What the little green pavilions found on London streets are really used for
telegraph.co.uktaxi drivers.‘I go to the one in Russell Square almost every day,’ says Ian Page, 56, who has driven a black cab for more than 25 years.
The Arsenal fan and cabbie’s son keeps a team mug at the shelter, where Jude Holmes, one of the keepers, doesn’t have to ask for his order.It was at the shelter, just down the road from the British Museum, that Page met Tom Skipp, a photographer who had become fascinated by the huts 15 years ago, when he used to buy his lunch at a shelter while working in an office on Hanover Square.‘Only licensed black cab drivers are allowed in, but you could buy a ploughman’s for about £3.50 through the window,’ says Skipp, 43, who now lives in Bristol. ‘As I cycled around London, I noticed more of them and got really intrigued to look inside.’The faux bell towers on the pitched roofs are vents for releasing the steam and scents of tea urns and sizzling bacon.
Inside, a tiny kitchen opens on to a U-shaped table and bench, where cabbies can relax between fares.‘Driving a cab is quite a lonely job, especially when people are straight on their phones in the back,’ says Page. ‘The shelter’s my only point of contact with other drivers.
There’s always good banter going on – and Jude loves all that.’Shelter was more vital when the huts were first conceived in 1875.
Read more on telegraph.co.uk
