Ever wondered where cabbies chill out, exchange anecdotes, share stories they’ve overheard in the back of their cab, warm up and have a cuppa?
Well, the answer is within their cabmen's shelters. For those of you that know London well you may well have seen the cabbie’s shelters dotted around the city and wondered what these green huts are used for.
There are 12 green huts dotted around central London built by the Cabmen's Shelter Fund (established in 1875). They were once part of a much larger network, but today, only 12 remain in use.
The diminutive sheds, each built no bigger than a horse and cart (in line with Metropolitan Police rules of that time) provide shelter and sustenance for the City's hard-working cabbies. Only licensed drivers who have passed The Knowledge are allowed inside.
Every Christmas, Kate Simmonds, who runs the flagship green hut in Russell Square, offers free food/ Christmas dinners to London's homeless, and this year will be no exception.
On Friday 20 December 2019, food will be available all day (from 7am to 7pm) free of charge to the homeless and the emergency services.
This year, Kate has an extra mission up her sleeve. From now until Christmas Day, Kate is aiming to get every London taxi driver (that's approx. 23,000 cabbies) to make a donation of £1 in order to raise as much money as possible for all the cab trade charities.
The seven London taxi trade charities are:
The money raised from Kate’s ‘joint cab trade charities Christmas collection’ will be split equally between all the registered trade charities.
Donations can be made at any of the 12 green huts in London. Plus, Kate will be at Kings Cross and Euston station taxi ranks on Friday 13 December collecting in person.