Unlocking Baker Street, the 160-year-old Underground Station | Hidden London Hangouts (S07E04) 

Want to follow the team's footsteps? Join our Hidden London guided tour of Baker Street, written by Chris and Siddy! Learn more and book here: shorturl.at/lyFG9

That original Bakerloo colour scheme is a delight. Should definitely bring it back! Petition Tfl. 😊

I was a 16 year old apprentice draftsman and spent much time at Bakers Street and Charing Cross stations to and from work between 1948 and 1951, from home in Kenton, an early Metroland area. I belonged to the Rifle Club where we used the Carnaby Street L.E.B. sub-station tunnels for practice. Wonderful memories you share, including the B & W historic photos. Thanks for bring to life more history of my beloved home city. Rodney Maennling Vancouver Island Canada

This channel will soon have in excess of a hundred thousand subscribers....and deservedly so.

My Dad worked for London Transport from the 50s for 30ish years at Chiswick Works and they had so many clubs ! He was heavily involved in the Cine Club (making films with 8mm cameras) and they had a very small scale cinema in an old air raid shelter at the bus works, complete with proper red velour tip up seats rescued from the local cinema that had closed down.

At 30:00 I was with you! I well remember in 1964 when I started secondary school I would use the lifts at London Bridge station to access the Northern Line. I can still indeed remember how we fitted in the trapezoildal space, then the lift operator would manually slide the Collapsible gates shut. Then I would watch him push the brass lever to start the lift. A couple of years later, the first (of now many) escalators were installed to replace them.

Such an iconic station. Has many happy memories for me. I came here for my interviews when I was applying for an apprenticeship. Would pay my uncle Alf a visit as he worked in the offices here and he we’d have a cuppa!

The Tube will never cease to amaze me… I remember being in London last August and my mum and I stayed in Marylebone and we went out for Pizza and got lost and then randomly found a co-op and at the back of the co-op was a Tube station to take us one stop back to Marylebone 🤣 I believe it was Baker Street station, but from that one station inside the Co-op I’d have never have guessed how big Baker Street station was 😅

The old tilework is absolutely beautiful. If the Bakerloo line platforms ever get refurbished again, its definitely should be done in the original colour tiles. The station site is far larger than i ever thought, wow.

Loved the show today. Have only stood on Baker Street stn once or twice (changing trains, no doubt). What a labyrinth! The old tiles looked quite something curving around the tight corner of the foot tunnel and with that lovely pale blue colour. I remember the trapezoid lifts at Kennington when I was a boy. They had very distinctive sounds from the winding gear, along with the clatter as the gates opened and closed. Also remember the lift number on a gadget (small cube?) that went up and down a pole outside the lift doors at the top to indicate where it was. There was something about those lifts that necessitated some rather odd wooden structure on the outside of the station dome; gone now. The odd thing ps that stick in your mind.

Great episode. When I was a little kid I thought Baker Street was THE CENTRE Of LONDON because it’s where we always had to change when we went somewhere.

Love this station. As a lad in the late 50's early 60's I visited Baker Street on countless occasions with a friend, riding on a "Twin Rover" ticket which gave unlimited daily travel on red buses and The Underground. In those days trolleybuses (electric) ran by the station continuously along with RT class buses and Routemasters and there was always a service vehicle in the forecourt. The number of platforms, the complexity, the period decor and ambiance made this a magical place as it still is. Great video guys!

36.42 what a beautiful passage!!!! Baker Street is my favorite station for sure. Thanks for getting down and dirty for us.

One of my favorites, watching from flat in Chiltern Court. If I had known I would have had you all up for a cup of tea!

A brilliant production, probably the best episode yet. Love you guys feeding my Hidden London addiction

Eight year old me is jumping around in my chair. All those rich details and the memories that come with it. Now I know what they mean. One of my favourite stations has layers that I never knew existed.

Those preserved old adverts are great.

I was there just a couple of hours ago to give my boy his first introduction to the iconic and gorgeous Baker Street station ☺️.

Brilliant! One bit you missed was the reproduction poster for "Chiltern Court, London's New Restaurant", in the cut-through from platform 5 to 1 and 2. I remember when the original (presumably from the early 20th century) was uncovered, in a poor but readable state. I was chuffed when they decided to use the space for a reproduction, rather than for modern advertising.

Rifle ranges in the City were more common than you might think. I was the secretary and armorer of the CEGB rifle range under Walden House. There were leagues where you shot the targets and posted them to the league organiser. You would be suprised how many large companies took part in thrdr leagues. we did have one amusing problem when buying ammumition. O n ptesenting out licence seing the London address they would start to wright Metropolitaun Police as the licence isuer. As we were in the square mile our licence was issued by the City Police Snow Hill police station

Hi, thanks (among other things) for the picture of the old Leslie Green Bakerloo station entrance. I've done a bit of homework to find out exactly where that was, and looked on Google street view to see what is there now. Oh dear ...

