Deep under Clapham South tube station – 36.5m or 180 steps to be exact – you’ll find a network of underground tunnels.
The shelter, which opened its doors to the public in 1942, was part of an effort to protect the people during World War II.
There were eight such spaces built across London, though only five ever actually opened to the public.
READ MORE: Twenty six staff forced to flee school after blaze
Each one could house up to 8,000 guests and for many people, these shelters became a permanent home for weeks, months or years as bombs devastated the capital.
Jam Press visited the Clapham South site, where London Transport Museum and Hidden London run tours, yesterday (24 October).
Guides explained that life in the tunnels was actually quite good.
Visitors were offered free medical care and you must remember that this was before the NHS was founded in 1948.
There was a canteen that sold delicacies like jam tarts, which were all but impossible to find above ground.
The shelter held enough food to last three days.
Due to the sheer size of the space, each tunnel was given its own name so that residents could easily find their way around – such as Parry, Hardy and Nelson.
You could smoke inside, though thankfully there was a ventilation system.
Everyone was given a mattress but had to bring their own bedding.
Many people, especially families with young children, would also bring along their own items – if they had not lost them – to make the space homelier, such as small rugs or a curtain or cloth to hang for privacy.
There was entertainment and performances for the little ones, and the staff would play music to lift people’s spirits.
The toilet situation however was a bit more… interesting.
Since the sewage system was above the shelter, flushing was not possible so bucket-type toilets were used.
These were emptied into the aptly-named ‘Slop Hopper’ – a pressurised machine that could hold five days’ worth of waste.
And each visitor had to leave the site at 7am every morning so staff could clean up, before returning back later that day.
And there were occasional thefts, too.
Another interesting fact?
When the shelter was built, they made too many metal bed frames – to avoid wastage, some of these were re-purposed into fencing used in London to this day.
After the war, many of the shelters closed while others were repurposed.
The Clapham South one was used as a “low-budget hotel” for Windrush generation, with 500 men from Jamaica living at the site.
The cost for a bed was approximately £4 a night (in today’s currency).
There was a work exchange as well.
The shelter was also used to house guests during the Festival of Britain and as a temporary space for army troops.
In more recent years, it was transformed into a space to grow vegetables underground through a project called ‘Growing Underground’.
Sadly, the company didn’t survive the financial pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic and so the project was shut down, as reported by Need To Know.
Now, the site is used mainly for one purpose: to show around guests interested in seeing a slice of Britain’s history.
