Quote of the Day: “There’s a sort of understated grandeur to it. It’s like it’s trying to impress passengers but at the same time, it knows it’s not Paddington.”
And the fact that the maps have always pretended you can’t change between Piccadilly and District/Circle line trains, when you can, albeit via a lot of stairs of a slow and ageing lift
I used to go to Westminster sometimes in the fifties, as my dad's work was nearby. It was a gloomy black hole in the ground. Pity they did it up, it was much more interesting then!
When I worked in London, Baker Street was the station closest to my work so that’s one of my favourites as well. Special mention should be made for Canary Wharf out of the modern stations - it’s like a cathedral to mass transit!
I feel that honourable mention should have gone to Baron's Court. The street level station building is lovely, and the platforms have those church pew like benches on which the station nameplate is affixed. I like the Art Deco loveliness of East Finchley and find its present uncared look quite depressing.
My favourite Underground station used to be Embankment before the wooden escalators were ripped out and replaced with metal ones. It had a unique combination of warren-like passages, escalators at all angles and - my absolute favourite - the completely bonkers tiny wooden footbridge passing over (IIRC) another escalator.
I’m going to show some love for Canary Wharf, beautiful. Modern classic. Plus a shout out to Canning Town, where the canopy for the Jubilee line is actually the DLR. Love the engineering.
Baker Street and Earls Court have the feel of a medium size mainline station, but the stations on the Jubilee line Extension have a sci-fi grandeur to them, but then the smaller stations on the Bakerloo line beyond Paddington are rather charming. Those at least would be my choices.
It’s been a while since I went to London and I’m hoping I’ve got this right (please someone correct me if I’m wrong!) but as a tourist who hasn’t seen many stations, my favourite was Holborn because it has portraits of Tudor Queens on the walls and I’m a massive Tudor history nerd. For some reason I’m also fond of Covent Garden even though I kinda hate it. Sadly it’s unlikely I’ll see these stations again in person. I’m disabled now and these old stations are not accessible. Thank goodness for this channel so I can still see them on film.
Kew Gardens is my favourite. I love how its still quite built up, yet full of plants. It feels a bit rural, but really isn't. A shame you can't go between platforms while within the station bounds though.
but this is a mainline station - at one time served by five different railway companies - London & Southwestern (who built the route & station), Metropolitan, Great Western, North London and District. Nowadays only the last two still run trains through here.
Kew Gardens station is a station I have always liked due to its compactness and quaintness and also being in a part of London which to me feels like a escape from fast paced modern London.
Leytonstone is a nice station. It's a kind of mix between East End stations and a modernist/industrialist style. The mosaics celebrating Alfred Hitchcock in the subway connecting Church Lane and Grove Greek Road A106 just top it off; as well as two bus stations, one floating above the A12!
I quite like Russell Square, Everything about it feels very original and pure Leslie Green. I also love the staircase and tiles and of course all the old signs.
agreed. Southgate is only really unique because of its roof but Russel Square which i use at least twice weekly is so traditional in many places (and i love the little platform signals) and long mayit continue.@@ashleyjiscool
@@watchmakersp9935 I agree, Russel Square is a beautiful station: building to platforms. Southgate is also nice but Russel square is better but people don’t give it enough love
Yes! Wholeheartedly agree about Maida Vale. I rarely have reason to go to there, but I like to anyway because it's just so cute - it's nice to pop over there on a quiet afternoon just for the aesthetic, then get a bit of cake at the bakery across the road. It's also the first station to have captured my imagination so much I had to immortalise it in watercolour (though now I have the Painting Tube Stations Bug and am compiling a shortlist for more, whoops)
I like Richmond, not so much for the station itself but for where it is. A charming village type setting with the delights of Kew Gardens and secondhand book shops.
Can I ask if anyone remembers Tooting Bec in the 60s and 70s? On the road that runs down toward the Common was a model train shop, you could put a coin in a slot on the window ledge and a little mode train would run around said window. Probably the closest I have ever been to total happiness.
Bec models it was called. Everything from trains to model kits to Scalextric. Used to think the bloke who owned it was a right miserable sod but when I got a bit older I found out he was a very nice man. I bought a 'Mainline' limeted edition Royal scot engine from him back in probably 1982-83 with my birthday money. Cost me about £30 back then..... Its still in its box and untouched. Recently valued at over £1200 so very happy I listened to his advice all those years ago. @@alfamelba
Jago will hate me for this, but I love Bank station, just because it has survived despite everything that has been thrown at it. And it's some sort of perverse joy to see people getting utterly lost trying to get out of it to the place they want to get to 😂
Westminster is my fave station.... its so futuristic. I imagine it would be amazing to draw. I was surprised that Turnpike Lane didn't make the list. Baker Street is truly stunning. Southgate reminds me of 'Googie' architecture, like something fromt eh Jetsons, so ahead of its time
I love Westminster too - it’s so atmospheric and really does make you feel like you’re in some sort of sci-fi future. Possibly a slightly dystopian one, but still.
