A charity has been set up to support the remaining Green Cabmens’ Shelters so no more are lost. Here is a map and list showing just how many have been lost over the years.

Green Cab Shelters have been providing shelter and sustenance to cabbies for over 140 years. Check out their history, construction, facilities and miscellaneous facts by following these links:

Introduction
Inspiration
Early years
13 Survivors
Miscellany

This cabmens’ shelter in 1904 London gives some idea of the modest dimensions of cabmen’s shelters. This picture is of a cab stand close to Harrod’s, about 400 yards from the present location of the Thurloe Place cab stand and shelter (see below). Since two shelters would not have been built so close together, the cab stand and shelter must have been moved to Thurloe Place sometime after 1904.

Many cabbie huts were destroyed in the Blitz and with the subsequent post-war redevelopment and road widening the shelters went into decline leaving only thirteen. They soldiered on with TGWU and GLC help. When the GLC folded, the bacon butty was passed to the Heritage of London Trust, which has underwritten the renovation of all but two of the shelters, at a cost of £25,000 each. They are now Grade II listed buildings and protected by English Heritage.

One shelter which stood at Hyde Park Corner until it was pulled down to make way for the Piccadilly Underpass was often frequented by polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The regulars, prior to his last expedition, presented him with a set if pipes and a pipe rack. He died at sea but his letter thanking them hung on the shelter wall until its demolition.

These unpretentious green huts that have sustained London cabbies for more than 130 years are to get a new lease of life, thanks to a £69,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Cabman’s Shelter Fund

On 27th September 1966 The Cabmen’s Shelter Fund was registered with the Charity Commission: Registered charity number 236108. The shelters are now run by tenants who pay a contribution to the Charity to maintain the shelters, and still sell hot drinks and sandwiches.

This charity endeavours to keep the remaining shelters in good order. If you have a query about the shelters including permissions to film or photograph inside any of them, please contact Jimmy Jenkins at the Fund’s website.

If you wish, you may contribute to this charity by using the donate button at the top right corner of this page.

I am indebted to Jimmy Jenkins and Alf Townsend for providing me with the locations of many of the lost shelters. I hope more will be added as we discover their lost locations.

Some of the lost shelters:

1875 Acacia Road
1875 Vauxhall Station – One of originals moved?
1875 Harrow Road – One of originals moved?
1875 Knightsbridge – Replaced in 1883, old one to Pont Street
1875 Eaton Square
1875 Maida Vale
1875 St. Clement Danes (Strand)
1875 St. George’s Road – Ex St. Clement Danes
1875 Gloucester Gate – Ex St. George’s Road
1875 South Kensington – In 1900 moved to Warwick Road
1875 Warwick Road
1875 Haverstock Hill – Originally Acacia Road, enlarged 1881
1875 Park Road (Regent’s Park)
1875 Waterloo Station
1875 Half Moon Street 1885 – Replaced old one to South Place
1875 South Place 1886 – Moved twice, Holborn Viaduct and Lincoln’s Inn Fields
1875 Lincoln’s Inn Fields – Ex South Place via Holborn Viaduct
1875 Kensington 1885 – Replaced moved to Skinner Street
1875 Skinner Street (St. Pancras) – Ex Kensington later moved Midland Street
1875 Pickering Place – One of the originals moved in first years
1875 St. George’s Square – In 1892 old shelter soon replaced
1876 Palace Yard (Parliament entrance) – Financed by Hon. Members
1877 Ladbroke Grove Road – In 1881 moved to Westbourne Park Station
1877 Westbourne Park Station – In 1888 moved to Baker Street
1877 Archer Street (Westbourne Grove)
1877 Baker Street
1877 Kensington Park Road
1878 Pont Street – In 1883 old Knightsbridge, 1892 replaced
1878 Ebury Bridge – In 1883 Ex Pont Street
1878 Lewisham Hill 1886 – Ex Ebury Bridge
1878 High Holborn (Holborn Hill
1878 Paddington (Great Western Railway)
1879 Clapham Common
1879 Kensington Crescent
1879 Putney Station 1899 to Kensington Crescent
1879 Kensington Church
1880 Temple Station
1880 Melbury Road – In 1900 moved to Kensington Crescent
1880 Cromwell Road
1880 Eccleston Bridge – In 1900 moved to Tower Hill
1880 Tower Hill
1880 Portland Road Station
1881 Guildford Street (Foundling Hospital)
1881 Royal Crescent
1881 Northumberland Avenue
1883 St. James’s Square
1884 Marble Arch
1885 Hyde Park Corner
1886 Langham Place
1886 Duncannon Street
1886 Holborn Viaduct – Ex South Place
1888 Warwick Road
1895 Haymarket
1897 Hanover Square
1897 Earl’s Court Station – In 1899 moved to Brompton Oratory
1897 Brompton Road (Oratory)
18?? Midland Street – Ex Skinner Street
1901 Leicester Square