WW2 air raid shelter rediscovered under shoe shop

A World War Two public air raid shelter, complete with its original reinforced concrete roof, has been rediscovered under a shop in York city centre.

The shelter, in a basement beneath a Grade II listed building on Spurriergate, is thought to have been built in about 1939, and is believed to have been intended to protect up to 100 people.

The existence of the shelter is highlighted in plans to go before City of York Council, with developers wanting to turn the basement into a new retail space for the shop above.

Duncan Marks, from York Civic Trust, said: "It's very rare to find a public air raid shelter. They are relatively common in private basements in the city, but not public."

A total of 11 major air raids were carried out on York by German bomber crews during World War Two - all between August 1940 and December 1942.

Those included the so-called "Baedeker raids" in the early hours of 29 April 1942 in which 94 people were killed in the city.

The raids saw the Luftwaffe bombard strategic targets, including York's railway station.

According to planning documents to be seen by councillors, the communal shelter in the basement under 12-16 Spurriergate still retained its original ceiling, strengthened with reinforced concrete.

As part of the application by Park Newton Estates Ltd, York-based architects Mass Architecture stated that the shelter itself was made of brick.

It provided "evidence of the actions taken to provide protection in York from aerial attack" during World War Two, while the four-storey building as a whole had "medium" historical value, they added.

As part of the plans for under the Shoes 4 U store, the unused basement space where the remains of the shelter were located would be converted into a usable retail space, with a new timber staircase, the architects said.

As the building was inside York's Central Historic Core Conservation Area, the plans had been "thoughtfully considered to minimise any potential harm to the heritage significance of the listed building".

The proposed works were to make sure the store and building could continue to be used safely in the long term, Mass Architecture stated.

According to the report to be considered by the council's planners, the shelter was "intrinsically linked to the Baedeker Raids on York, which are an important moment in the history of the city, especially during World War Two".

Mr Marks said York Civic Trust believed the air raid shelter had been designed "likely for anywhere between 50 and 100 people".

While the shelter may end up being demolished as part of the refurbishment, "there are some aspects of it that could well be maintained to at least give a visual prompt that the basement had a World War Two public shelter function", he said.

"There is a lettering system - the use of various letters and arrows [on the shelter's walls].

"These could be retained in situ and effectively framed and lit as a heritage feature," he suggested.

"York Civic Trust will be pushing for this, as well as a full recording of the shelter as World War Two heritage, should it be approved for demolition," Mr Marks said.

A date for a decision by City of York Council on the plans for the basement of 12-16 Spurriergate has yet to be fixed.

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