*London’s “Cabman Shelters” – Revisited (2025)

London’s “Cabman Shelters” – Re-visited (2025)

This week’s London Shoes trek out was slightly different to the norm – as, for the first time that I can recall, I revisited a topic that I had previously published some 8yrs ago……also – for this jaunt out I had the pleasure of being accompanied by a long-time Shoes’ follower.

I worked with Karen, albeit very briefly, way back in the late 1980’s – when we were both ‘stationed’ at Barclays Bank-High Street North-East Ham-London E6. (the branch building is now fittingly home to the ‘Overdraft’ a pub)

We worked on different floors of the building so didn’t really see much of each other or get the chance to chat to each other much during our time together there.

I wasn’t at East Ham branch for very long, before being transferred out to Whitechapel – and so I never saw Karen again – although we have many mutual friends/colleagues, so we sort of knew what was going on, in that way.

However – since the very early days of my London Shoes – a hobby which I started upon my retirement back in 2017 – Karen has been a loyal ‘follower’ of my Shoes stuff, often liking and commenting on my blog publications.

So – it was a lovely surprise when Karen contacted me the other week enquiring as to whether she could perhaps accompany me ‘on-the-road’ to undertake a London Shoes day out.

Of course, I was absolutely delighted that Karen wanted to join me on a trek out – and I asked her whether there was a particular place / building / area etc that she would like to visit. Karen referred back to a blog I’d published way back in Sept 2017 in the early days of London Shoes …..where the subject matter was “London’s Cabman Shelters” – a topic she found particularly interesting, and wanted to find out a little bit more about.

The way I publish stuff these days has changed considerably since the early days of London Shoes, especially in terms of presentation, positioning and style – so I was more than happy, and keen to produce this……“London’s Cabman Shelters-Revisited-2025”.

For those that may not be fully aware of what a Cabman Shelter actually is – I’ve provided below a brief overview of their history and what they’re all about, and their relevance in today’s London.

Back in the late 1800’s one of the most popular and convenient ways of getting out and about around London was by a horse drawn carriage known as a ‘Handsom Cab’, where a passenger sat inside the carriage whilst the ‘cabbie’ sat on top of the carriage guiding/controlling the horse – and being fully exposed to the elements.

‘Cabbies’ were often in desperate need for frequent pit-stops throughout the day (and night) for refreshment/food and loo breaks, but at that time, the Law prevented a cabbie from leaving his horse and carriage unattended – and so he had to either entrust someone to ‘mind’ the horse and carriage, while he went for a break – or simply leave the horse and carriage unattended, and risk a brush with the law, or risk the horse and carriage getting nicked.

The story goes that back in 1874 a top London newspaper editor by the name of George Armstrong had sent his man-servant out to hail a ‘Cab’, on a particularly dire/grim evening weather-wise – but because the weather conditions were so bad, all the ‘cabbies’ were holed up, nice and warm (and quite possibly slightly inebriated) in local pubs.

This prompted Armstrong to get together with some of his most prominent mates, one of which was the Earl of Shaftesbury – with a view to setting up a charity to fund and erect ‘purpose-built’ shelters throughout London for the specific purpose of providing hot food and drink (non-alcoholic of course) for the Cabbies – in the hope that this would keep them out of the pubs and thus more available and capable of meeting customer demands.

Between 1875 and 1914 – a total of 61 ‘Cabman Shelters’ were erected across London, at a cost of about £200 each. The very first one was constructed in St. John’s Wood – funnily enough, right nearby to home of their founder George Armstrong.

Because they were located directly on some of London’s busiest roads, the authorities, including the Metropolitan Police, placed strict rules and regulations around the design of these shelters – to ensure consistency and uniformity about them. For example: –

 

**All the shelters had to be of the same characteristic

**They could be no longer or wider than the average horse & cart

**They had to be timber framed, with tongue and groove timber panels and a felt clad timber roof.

**They had to have the same chimney/vent installed, to release the steam/vapours from the installed wood burning stove

**All shelters had to strictly be ‘green’ in colour – with the specific paint colour “Dulux Buckingham Paradise 1 Green”

**The decorative woodwork panels would have to, somewhere on the outside, include the initials CSF – which stands for ‘Cabmen’s Shelter Fund’….the charity that still supports them to this very day!!

