Suspected Market Place WW2 ARP Wardens Shelter converted from a current Victorian cellar situated in the centre of Market Place outside the former Barclays Bank, not many know its there but it is...converted from what looks like a Victorian basement with no building above.
I was lucky to see this one, as work was going on converting the building into a burger restaurant two years ago, when this was on going i noticed something rather bizarre outside it which was a hole with steps going down, so i checked it out and got this shot.
I got home after that and researched what could have been there, it turns out its on the site of a old ARP Wardens Post, now being used to carry water and drainage through pipes!
How the shelter looks today
A.R.P. Shelter in Market Place, Reading
Photograph from Reading Chronicle Collection - September 1939
completed for accessibility and SEO
Finishing the new public air raid shelter in Market Place, Reading.
This A.R.P. shelter in Market Place, Reading is probably the one of those visited by a Berkshire Chronicle reporter in October 1939. An existing cellar was strengthened for use as a public shelter. At this time the capacity of shelters in Reading town centre was around 1,600 but this was confidently expected to double when the building works in progress were completed.
This photograph was published in the Berkshire Chronicle on 29 September 1939.
I was lucky to see this one, as work was going on converting the building into a burger restaurant two years ago, when this was on going i noticed something rather bizarre outside it which was a hole with steps going down, so i checked it out and got this shot.
I got home after that and researched what could have been there, it turns out its on the site of a old ARP Wardens Post, now being used to carry water and drainage through pipes!
How the shelter looks today
A.R.P. Shelter in Market Place, Reading
Photograph from Reading Chronicle Collection - September 1939
completed for accessibility and SEO
Finishing the new public air raid shelter in Market Place, Reading.
This A.R.P. shelter in Market Place, Reading is probably the one of those visited by a Berkshire Chronicle reporter in October 1939. An existing cellar was strengthened for use as a public shelter. At this time the capacity of shelters in Reading town centre was around 1,600 but this was confidently expected to double when the building works in progress were completed.
This photograph was published in the Berkshire Chronicle on 29 September 1939.
