with the use of V-1 and V-2 bombs, that
the shelter was used for its intended purpose of housing up to 8,000
Londoners during air-raids. It closed after less than a year in May 1945.

TfL has rented out the shelter for secure archive storage in the past.
In 1998, English Heritage awarded the shelter Grade II listed status in
recognition of its history, noting that it is the only deep-level shelter
remaining that retains much of the original signage and is one of the few
to retain many of the original bunk beds...


Much better, IMHO to use it for its original purpose. To wit as part
of a fast, limited stop pair quadrupling the TfL Northern Line.


It's /purpose/ was always as an air raid shelter. The location and alignment
were designed so it could be part of a post-war express tube line if one
were to be built but that project was never developed further.


Sadly this is so. But, taxpayer pounds were in short supply
immediately post WWII.