@@flipperbear9 I don't mean having a bar right on the platform with no barrier to the lines, something like a floor to ceiling window would be amazing though if the platform was used, and the rest of the platform access tunnels could be used.
It's great they're re-opening it. I think they'd make for great museums for both London Transport and for London itself. They should consider doing it for Aldwych too.
I wish a lot of these abandoned stations were given a bit of a clean, then opened to the public as museums or something. I'd love to go on a tour around loads of abandoned stations - but none of them are ever open...
ngl I thought the exact same thing when watching Geoffs abandoned tube stations part 1 vid, where I thought, hmm such interesting pieces of history should be made as museums, then I started thinking of how some people should make an organisation where they make abandoned tube stations from London into museums, then I could finally see what's at some of the stations that he mentioned in that vid, like the old platforms of York road or smt.
As a fellow ‘underground’ enthusiast, I get so much from your videos. I really appreciate the efforts you and your cameraman go to to deliver such informative and interesting videos. Please please please post more!
I went on this tour yesterday and WOW nothing can describe the feeling of being down there, the tour guides are excellent and even admit that they are still finding things out themselves and always seem excited to talk about the new finds
I use to work in this street between 1966 and 1968 and knew it was an 'Underground property from the tiling so very interesting to finally see inside. Thanks.
Very good. As a teenager me and a couple of friends climbed up from the canal and along into the old Lords station. There was nothing at all historical feeling about it left. Anyway, would love to go to Down Street. I always enjoy your videos. Keep up the good stuff. Cheers.
Very cool. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I kind of want it opened up but I kind of want it there as a time capsule undisturbed and seldom accessed. I remember a Billy Connolly documentary where he got off the train at Down Street and explored it. Great video Geoff as always.
I just came across this it would be great if yall could keep the tiles that was my great grandfather's brother that the tiles were made by & constructed. This just great. I went back to my madin name after my divorce. I love history just like you & to see this on 3*12*2023 is just amazing 😵😵😵💯💯💯💯
Hi just watched this video I worked in the station did some brickwork just at the bottom of the staircase later on we put the mesh grills and gates in and I can honestly say Down street was the spookiest place I’ve ever been in my life 🥴👍👍
Down St used to have a special platform entrance for War Cabinet Members, inside the tunnel. So members couldn't be followed by spies, they would knock on the driver`s door with a code and the driver would let the WCM into the drivers compartment. The driver would stop at Down St and push the head of the train into the tunnel at the end of the platform, in line with a special door and the WCM member would get out.
As far as I'm aware only Churchill had the luxury of a bath in this bunker and the initials were probably put there by an Urban Explorer I suspect. May be wise to verify that info though as I'm just some bloke on RU-vid with a little knowledge on a lot of subjects.lol. However I am very envious of your job...
These videos of abandoned tunnels and other underground facilities always provide a scary thrill for me. I have done lots of exciting things in my long life including mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, winter camping, desert travel, skiing, and caving. I was never that comfortable with caving and still have bad dreams about some of situations I experienced when underground, so I think I must be claustrophobic. Trouble is these videos are addictive so keep them coming.
Gary, we later found out the the 103 is down to the lift level only! It doesn't include the 19 steps (which Geoff is sat on talking about the dust) down to platform level. In total at Down Street now, there are 122 steps from street to platform level!
Time traveller from 2019 here. No idea why this was recommended. Anyway: "I can't go down those stairs, they're damaged". Yup, that's the spirit that helped win the constantly referenced WW2
U can, London Transport Museum do tours called "Hidden London" at Down Street I went yesterday it was amazing! Tickets are sold out now but u might be lucky next time. Be warned thou tickets sell out very fast! They where sold out within a day of release for Down Street!
Indeed. There are a few stations you can go to, including Aldwych as someone else has spoken about in these comments. In Down street you get to see a bit more than Geoff did and they have posters on the walls explaining the history and so on. It's all guided too. Worth every penny.
It's fascinating seeing this video after I've been on the station tour. The changes done have not taken away from the character of the station and I'd say it is worth going on the tour it if you can afford it.
It's in Mayfair... there's nothing in Mayfair but expensive houses and flats. And their inhabitants mostly don't use the Tube. Tourists rarely go there (except the ones who wander down from Oxford St., presumably lost), so why on Earth would it need a Tube Station?
It's really too close to Green Park and Hyde Park Corner to get much usage justifying another stop and all the costs - and I say that as someone who sometimes goes to stuff near Down Street's surface building. (Originally Green Park was called Dover Street with the lifts coming up there, but the switch to escalators moved the entrances closer to Down Street, dooming the latter.)
