How About a Bacon Butty?

I expect you have often seen this or similar. At least sixty-one were built and now thirteen remain. It is, of course, a cabman’s shelter. As originally they were parked on public highways and some still are, they could be no  bigger than a horse and cart. 

Today, as you can see, some of them have crept up on the pavement. The whole thing was the idea of a Captain Armstrong in 1875. The good Capt. thought that too many cabbies were getting intoxicated in public houses. He enlisted the help of Lord Shaftesbury who by then was running short of do-gooding ideas. He had already introduced legislation on lunatics, working hours, banning women and children from working underground in mines and stopping children being used as chimney sweeps. So setting up huts where cabbies could get something to eat was small beer by his standards but, don’t get me wrong, the shelters have never sold alcohol.

So perhaps an interesting bit of social history, but of no relevance to those of us who do not drive taxis: wrong. When you are in search of some carbs after partying into the early hours they provide a useful takeaway service to all comers. The shelter near the Royal Albert Hall   is open from 6.30 am to 3.00 am. This menu is a few years old (2009) but it gives an idea of what’s on offer. Mine’s a bacon and black pudding sandwich. I’ll pass on the six sugars in my tea.

They look like the progeny of a union between a cricket pavilion and a garden shed. They were built for this Hanson cab driver – and now for us too.

Here is where they can be found.

Chelsea Embankment – near the Albert Bridge
Embankment Place
Grosvenor Gardens – west side of north garden
Hanover Square – north of central garden
Kensington Park Road – outside numbers 8-10
Kensington Road – north side
Pont Street
Russell Square – west corner (previously in Leicester Square)
St George’s Square, Pimlico
Temple Place
Thurloe Place, Kensington – opp the Victoria & Albert Museum
Warwick Avenue – Clifton Gardens
Wellington Place, St John’s Wood