Cabmen’s shelter gets heritage protection

The last of thirteen surviving cabmen’s shelters in London has been granted Grade II heritage protection from demolition. They were a typically Victorian intervention – to stop cab drivers from drinking in pubs.

 

Cabmen’s shelter on Wellington Place, St John’s Wood (c) Historic England Archive

“When Captain George C Armstrong, editor of The Globe newspaper, was unable to get a cab during a storm because the drivers had all sought refuge in local pubs, he decided to band together a group of wealthy and influential philanthropists to provide a solution. He helped establish the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund in London in 1875 with the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, providing warm and dry rest stops at ranks along many major thoroughfares across the city.” 

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