This year up until this site, i hadn't managed to do a single report, but like the proverbial London buses, when it came, it came in threes. This was going to be a good night for me, doing stuff an old boy like me shouldn't be doing. First i met up with some real explorers in the shape of FB , BHG and Kev. First stop was an exploring ambition of mine fulfilled. Next it was off to Southall to do my first Gas holder ( need to work on my fitness levels ). Then off home for a nap as i was a bit tired. When i got up i had BigBadAsh at my door ready to go back to London to do the Soho Square Air Raid shelter. Kev and BHG had been for a look a couple of days before and when we heard about it we had to check it out, as it is up for sale and wont be there in its present state for long
Iv'e been to Soho Square many times before and hadn't realized it had an Air Raid shelter under it, which made this a must see for me.
We entered the shelter and found it was not huge but bigger than expected, It's 32,000sq ft in size. It is comprised of four rooms and an emergency exit, which comes up into a mock Tudor building in the middle of the Gardens. There wasn't a great deal of stuff to see but it was a cool place to visit and glad we got to see it before its turned into something else.
So three sites in one day in the company of four great people. Massive thanks to Kev and BHG for letting me tag along and FB for his company at Southall
and BBA at Soho
History
Couldn't find much history on this one, only that it was built in 1939 under the Gardens in Soho Square. Its now up for sale with an asking price of £175,000
The shelter was one of dozens hastily built across central London after the outbreak of war in 1939. Leslie Hardcastle, president of the Soho Society, said he recalls spending the night in the shelter several times during the war.
He said: ”It was lined with about 12 inches of brick and had concrete as a roof. It could take about 150 to 200 people initially although that became less when they put tiers of bunks in. The only facility was a toilet and it could get quite smelly with all the people down there.”
Pics
Entrance inside the gardens
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Emergency exit is inside this building
How it looked during the war
Emergency staircase
Main entrance
Thanks again Kev and BHG
THanks for looking
Iv'e been to Soho Square many times before and hadn't realized it had an Air Raid shelter under it, which made this a must see for me.
We entered the shelter and found it was not huge but bigger than expected, It's 32,000sq ft in size. It is comprised of four rooms and an emergency exit, which comes up into a mock Tudor building in the middle of the Gardens. There wasn't a great deal of stuff to see but it was a cool place to visit and glad we got to see it before its turned into something else.
So three sites in one day in the company of four great people. Massive thanks to Kev and BHG for letting me tag along and FB for his company at Southall
and BBA at SohoHistory
Couldn't find much history on this one, only that it was built in 1939 under the Gardens in Soho Square. Its now up for sale with an asking price of £175,000
The shelter was one of dozens hastily built across central London after the outbreak of war in 1939. Leslie Hardcastle, president of the Soho Society, said he recalls spending the night in the shelter several times during the war.
He said: ”It was lined with about 12 inches of brick and had concrete as a roof. It could take about 150 to 200 people initially although that became less when they put tiers of bunks in. The only facility was a toilet and it could get quite smelly with all the people down there.”
Pics
Entrance inside the gardens
Emergency exit is inside this building
How it looked during the war
Emergency staircase
Main entrance
Thanks again Kev and BHG
THanks for looking
: It's got some very unusual elements
