Underground ghost stations

If you’ve ever travelled on London’s Piccadilly Line, you may have noticed that on the stretch between Green Park and South Kensington, the north-facing tunnel twice changes to a peculiar dark grey rather than the familiar charcoal black. I always used to look out for these grey bricks when I took the Tube back home to Hammersmith. This is because I was obsessed with disused, or ‘ghost’ stations, and on this stretch were two of the most distinguished: Down Street and Brompton Road, both of which were closed in the 1930s.

Down Street is of particular interest, having served in the following decade as a bunker for Winston Churchill during the war. As a station, it had hardly been used after opening in 1907. It was too close to Green Park (then called Dover Street) and Hyde Park, and situated in an area with few residents. Trains often didn’t even bother to stop there, and it shut its doors to passengers for good in 1932.

Dozens of London Underground stations have been closed over the years owing to infrequent use or rationalisation, but their remains also earn them the moniker of ‘ghost station’. One is King William Street, near present-day Monument Station, which was the original terminus of the City & South London Railway (now the southern leg of the Northern Line). When it opened in 1890 it was the first deep-level underground railway in the capital, but its life was cut short in 1900 when the line was redirected to Bank. Although the building was demolished, the platforms remain, and a plaque commemorating its short life can be seen today on Monument Street.

Another is Marlborough Road on the Metropolitan Line. It had a meagre passenger uptake except during the cricket season, owing to its proximity to Lord’s.