Goodge St Deep Shelter – Subterranea Britannica

Written by Nick Catford on 30 March 2001.

The building is called The Eisenhower Centre.

East Entrance

In Chenies Street, WC1 at the junction of North Crescent. The building consists of two concrete blocks one circular ‘pillbox’ and the smaller one octagonal. They are joined by a long thin rectangular brick building. There is a brick ventilation shaft attached to the rear of this brick building. It has a door and a beam for carrying a pulley for loading large or heavy objects into the tunnels. The main entrance is at the front opposite Alfred Place. There is a square brick ventilation shaft on the roof of the circular ‘pillbox’ with a small brick extension on the east side of the octagonal building. The whole structure is painted cream and red.

West Entrance

In Tottenham Court Road, W1 next to Whitfield Memorial Church and opposite Torrington Place. The main structure is circular ‘pillbox’ built of concrete. There is a square brick intake ventilation shaft on the roof and two lower brick extensions either side of the shaft coming down to ground level. These were for the original doors. On the entrance fronting onto Tottenham Court Road there are the remains of a painted sign which reads' —-D Property —-trance strictly —-ohibited —-out authority'. The sign has been cut in half by the addition of a later door and may date from WW2 or 50’s use. There is a rectangular brick building behind with a low ventilation shaft on the roof. The roof of this building has modern railings round it and is used as a play area by the Fitzrovia Children’s Centre in Whitfield Street who also use the building. The west entrance appears to be unused other than an emergency access to the Eisenhower Centre.

Written by Ted Capper on 21 November 2024.

I am now 90, and back in 1954 I was there briefly. As far as I remember, as a newly promoted 2nd Lieut, I was convocado there to receive my ‘marching orders’ for a flight to Malaya, to join my regiment, the Somerset Light Infantry. I believe I slept there prior, the next day, to be taken to Black Bushe Airport for my flight.

Goodge Street Deep Shelter was something of a ‘rabbit warren’ of a place. I was received by an officer of about the rank of Captain, who told me.the only officers on my Malayan flight would be a colonel. All the other passengers were soldiers' wives and clhildren, and as I was the junior officer, I would have to give out the, ‘Paludrin’ tablets to all of them.

My flight to Singapore was even more strange and unorthodox than it would be possible to imagine, but we got there in the end, in our slow Hermes plane.