Unlock the secrets of the Underground – from your armchair!
London Transport Museum has launched a new series of its Hidden London tours aimed at taking groups deep into long-lost stations from the comfort of their participants’ homes, writes Robin Jones.
Lockdown has again brought the heritage sector to a halt – hence the absence of our regular Up & Running guide again this issue – but internet technology has shown it can showcase its treasures to an even wider audience. The London Transport Museum has launched a new series of its Hidden London tours aimed at taking groups deep into long-lost stations from the comfort of their participants’ homes, writes Robin Jones.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the ‘World War Three’ scenario of the past year has seen internet technology engaged across the board to beat the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Organisations from governments down to schools and businesses large and small have turned to holding online Zoom meetings to reduce human contact and the spread of the virus while aiming to carry on as best they can with everyday life.
In the UK heritage sector, one of the most dramatic uses of internet streaming occurred on June 27, when the first ‘public’ steaming of Large England 0-4-0STT Welsh Pony in 80 years on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway was viewed by thousands across the globe at an otherwise private event at Boston Lodge Works.
During its enforced closure, the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden is now using the web not only to fulfil its mission statement but also to raise money to offset losses which will otherwise continue to mount until it can readmit the paying public again.
Group travel organisers, coach companies and tour operators can now transport their customers to a secret side of forgotten London when they book a ‘group virtual tour’ of a disused Tube station with the museum’s Hidden London team. Visitors can once again discover the secret history that lies beneath the capital’s streets... but from the comfort of their sofas.
A new horde of virtual guests can experience a subterranean world of shadowy tunnels and forgotten spaces of London Underground in groups of a minimum of 25 people and a maximum of 50 participants. A second tour can be arranged if the group is larger than 50 people.
The three new virtual tours include Brompton Road station, King William Street station and the Holborn (Kingsway) area.
Itineraries
Guests will be ‘walked through’ a gallery of contemporary photographs, videos and never-before-seen footage, as well as archival images from the museum’s collection while their expert guide reveals fascinating facts and tales about these ‘lost’ parts of London’s Underground network. Furthermore, participants are welcome to ask the knowledgeable Hidden London guide questions during the tour.
Visitors can Zoom into Brompton Road station and discover how, during the Second World War, the station was used as a topsecret control centre and bunker for Britain’s Anti-Aircraft Division.
Located between Knightsbridge and South Kensington stations on the Piccadilly line, Brompton Road station was closed in 1934 after the line was extended. It was closed along with stations such as Down Street and York Road as they were only lightly used.
Closed in 1900, King William Street was the first station to become ‘disused’ on the Underground and guests can find out about its short life before it closed.
The station was the original but short-lived northern terminus of the City and South London Railway (CSLR), which was the first deep-level underground railway in the world. The CSLR, which originally ran from King William Street to Stockwell, now forms part of the Bank branch of the Northern line.
A special behind-the-scenes virtual tour lets viewers see what the disused station looks like today and how it is being used during the current Bank station extension project.
The Holborn (Kingsway) tour takes in three sites. In 1898, London County Council (LCC) decided to completely redevelop the area now known as Kingsway and Aldwych. Notorious for its high crime rates, slum housing and establishments of ill repute, the area was to become a new business district for London with wide boulevards and grand office buildings.
This transformation required new public transport to bring people to and from work, and in response, LCC built a tram subway beneath Kingsway itself, to facilitate interchange between south and north London trams.
At the same time, the Piccadilly line was burrowing its way through London, with a station at Holborn to serve the newlyconstructed district, and a branch line down to Aldwych to serve the many theatres of Covent Garden.
The Kingsway trio provide a brilliant example of how public transport unlocked parts of London previously inaccessible at the turn of the 20th century, and how these spaces adapted and changed when they were no longer required to serve their original purpose, often in very unusual ways.
Insight
Guests will join an exclusive virtual tour where three abandoned structures are explored; Kingsway – which includes the only underground tram tunnel in UK, Aldwych and Holborn. Visitors will learn how this new infrastructure opened up what we know today as the West End.
Ollie Burton, business development manager for Hidden London, said: “In these challenging times for the tourism industry our Hidden London virtual tours are perfect for large groups. Without even stepping outside their front door, your clients will be able to experience an atmospheric subterranean world while an expert guide talks them through the rich history of the capital and its Underground.
“Due to restricted access, some of these disused Underground spaces, such as Brompton Road and King William Street Tube stations, will never be open for public tours, so these group virtual tours allow people to get as close as possible to the real thing.”