What an amazing station! Thanks for another great episode. There's so much, I'll have to watch it again.

Baker St is cavernous! Loving the pairing format, particularly the return of Laura. Great station with lots of tangible insights to the past, loved it. Also, a subtle but perfect HLH classic innuendo from Mr Nix at 29.29.👌

Ohhh the blue tiles..and to think that for a brief time I started my commute from this station

The company rifle ranges were very common at one time - the company my dad worked for in Leicester had one for the employees' Rifle Club. They were started after WWI to teach young men how to shoot in case there was ever another war requiring a mass callup of conscripts, and persisted into the 1960's and 1970s'. I shot for Leicester & Districts Ladies' Team for about 10 years about then, but I think most have now disappeared, We used to go to all the big Open Shoot meetings through the summer, all over England.

Hope you get to visit the old British Museum underground station remains

What an amazing video. I’ve been using Baker Street for 30 years and have never noticed so much of this. I’m going to go there for a day out now that I’ve retired ❤

What a fascinating Journey through a rich and varied history, thank you for showing us around. Baker street is up there as one of my favorite stations to visit because as Laura said, it’s like stepping back in time when you step off. Looking forward to the next one

Thanks for a very interesting video of Baker Street station. I particularly enjoyed the video being introduced by a couple of fabulous beauties. I think that there were two women there, as well.

Really enjoyed this one. Went on the actual tour last month and had a fabulous time. I would recommend it to anyone.

One thing I know about the layout of the deep level tube tunnels at Baker Street, the junction that used to see Bakerloo trains head for either Watford Junction or Stanmore heading north still exists (if you look out of the left hand side of northbound Bakerloo trains, you can see the pointwork of the junction, which is only used to allow engineers trains to access the Jubilee). Bearing in mind that there was no separate northbound platforms for the two branches, the northbound Jubilee line platform had to be built from scratch

Installed the new PA and CCTV with new control room at Baker Street so know the station well, also another great show well done guys n gals 😊

Favourite episode. Amazing all the stuff hidden away at Baker Street, so well preserves too!!

LOVE THIS MY FAVOURITE STATION SHERLOCK HOLMES eliminatory My Dear Watson 😂

Nice gems and a nice potted history ,well done team and Alex i'll dust the turntable off in anticipation of your second album . 😃

Well done team, another highly informative video on something I will never get to see but would be a dream come truth.

I was on that platform a few days ago when I was in London thinking of you guys, looking around and I noticed behind the black paint trackside, is white tile behind it. Also I noticed the Sherlock heads that make up the Sherlock head.

I loved this episode, and I love the camera work. It’s so difficult to keep people in focus and motion whilst walking down a staircase without falling down the thing yourself. The narration you guys do flows wonderfully and is so polished. It’s just simply fantastic…

Brill episode. Thanks everyone!

Looking forward to it - My favourite station.

Hi team, all i have to say is FANTASTIC ! thank you Baker street is my fav 💖💖

Wow! I visited London in 1984 and 85 and Baker Street was my favorite station on the Underground. I never knew there was this much more behind the scenes. ;-)

I remember the signal box here when I was an apprentice many moons ago!

I love this station too, although I think the most cosy atmospheric and picturesque is Great portland St.

Loving this episode

Fantastic… first used baker street station back in the 70’s travelling to Leicester Square Hammersmith and during the 80s,Farringdon where I worked. Last used Baker Street in 2012, last time I was in the UK. Looking forward to using it again in the summer on my first trip back to the UK. Hey guys - will I see you there?

Reminds me of James Street underground station in Liverpool, the oldest deep-level underground station in the world!

Amazing tour team, hoped Siddy and Laura got there meals, 46:07 liked to have seen more, 46:07 never knew that there was that much hidden away from every day views, all that heavy engineering in 1906 for the Bakerloo branch to Stanmore, without a doubt, worth watching this gem 💎 of a visit, now looking forward to your next venture team 👍.

What an amazing episode! This was well filmed and edited! Thank you! So much more than what I had expected!😁

Love you Siddy, need to see you back on tv xx

Great introduction for me to this station. Loved it. So so much to explore and so much history too.

One topic which was not given much attention during what fog me, was a fascinating video about one of my favourite aspects of London, is the contrast berween those parts of the complex which were underground routes created by the ‘cut& cover’ construction, and the later and deeper lines which were constructed using the tunnelling machinery. The latter being very much in evidence by the the ‘tube’ or literally rounded shape of the tunnels. First used by Marc Brunel, & still in principle used today, in th67construction of Cross Tail.😊

So odd when you walk out the "Roundel doors" the building is so grey, I thought it was an old B & W photo at first, with you two sort of "green screened" in with your bright orange vests..Odd visual effect. I love these hidden area vids. Had you been feeling a bit more mischievous , you should have sailed some paper airplanes off the balcony in front of the lost property office down onto the platform, just to see the people looking around trying to figure out where they came from Fun stuff! Thanks for sharing..LIKED!👍

Kenneth Williams used to use this station as he used to have a flat nearby.

