Then and Now: Grantham bomb shelters were known to have defects

In March 1945, Grantham Corporation withheld payment from West Heath Contractors Ltd of Stafford, who had built 63 air raid shelters, divided into 169 units, on Cambridge Street, Bridge End Road and Dudley Road, writes Ruth Crook of Grantham Civic Society.

The Grantham Journal reported that the Corporation claimed that they had paid £13,975, but withheld £1,375, claiming that shelters were not constructed soundly and were not fit for purpose.

The barrister claimed that in 1942 there was ‘an air raid, in the course of which one shelter received a direct hit and two others were damaged by the blast.

'In consequence of the damage that was done to the shelters, it became well-known that there were certain defects in the internal brickwork.

'In the spring of 1944, counsel thought tenders were obtained and the work of adding an additional skin of brickwork to the shelters was actually begun upon some of them in June 1944.’

They continued that ‘This meant that from October 1942, until some time in June 1944, throughout that period it was known that defects existed which were alleged to have rendered these shelters incapable of giving adequate protection to the population.’