Part of a WWII shelter in Clapham Common will open for three days this week (25-27 June), for a public consultation on its future. TfL, which owns the shelter, will use its rotunda space to moot ideas for renovation, including a new café, and an exhibition space documenting the shelter's history.
The deep-level air raid shelter was one of eight built during the war — and one of three in Clapham itself — and is grade II listed. Its use didn't stop after 1945: some of the immigrants who arrived on the Empire Windrush spent time living in the subterranean tunnels, before being properly housed.
Blighted by neglect and graffiti, the shelter currently has extremely limited public access. But as we previously reported, TfL is running its first lot of shelter tours in October, and though tickets are long sold out, it's likely such tours will become at least a semi-regular occurrence should TfL's renovation plans see the light of day.
The rotunda is open to public on 25 June (3pm-7pm), 26 June (3pm-7pm) and 27 June (10am- 2pm), with the consultation closing on 10 July. A planning application will then likely be submitted to Lambeth Council later in the summer.