Obviously, the days of horse drawn ‘cabs’ are long gone – but the Cabman Shelters use and purpose still continues to this very day – providing much needed (and deserved) sustenance, whether it be tea or coffee or a bacon sarnie plus other tasty delights – to today’s cab drivers.

Many of the original 61 Cabman Shelters that first surfaced across London in the Victorian era are now long gone – however amazingly, 13 still survive, and so the quest for London Shoes ably assisted by Karen– was to track them down…….and here’s what we found :-

• Wellington Place – St John’s Wood – near to Lord’s Cricket Ground
• Warwick Avenue – by Warwick Avenue tube station
• Kensington Park Road – not far from Notting Hill Gate tube station
• Hanover Square-W1 – on north side of the central gardens – abandoned and occupied by pigeons
• Embankment Place-WC2 – near to the Playhouse Theatre
• George’s Square – Pimlico – SW1 – currently closed for ‘half-term’
• Russell Square – WC1 – near to Russell Square tube and next to the actual Russell Square public park
• Pont Street – SW1 – close to Sloane Square tube – currently closed and inaccessible (road works)
• Temple Place – WC2 – along the Victoria Embankment right by the River Thames
• Grosvenor Gardens-SW1 – right next to the northern public garden
• Chelsea Embankment – SW3 – no longer a Cabman Shelter – now a business premises
• Kensington Road-W8 – currently closed – don’t know how long for
• Thurloe Place-SW7 – currently closed – don’t know how long for – or whether it will re-open

Not all today’s 13 surviving Cabman Shelters are functioning – but with those that are, you will quite often find a line of black cabs queuing up to not only get fed and watered, but these days – to also ‘charge’ up their IT devices.

Some of the Shelters have a table and benches inside them and technically, only those that have passed “The Knowledge” are permitted to eat/drink inside a Cabman Shelter. On sunny days some Shelters put seating and tables outside on the surrounding pavements – creating an area for cabbies and punters alike to chill and have a brew and a bite to eat.

 

2025 (this year) marks the 150^th Anniversary of the introduction of London’s Cabman Shelters – but sadly, the future of this globally recognised London institution, is precariously balanced, like never before – with challenges like:- declining numbers of cabbies / rising costs / electric vehicles / competition from private hire services like Uber / reduction in Government support for electric zero emission vehicles / sat-nav verses The Knowledge – plus many more similar and associated issues.

All these challenges and issues – are a serious threat to the future of London’s iconic black cabs – and it is being said that it is very likely that black cabs as we know them, won’t be around in 20yrs time.

 

I believe that all 13 of London’s Cabman Shelters are Grade II Listed protected – so despite whatever the future may hold – these wonderful historic London landmarks should (hopefully) remain in situ for the time being at least – for cabbies/general public and future generations to appreciate and enjoy.

So – having spent a good 6hrs jumping on and off tube trains and pounding miles of London pavements – myself and Karen (my worthy and valued assistant for the day) felt that we were in desperate need of a little liquid refreshment before both setting off back to our respective homes.

Having just ‘done’ the final Cabman Shelter on my list – near to the Kings Road-Chelsea – (which disappointingly we found to be permanently ‘closed’)…….we stumbled upon a cracking little pub – The “Fox & Hounds”.

Situated in a quiet backstreet, the “Fox & Hounds” is a small 1860’s-built end of terrace pub – just around the corner from Sloane Square tube station.

It was initially built as a working man’s pub specifically for employees working for the Grosvenor Estate.

Not unsurprisingly, displayed throughout the pub are loads of fox and hound related material, plus other interesting artifacts.

One of London’s old ‘lost’ rivers, the ‘River Bourne’ runs directly underneath the pub, keeping its cellar nice and cool – and it is commonly said that the ‘Fox & Hounds’ Guinness – is the finest in London.

Friendly, chilled and comfortable throughout – the Fox & Hounds was the ideal place for me and Karen to take the weight off our tired trotters – sink a couple of ‘cheeky’ ones – and reflect on what had been an interesting, successful an extremely enjoyable Shoes day out ‘on-the-road’.

Hope you enjoy the article and that the photos bring the Cabman Shelter story to life a little bit for you.

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See below the entire gallery of photos taken to accompany this blog article