Deputy Mayor backs London’s cabmen’s shelters as independent trade assets
- Perry Richardson
- 2 hours ago
- 1 min read
London’s Deputy Mayor for Business Howard Dawber has highlighted the Temple Place Cabmen’s Shelter as his independent London business of the day, drawing attention to one of the capital’s few remaining green cabmen’s huts.
In a post, Dawber said he stopped at the shelter, near Temple Tube and Victoria Embankment, for a sandwich and tea. He described it as one of 13 cabmen’s shelters still operating in London.
The shelters were built between 1875 and 1914 by the Cabmen’s Shelters Fund to provide cab drivers with food and drink away from poor weather. Dawber said 61 were built at a cost of £200 each.
The huts were originally designed to fit on the road without taking more than a single carriage parking space. Inside, they include kitchen space, storage and seating for up to around a dozen cab drivers.
Howard Dawber praised the Temple Place Cabmen’s Shelter as one of 13 remaining historic huts still serving London’s taxi trade and visitors.
Dawber noted that while the shelters now serve non-cab drivers through takeaway hatches, only licensed cabbies are allowed inside the seated areas. Some sites, including Temple Place, also have outside tables.
The remaining shelters are protected listed structures, giving them a heritage role as well as an operational one for London’s taxi trade.
Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, responded to Dawber’s post saying he had recently taken the Chancellor to the same shelter and offered to take Dawber inside for coffee.
The post gives fresh public attention to a small but long-running part of London’s taxi infrastructure, at a time when independent street-level businesses face pressure from many angles.