Not to forget that a scene in Neil Gaiman's TV series Neverwhere was filmed on Down Street platform, with live Tube trains whizzing past. (At the time there was a news article about passengers being surprised to see a ghostly tea-party through the windows, but I can no longer find the scan!)
I believe they should use this in a film about Winston Churchill and the war cabinet. It will make an authentic piece of historical drama. Hopefully the new Winston Churchill film(Winston Churchill's finest hour) uses locations in the abandoned London Underground stations.
The bunker was built for the Railway Executive Committee, who were responsible for running, well I'm sure you can guess. The Cabinet used it secretly during the night until the Cabinet War Rooms were ready. They needed somewhere in Central London when it became clear that the Paddock bunker at Dollis Hill was unsuitable for every day use.
so, you're from the States too! I was going to post something like this but you beat me to it. To those folks across the pond, if you told someone to bring a torch here, they'd show up with a propane tank and a nozzle plus match to start a flame. Two nations separated by a common language and all that. We wear boots, they're not back of the car, that's called a trunk over here. And if you spell the former word with a "c" instead of an "n" you'd have truck, which you when you try passing it on a motorway, would call a lorry. And a comedian who is successful in London, "goes down a bomb" whereas, a bad comedian's performance over here would be said, "he bombed."
but before you say, "this guy is sure stroppy, naff, or just plain tiresome, I'd like to complement you on the video. Down Street, Brompton road, City Road, British Museum station, South Kentish Town, abandoned stations all seem like interesting and unusual places to explore, and for those of us who are a bit far from London, your video takes us there! A good idea for Tfl, would be to removed one of the tiled station names from each station, clean the tiles and then mount them on display in the London Transport museum. And displaying an original or replica of a pre Frank Hick Roundel for these stations wouldn't be so bad either.(although I wonder - was City Road closed before the roundel came into use?)- Anyway,Best Regards, or Cheers,"J" :-)
It's January 2022. Wondering if what has become of this project? Did Covid force TfL to shelf this project? Anyone? Thanks for the brilliant video. Cheers.
A long time ago I used to work down the tubes. I was lucky enough to be able to wander around this but sadly being too young to appreciate it. Still had the lettering on the walls and metal lampshades.
Visited 3019. Aldwych is open, the Circle Line goes somewhere on its own and this station is open. Phone has a broken camera so couldn’t get any pictures or videos sorry
It is the year 123456 and London is the world. There are 41325 stations and the most popular one is Gudhxbduhbxeduhbxuhdebxuhdebxuhedbxuhedbxuhedbxuhdebxuhedbxuhedbxuden Street with 100 billion people each day.
I did a tour of Glasgow Central Station when I was in college and there was one point where you could actually see the in use part of the lower level line (platforms 16 and 17 respectively), lines that take you East toward Motherwell and Coatbridge and West toward Partick and onto Clydebank.
THANK YOU! I knew he sounded familiar. Mind you, it's a shame he doesn't work for TFL. The press releases would be hilarious. And impossible to publish.
I love detailed tube systems - paris is my favourite yet - literally - northern paris, tunnel, tunnel, train, tunnel, tunnel, train, walk up, southern paris - abadoned stations are top level of this odd preference
It looks pretty easy to reopen. All there's to do's install 3 elevators, 2 in the existing shaft, &1 more in a new shaft to platform to make it step free.
Nice video, thanks. Down Street was used by the Railway Executive Committee as a bunker during WW2, not by the War Cabinet. Churchill was here only very rarely, I think probably on just one occasion.
I am sort of surprised they haven't talked to some cloud based infrastructure companies etc about using the stations as DataCentres Power Readily available. Big tunnels to run big fibre connections to all the key commercial parts of the city.. Nice secure underground Data Centres in the heart of the city.
Geoff looks a lot younger back then, it was only five years ago but he looks about ten years older now, it must be the stress of RU-vid that makes him look older
It was used to film Neverwhere and I accidently saw them doing it, ie. a flash of a purple cloak. Also I was on a train once when someone camera flash picked out an old poster on its walls, as they took a photograph of their friends, which later got published in a magazine, which I saw.
At 0:46 and at other times you can clearly a thick black cable stood off the wall: this allows the emergency services and LU staff to use their radios: this location is one of several emergency intervention points at non station locations on the underground.
Geoff - you need to buy a torch with a stronger light beam, and LED based lens will give you better light; so when you look down into a dark "space" at least for the camera view "it may" be more visible.
It's great they're re-opening this one but there are dozens more in London .which are a danger to people who travel on the London underground .From anyone coming from other countries who want cause mayhem
