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...