There will be the rare opportunity to visit a secret part of subterranean London this October when a deep-level WWII bomb shelter opens to the public.
The Clapham South shelter is a network of tube tunnels 180 steps below ground and beside the underground station.
First opened to the public in July 1944, and one of eight deep level shelters across London, Clapham South has an extraordinary history including a time as temporary bed & breakfast accommodation during the Festival of Britain.
Most of London’s deep-level air raid shelter are now used for secure document storage, so public access is unusual.
Tickets will cost £30 and go on sale on 17 April 2015. More details at ltmuseum.co.uk
London Underline
London’s population is booming. According to design firm Gensler, one answer to ease the burden of the city’s additional 3,000 people each week could be to transform London’s disused underground railway tunnels into a network of subterranean cycle ways.
The London Underline earlier this year won Best Conceptual Project at the London Planning awards. The idea promises to transform London’s abandoned tube tunnels into vibrant streets dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists.
The underground network uses dual tunnels, so on stretches of line no longer used, the twin tunnels would offer parallel pedestrian paths and cycle lanes, interconnected with pop-up cafes.
To help make the tunnels more financially and environmentally viable, the paths would be surfaced with kinetic paving. The term piezoelectricity relates to the ability of some materials to generate electricity when they are squeezed or pressed. In the case of the London Underline, it would be the weight of passing bicycles and pedestrians that would squash piezoelectric crystals and cause them to generate power.
The tunnels would be accessible via tube stations, and Boris bike would be at the either end of each stretch.
The main unused tunnel is the abandoned branch of the Piccadilly Line running beneath Kingsway, from Holborn to the no longer used Aldwych station. Another stretches from Green Park to Charing Cross.
If the scheme can be self-financing through sponsorship, then it promises to be an unusual if not entirely practical addition to London’s cycling infrastructure.
London’s secret underground
Running directly under the feet of millions of unsuspecting Londoners and passing many of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, The Post Office Underground Railway – Mail Rail – ran largely unnoticed between 1927 and 2003 from Whitechapel in the east to Paddington in the west. Shut down a decade ago, the world’s first driverless, electrified railway has been frozen in time – until now. The British Postal Museum & Archive has announced it is to open the line to the general public in the next few years.
The ethical choice
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.
Jill Schaefer
Your London stories which were so interesting, brought back so many memories to me, an expat Londoner of long ago. Mention of using the underground as a shelter during World War II, reminded me of growing up in London during the war. I shared my stories of the London Blitz with my German husband who told of his childhood in Nazi Germany.in my memoir ‘Up The Wooden Hill -The Tale of Two WWII Families’. Website for info and videos http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234/.
Kenneth Powers
In 1950s Good St underground was embarkation for troops flying abroad.
I was there in June 1953.