London's lost tube stations

Aldwych station from The Strand

Abandoned tube stations are a bit of a horror movie cliche. Dark, dingy, solitary... Not for me. I make no secret of my fascination with the London Underground, especially it's history and design, so this was an absolute treat. Aldwych underground station opened in 1907 and closed in 1994. While only being on a branch line of the Piccadilly line, it has had a fascinating existence from providing bomb shelter to being a film set and providing storage for works of art.

Occasionally the London Transport Museum open the station for tours and late last year the Aussie and I went to have a look...

The two platforms are now mainly used as film sets, but London Underground also test out tiling and other decorative materials for the stations here.

 Aldwych station was originally called 'Strand'. You can still see the original name in some of the wall tiles.

 You can see Aldwych on its branch off the Piccadilly (blue) line

One of my favourite things about the tour was the extensive collection of posters still on the station walls. Some were originals, but some were later additions as part of film sets. The beautiful Man Ray 'Keeps London Going' poster dates from 1938

My favourite was this rather magnificent and slightly psychedelic one for the old London Planetarium...

Second world war era poster - many tube stations were used as bomb shelters...

 

And why did I take a picture of this lift shaft? Because The Prodigy's Firestarter video was shot here. Really!

If you a fancy a trip to Aldwych or one of London's other closed underground stations, keep a watchful eye out on the London Transport Museum's website They book up quickly, but with entrance to the brilliant London Transport Museum in Covent Garden included in the price (and a discount in the magnificent shop) it's an worthwhile excursion for any London-phile.

Sorry about my poor quality photos, for reasons I don't quite understand, LT Museums impose a DSLR ban in Aldwych station. So I had to resort to my trusty phone.