Agreed. Westminster for me too. It's slightly brutalist with all the concrete and pipes within it but I feel quite tranquil when I'm there. It makes me think of images from Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
Interesting comparison with those included by Simon Jenkins in Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations; Canary Wharf, Southwark, Westminster, Baker Street, Gants Hill and Southgate; a definite taste for the modern.
South Kensington was always a favourite of mine (I haven't been to London for a number of years now). Mainly because it reminds me of my annual day trip to London with my dad in the 1950s, which always included a visit to the Science Museum. And more recently I've always appreciated the huge difference in style between the District and the Metropolitan buildings! "Yes, we are forced to collaborate, but we still really hate each other"!
Yes, same here with the annual trip to the museums, the anticipatory walk along the long corridor and finally arriving at the museum. Etched in memory from over 50 years ago...
Yes, most enjoyable. Good selection. I like some of the features that appear here and there. Uplighters, domes, strange flagpolish roundals, and those Southern Northern Line island stations. (Scary A.F. most of the time). The historic bits from the steam age past are always a good find. But for me, cant get better than Baker Street.
I quite like the Farringdon station building and the new Elizabeth line entrance. The interior of Swiss Cottage is pretty good too, with similar Art Deco uplighters to Southgate. However, it's let down by a non-descript entrance.
A very good top ten. I fancy I might include Temple in mine for being relatively small and quiet despite being in central London. It's somehow a bit out of the way, which helps. Clapham South I also like, but Clapham Common may just be better.
I can feel a trip to London coming on to do a ‘pilgrimage’ of all these stations with this video playing in my ear to fully immerse myself in it and feel it. Perhaps a book is called for and push it to your top 20 or calendars of the top 12 even?
My top 10 would be: 10. Mile End 9. Canary Wharf 8. Wimbledon 7. Covent Garden 6. Roding Valley 5. Gants Hill 4. Earl's Court 3. Westminster 2. Uxbridge 1. Baker Street Some are because of architecture, some for their quaintness, and some are because of memories, but I love all of them.
East Ham always top of the list for me. 1 - The station building is a beautiful bit of brickwork, and contrasts wonderfully with the neighbouring buildings. 2 - It feels like you're in a different country when I'm in East Ham buying my mithai or going with my Indian girlfriend to get Diwali stuff. Get back to the tube station and suddenly it's like a sense of home. 3 - I'm a West Ham fan so there's that too.
Glad you mentioned this station. I can remember when it had a bay for trains departing round the East Ham loop onto what is now known as the Goblin line. That bay was filled in and made a station garden.
My favourite stations are for personal memorial rather than architectural merit. Baker Street is one of my favourites because it was my first trip on the Tube at 5 years old. It was strange going down the wooden escalator to the Bakerloo platforms, and the rush of air as the red train roared in. Of recently visited stations, I really liked Putney Bridge for its setting and the wood panelled waiting room.
I'm going to nominate Bounds Green. Partly because it's a nice unspoiled (if modest) example of the Holden/Pick style, partly because it never seems to get a mention anywhere else, and partly because it was our local tube station until we moved away, when I was six, to an area which had no underground service whatever (and still doesn't).
Why when I read the title, did I expect Alan "Fluff" Freeman to count them down 10 to 1? "Straight in a number 8 it's Bank, down 3 at 5 it's Elephant and Castle, in at number 2, it's that cheeky fella, Cockfosters".... Good grief, I'm getting old. Thanks, once again, for the vid.
I was living in Maida Vale when I started subscribing to your channel. I had no idea it was your favourite! I always noticed the alternative entrance that is now permanently closed off.
Great list Jago. I had relatives who lived in Perivale and I was fascinated by the pinging of the wires as the train was arriving. I only experienced this at night, as I was on my way home, and so I don't know if it happened during the day. Oh, and I'm only presuming it was a noise produced by wires, it could be something else. Whatever it was, it sounded like experimental music to my ears.
A parumblators tour,of both the interior and exterior of the Underground! The world at track level is one thing,and the stations above really contrasts the ambience of of any Railway! Thank you,Jago,another tour d'force! Thank you 😇 😊 💓!
Maida Vale is definitely on my list of favourite stations. I like all your others, I’ll put together a Top 10 once I’ve completed my upcoming project “Every Oyster Station , in alphabetical order “ . One of the modern stations I like is Westminster, it’s the first “modern “ and feels almost like a steel cathedral. Anyway, a very enjoyable run through your top ten . Cheers JH .
