The Smallest Police Station

It used to be a fact that you had to be 6ft tall or over to be a policeman in the UK. Stopping at 5ft10 any aspirations for law enforcement I might have had were over by 18. Lack of stature though might have been ideal for working in the UK’s smallest police station…

Positioned in the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square, you could easily walk by this police station on a daily basis and not know it’s there.

Thanks to Dr Who the world is familiar with the old style police box, but in this instance, there is no Time And Relative Dimensions In Space – this one is every bit as small on the inside as its diminutive exterior suggests.

Trafalgar Square

Stock photo.

This extraordinary police station was built to house a single PC or two prisoners. Clearly, prisoners were not expected to enjoy any luxuries such as room to flinch or barely air to breath.

To blend with the environment it was fashioned from a hollowed out street lamp in 1926 and it gave a policeman presence in an area known for protests at the time.

Not only that, as soon as the phone was picked up, the ornate lamp above – rumoured to have come from Nelson’s ship HMS Victory and installed in 1826 – would start to flash. Another Tardis comparison for the Whovians out there!

Still there for all to see this remarkable police station is no longer a demonstration observing, lamp flashing, prisoner cramming upholder of the law. Rather ignominiously it now houses brooms and cleaning products for the local council.

However, it’s still a unique little gem that is worth finding!