The signage, over the three fire engine doors,
reads "London County Council London Fire Brigade".
The EDP24 website (visit
link) tells us that the station is to be revamped:
"The oldest surviving fire station in
London’s East End is being rebuilt as part of a Fire Brigade deal with private
contractors.
Shadwell, which marked its centenary in 2010, is one of nine fire stations
across London which are to be rebuilt and then maintained by the Blue3 Group in
a £57 million private finance contract.
Work is expected to start in June next year, once planning consent is given, but
Shadwell will continue operating while refurbishment at the Cable Street site is
carried out.
The Brigade, which is applying to Tower Hamlets Council for planning permission
in the next 12 months, is now working on arrangements to ensure emergency cover
is not interrupted.
Three other fire-stations in east London are also being refurbished in the deal,
Plaistow, Leytonstone and Dagenham, in addition to two in south-east London,
Dockhead in Bermondsey and the Old Kent Road, and three others at Orpington,
Purley and Mitcham.
Brigade Assistant Commissioner Andy Hickmott said: “Some fire stations are more
than 100 years old and are simply not fit for modern purposes. They need to be
brought up-to-date.”
The private funding provides investment without dipping into the public purse.
The deal means a project like a new fire station is designed, built, financed
and operated by a private consortium under a contract that would typically last
30 years.
The last major revamp in the East End was the new Millwall fire station opened
four years ago on the Isle of Dogs, close to Canary Wharf, replacing the one in
Manchester Road first opened in 1905."
The East London Postcard website (visit
link) gives some history of fire stations in Shadwell:
"The Shadwell Fire Station was built in 1881
at 9 Glamis Road. However, the history of a public fire service in Shadwell goes
back much further, in fact, to the time of the Vestry form of Local Government.
The Shadwell Vestry was compelled by an Act of Parliament of 1707 to keep in the
Parish a Fire Pump, to be drawn by hand and manned by local parishioners. When
the Shadwell Institute was built, in the early 1800s, on part of St Pauls’
Churchyard, the opportunity was taken to include room for a Fire Station. This
housed the Parish Pump, buckets, hoses and harnesses and its two large doors
fronting Shadwell High Street, now The Highway.
In 1835 the London Fire Engine Establishment(LFEE) was formed. The LFEE decided
to convert, in 1862, a Beer Retailer’s Shop at 118 Cock Hill, Ratcliff, now The
Highway, into a Fire Station with room for two fire appliances and horses. When
in 1866, a professional fire fighting force, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, was
formed from the LFEE, the Parish Pump ceased to exist.
The Fire Station at Cock Hill, itself closed when the new four storey Fire
Station in Glamis Road opened. The Shadwell Fire Station had room for two fire
appliances and an observation platform on the roof. In 1902, Motor Cars were
introduced into the service and these slowly replaced horses. Then in 1904 the
Metropolitan Fire Brigade was renamed the London Fire Brigade.
Changes in technology made the Shadwell Fire Station obsolete. Another new Fire
Station was built nearby in Cable Street in 1937 and the Glamis Road one closed.
However, it was not to remain closed. The Old Shadwell Fire Station was reopened
at the start of Second World War as an Auxiliary Fire Service Station. The
fireman at the station played an important part, especially during the Blitz,
fighting huge fires in the London Docks and surrounding area. This was the front
line and the area was devastated.
The Fire Station closed again after the War and was pulled down in the early
1960s. The site of the Old Shadwell Fire Station is now part of Glamis Estate."