Glad to see Gants Hill in there. My favourite? Possibly Aldgate where you can see so much history all around. Plus, if you sit on the platform at quiet times you can see trains on the nearby |District Line in the distance. But, like you Jago, if you ask me again next week I'll probably go for Warwick Road, or Maida Vale?
My favourite tube station is Farringdon. For the reasons you listed, plus it has architectural features from the victorians to present contemporary styles. Plus it's a great interchange, and slightly expanding, area! Great list, I can see why you put Madia Vale there though!
I always get confused when hearing of Baker Street as being the 'first ever tube station'. Surely at least one other station opened at the same time, otherwise where would you take a train from Baker Street to?
Nice list. When my dad was a kid Maida Vale was his local station and his aunt used to make him wear little white gloves when he went on the tube in case he encountered “the great unwashed” If it was my list I definitely would have had a JLE station on there - Southwalk or Westminster for me.
Im glad that Baker Street was fairly high in.the ranking as I well remember seeing the steam locomotive Metropolitan No. 1 and the electric locomotive "Sarah Siddons" top and tailing the 150th anniversary trains back in 2013. I don't think I will EVER quite be able to top the sight, heat. smell and incredible experience of those journeys through and the steam remaining all around and then just as quickly as it apoeared, the steam vents did their job. The beautifully presented brickwork backdrop of the Victorian station just framed it all perfectly. Absolutely amazing. I have never been to Maida Vale, but whilst your number 2 contender, would have been.my number one, it does look a very nice station and of course, this is YOUR list of favourites and not mine. Excellent Jago as per usual.
I suspect a fun game would be visiting these in order....might be my next weekend plan. I think my favourite overall is probably Moorgate. The original building though now boxed in is lovely. And the old platforms and roundels are nice touches.
a couple of other commenters have already brought up gloucester road, and I'd have to agree. very spacious, nice ticket hall, I love the brickwork, and the lighting has always felt really nice for some reason. normally, cool lighting doesn't work for me but here it all just licks. plus the art exhibits are great.
Another fascinating and informative presentation. I'm so pleased that UXBRIDGE appeared in the program even though it didn't make your Top 10 although as you say it's your choice for whatever reason and I for one respect that. Oh... The reason for Uxbridge is that I was born there and spent a happy childhood in and around the town centre many years ago, so long in fact that I used to travel into London on the old Metropolitan stock with the oval front windows !... Thank You and keep up the good work, you are my sherbet dab to nostalgia !!!
For me: - Deep level, Russell Square. Busy enough to be interesting and useful, quiet enough to be chill and creepy. Also bonus Brunswick centre - Sub surface, Great Portland Street. Similar to Russell Square in being both busy and quiet. - Interchange between both, Gloucester Road. Feels like a combination of the two above - Above ground, Hammersmith Met. Feels like a rural market town terminus. Honourable mentions to St James’s Park, Southgate, Gants Hill, Cockfosters, Clapham Common, Woodside Park and Temple.
Really interesting choices, thanks, and interesting that a faux Leslie Green creation was the victor. My own favourite might well have been Cockfosters, in part because of the Holden architecture but also because as a child I was taken on many forays into London which began at that station. Playing in my head during your countdown was “At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal.” Rather Philistine I suppose, and anyway copyright would have been a difficulty . .
Before I started watching , I thought "what are my fav. LUL stations ?" and yes , you got Baker St. and Gants Hill. So I thouroughly approve ! Keep up the good work, takes me back over 30 years to when I actually worked for LUL . oh happy days !
You may laugh at me for this. As an American who spent quite a bit of time in London a few decades ago, I always liked Bank Station. "Mind the Gap" still rings in my ears.
I lived fairly close to Maida Vale, but tended to use Warwick Avenue or Paddington instead. But a lovely station it most certainly is. Personally I would have had Southgate higher on the list as it's just brilliant. Excellent video as yours always are, thanks.
I don't know why but I really like Chiswick Park, theres just something about it at night, with its towering illuminated look, the platforms are not much to look at but walking towards and into the building it sort of reminds me of watching the film Metropolis.
I notice that, for whatever reason, no office block type building was ever plonked on the top of Maida Vale station, although it is clear from the footage that this was intended by the architect/developer. This can be seen from the low flat roof, and the indents in the brickwork of the neighboring building.
A fine selection of stations. My personal favourite is Westminster; a fine example of modern engineering and a good enough piece of modern art to qualify for a Turner prize. Last time I was there I went up and down the escalators twice just to enjoy the view.
