Fund to keep cabbies' huts evergreen

The green huts where London cabbies have tea breaks are to be preserved and their story recorded for future generations.

The Heritage Lottery Fund is giving £69,000 to maintain the 13 surviving cabmen’s shelters. Sixty-one were built between 1875 and 1914 when cabbies were not allowed to leave horse-drawn vehicles unattended.

The grant will fund the Creative Intelligence Agency — a not-for-profit arts organisation — to set up a friends group that will preserve the shelters and oversee public visits for the first time during Heritage Open Days.

Cab drivers are also to be interviewed about life in the trade since the Second World War. All the interviews and any memorabilia will go to the London Transport Museum.

Jimmy Jenkins, trustee of the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund, said: “These shelters were built to provide ‘good and wholesome refreshments at moderate prices’, which is what they’ve been doing ever since. We’re proud to be looking after them now.”