Good to see Laura back, another brilliant video 💪👏

Best episode yet. Such a massive area to explore, fascinating. I used to quite like trains but after watching your videos I'm a 'T' nerd - trains, tube, tiles and tunnels - and love a good shaft

I worked at Baker Street for quite a few years, and am fortunate enough that I managed to see many of these unknown areas of the station, including the shooting range when it was in use!! To get to that part of the station you go through a brown door to the right of the Starbucks in the 'main' booking hall

I have always loved this station and have often visited it just for the sake of it from 1980 on and so remember the restoration.

Just lovely

Great episode guys! I visit Baker Street whenever I am in London .... the last time being October 2022. I never really appreciated how enormous the station is. It's great that we got to see everything. Well almost everything....we never actually got to see "The Canteen"😜

Absolutely fabulous.

i love what you do, but it's hard to take it seriously since I discovered that Alex is doing it as Dale Winton and everything is gorgeous.

Chris and Alex not uttering a word😳😂they must have been bursting to comment😁

Cracking episode, guys, and hey! I've finally caught up with the public stuff at least (still about a year's worth of patreon extras to go) since I first discovered the channel.

Did you know you missed the Air raid shelter . I was the Head residential Porter and lived in Chilton Court for 10 years you were stood right next to it where the escalator goes up 👍 . And the Residential engineer office was still in use in the 80s. It was used by the boiler man who used to run the boilers for Chilton Court .

Great show, fantastic banter, thank all

Looking forward to doing the Hidden London tour of Baker Street when I'm down in November. Have got my tickets booked.

Yet again another brilliant episode guys. Love seeing the original tiles and parts of the station the public don't get to see. A fascinating history lesson. Well done gang. Keep up the great work 😊

Used to walk right past lost property office when at Baker Street and the windows showed off top hats early cell phones and more😳😍

Brilliant video, loved the story behind the station also loved how you split the presentation between you all

Brilliant coverage of the place and its history. This is a gem of a video with lots of humour and history and highly recommend it. Thank you for creating it.

Baker Street should also have a framed portrait of Gerry Rafferty.🎷

Hopefully they'll get to see what is left of the Rifle range and some bits of the extension station.

I'm always fascinated with the history of the underground, even though I'm not a London resident, and I rarely visit London. I remember some stations still had lifts in the 70s, rather than escalators and there were many long and sometimes dimly lit corridors.

Fascinating, really good and well presented.

Going down a passageway past a rifle range that I only was told recently where it was. Busmans holiday

Really interesting. Especially as it's baker Street and the metropolitan rly, thanks for that tour!

One of my favourite stations ❤it

How fantastic was this! Regards from Sydney, Australia

Love to go on One of these walks they are so interesting. My great grandfather was on the railway in 1881 .thank you for a great video 😊

Looks exactly the same (duck egg) blue and cream tiles as Russell Square which is very much still intact with some replication...

I loved the pre-80's styling

Fantastic,love the hang out series,just got into them.Sure I've got a video that Chris did some of the commentary on.

As always I'm very much looking forward to this! And hoping for a few NQQ's along the way- maybe a name check just once as it was I who suggested Archway but it was simply attributed to 'a viewer'- it's ok though I'm over it now and I only have to see my therapist 4 times a week now.....! Ha Ha, only joking! Best wishes to all concerned, I'm sure we're in for an 'elementary' expose of Baker Street!

You should have a look underneath Victoria and Piccadilly stations in Manchester

Reminds of James Street station in Liverpool that has plenty of original features and was oldest deep-level underground stations in the world.

Good work, I used to go there a lot in the 90s

I got off here two week ago❤

Pisces here too. lol

I enjoyed this episode I think it was on Secrets of the London Underground. Have you done an episode of Down Street? 😊

The metropolitan line sign❤❤❤❤

At 2142 the building to the left, is Selbie House and has been utilised by the British Transport Police from the early 80's until now

Thanks

Personally I’m here for the Gerry Rafferty references and the Wenzels. I fear I may be disappointed….

Great videos and interesting details. Have you thought of exploring the foot tunnels under the River Thames. I've walked through both located in the Borough of Royal Greenwich. Loads of steps and I think they have some of the original tiles.

I used to use the Met, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines to Baker Street when I worked at No1 Baker Street. Far more civilised than the Central Line from London Liverpool Street to Bond Street.

Treats at Baker Street do good doughnuts well with

Totally fascinating, I often travel through or interchange at Baker Street and never knew of all that is now hidden away from passengers view. Amazing video.

I also had my tests in the offices that are now Wetherspoons.

Baker Street has 10 platforms! My guess is platforms 1 2 3 4 for metropolitan line trains and 5 6 for the circle and H&C line and platforms 8 9 for the bakerloo line and finally platforms 7 10 for the jubilee line.