My personal favourite too. It's got a very assertive style. I think it's probably let down on this list by the street level, that seems to be a big part of the ranking.
My favourites are Barons Court - which I think is a stunning, and Caledonian Road, which is also pretty great. It's always going to be hard to choose though.
Uxbridge and Baker Street were my gateways to London in the early 80's as a teenager. I loved the spotting trips and shopping trips when I can a quid or two available.
For me it would be as follow: 1 Camden town, 2 Baker Street, 3 Piccadilly circus, 4 Moorgate,5 Canada water, 6 Mile end, 7 Acton Town, 8 Bank, 9 Kennington, 10 Westminster
3:31 One of my favourites, too. After a few hours in Hammersmith and/or Fulham, when it comes to picking a tube station to start my journey home, I'd rather pick the Hammersmith you picked. Not the crowds of the other one, but a quieter, less crowded station. And a terminus, so no frantic getting on a train that's already crowded, but a calm stroll along the platform onto the empty train that's already there.
Brillant list! Even if the specific stations vary in everyone's personal lists, I think we can all respect the variety you've aimed for. The only stations missing would be one of the Leslie Green stations (Picadilly line especially), as they are truly iconic and formative, and one of the JLE stations (namely Westminster or Canary Wharf, but any of the ones under ground). Personally, despite being very different, both JLE and Picc have some of my favourite stations, and I'd probably include them above Holland Park (I find the Central London Railway stations nice, if not a bit bland at platform level.). Still, there's alot of quality architectural variety on the tube, it's hard to be too picky!
Interesting comparison with those included by Simon Jenkins in Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations; Canary Wharf, Southwark, Westminster, Baker Street, Gants Hill and Southgate; a definite taste for the modern.
Utterly concur with your choice - and I am pleased to say I have used every single one over the years 😬 (perhaps the benefit of working in a London wide organisation for 40 years)
I have a soft spot for West Kensington, which was once the smaller of my two local stations. Little tucked-away place on the edge of Central London that the District Line managed to keep all to itself.
For stations worldwide, I love how Museum station on the Toronto subway as they have columns referencing a different part of history, like Forbidden City columns, Parthenon columns, Osiris columns, Toltec columns, and even Pacific Northwest-style columns! The Tashkent Metro does an exceptional job honoring Uzbek history, from the Silk Road to the empires that once ruled over it. Each station tells a story. Some look like ballrooms with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling while others look like a film set from a science fiction movie. For the DC Metro, the flashing lights on the platform whenever a train arrives, the hexagonal tiles, the waffle-style concrete vault Brutalism, it was built as a showcase system, and it shows. On the MTR Disneyland Resort Line in Hong Kong, the cute Mickey train acts like a time machine transporting people from the futuristic Sunny Bay station to the magical world of HK Disneyland at Victorian-themed Disneyland station. And of course the Pyongyang Metro artwork is incredible too. At Yonggwang (Glory) station, its chandeliers represent the fireworks that celebrated the Koreans' victory, and the pillars are sculpted in the shape of victory torches. At Kwangbok (Liberation) station, there are murals showing scenes of the forest from which Kim Il-sung led guerrilla anti-Japanese attacks
Baker Street has always been a favourite of mine. A treasure trove of curious bits and pieces. It used to have a gents toilet at the country end of the overbridge. Always an esential stop after a Friday night in the pub!
If we're gonna talk about our favorite stations, as the subway system I'm used to is the NYC Subway, one of my favorite NYC stations is 81st Street-Museum of Natural History because of the tilework! When the station was renovated in the 1990s in coordination with building the new planetarium, the Rose Center for Earth and Space, a program of tile mosaics was undertaken, covering the stairs and platforms, extending to floor inlays. Stairwells evoke descents into the geological strata of the Earth (at 81st Street) or into the Ocean (79th Street) and many creatures were added! Fossil casts also emerge from the tiles of the platform as though the subway platform itself were an excavation! Another artwork I like is Hive by Leo Villareal at Bleecker Street. It's a LED installation formed to create an outline of a honeycomb and it's appropriate for a transfer corridor as straphangers frenetically change trains at rush hour like so many busily buzzing bees. Coney Island-Stillwell Ave station is a cool station because of how massive the canopy is! It's covered in nearly 3,000 solar panels! Another station I like is Smith-Ninth Streets station because when it opened, it was once the highest rapid transit station in the world at over 26 m above street level, so the views are nice!
Great video and comments! My personal favourite is Embankment. Not deep and the entrance hall comes out onto, well, the Embankment and the view across the river and an interesting street and Gardens on the other.
Kilburn Park, a Leslie Green station. A pretty station although it has lost it's original entrance canopy, but my favourite because it was the one I used as a child.
