A Northern Line station in the south. Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jago... Patreon: / jagohazzard Just Watching Trains (2nd channel): / @justwatchingtrains-ji4ps Threads: www.threads.ne... Instagram: ...
That's what I like about the old boy, he can make the seemingly dull and boring of stations that never get a mention, a place of deserving interest. Did anyone else notice the Ox blood tiles adorning the Charles Holden pub? You can't walk around central London without noticing them on many underground stations.
True. The tiles have been recently cleaned up having been painted for some time, though the stations with those tiles were designed by Leslie Green. Stanley Heaps was his assistant before becoming the UERL's chief architect.
A curious thing though is that the Charles Holden pub doesn't look to be in Charles Holden's style at all - including the oxbow tiles. Intriguing thought, how would Charles Holden have designed a pub, whose purpose doesn't really fit with his usual "modern, elegant but functional" pattern.
Apparently, great difficulty was encountered, back in the 1920s, excavating the tunnels for the Northern Line tube at Colliers Wood. This was due to the proximity of the River Wandle, and the subsequent saturation of the ground with water. Freezing of the soil by liquid nitrogen was necessary. This was a very early instance of the usage of this engineering technique in the UK.
I know there's a big issue with the geology at Tooting Broadway, which is why Crossrail 2 (what?) decided to avoid it. They'd have to remove Tooting and put it back again afterwards.
They may have learned from this for tunnelling the Central Line under Stratford Marshes a decade later, which apparently was also very challenging technically, for similar reasons.
I’m an American in California. I came to England in December and stayed in colliers wood, I thought it was a fun little town. Love your guys beautiful land ❤
"Collier's Wood" or "Collierswood" (different mid 19th century maps have different punctuation) was originally the name of a manor house that sat between where Clive Road and Warren Road now are. It had a long curving drive from the junction of High Street Colliers Wood (then Merton Road) and Robinson Road. Colliers Wood was not in use as the name for the broader area until the 1890s.
Yay! West Harrow where I was born, raised and schooled ( Betjeman got close but did not go there). Extraordinary for having no buses serving, no associated shops, no overbridge or underpass and no barrier westbound - still the community halt it was when it was petitioned for 110 years ago.
Were your educational prospects stopped by a number of ruffians who were up to no good? And following a singular de minimis altercation were you shipped off to you aunt and uncle in (Bel/Edge)ware...
It (along with others) got a makeover in the 90s (?), which cost £11M IIRC, and included adding the granite you see round the portals at platform level.
When I bought my first flat in Mitcham and was working in the City, I used to walk to Colliers Wood station every morning (or catch a bus to Tooting Broadway if I was feeling particularly lazy). But eventually, I discovered that it was much easier and more pleasant to walk to Tooting station and catch the Thameslink to Blackfriars instead, so Colliers Wood station quietly slipped out of my life. Only frequent visits to the Savacentre or the market at Merton Abbey Mills kept me returning to the area.
@@thehusketeers4319 I grew up in Battersea and have gradually moved further out over the years, including 12 years in Sutton. He certainly covers some familiar ground at times!
@@thehusketeers4319 Yes I believe he walked to work around this area during lockdown. Quite legally of course, and he remains essential to our health.
I used to live in Mitcham, just a 10 minute walk from Colliers Wood, and it would be both a route for commuting and the start of many a day out in the fledgling days of my relationship with my now wife. We even have a print of it on our wall, which we picked up from a charity shop in Tooting. Always a fond place in our memories.
The name "Collier's Wood" predates the mining of coal and refers to makes of charcoal - as in wood. At that there were two types of coal, charcoal and sea-coal, which was the only source of what we call coal when seams were exposed along the coast.
I have just taken a look at the murals placed on the wall under the road bridge on Portland Road leading to Norwood Junction station (where it is unfortunately difficult to see). They present the history and traditions of the Great North Wood and mention charcoal burning.
The Wandle valley seems to have been pretty much an industrial "power House" in the early years of the indiustrial revolution and the era just preceding it..
Hi Jago, I really thought your sarcastic comment about building more tower blocks, because they were so popular the first time around was a master stroke! 🤣
@@commentarytalk1446 Not these ones as such , we were promised a Swmming Pool and other developments at "priory park" but the part of one time CMG Garages group (they had more in Merton Park) and other buildings next to Lyon Tower were acquired by a property developer to just make money
@@highpath4776 The vacant part of the plot was latterly called "Watercress Island" in the latest glossy proposal for overdevelopment. The developer successfully bamboozled the council into removing the stipulation from the Local Plan that any new buildings shouldn't be higher than the current one. I started a petition to reinstate the clause, which succeeded.
@@matthewmarks6951 cheers, missed that. The whole developement area is (thankfully?) restricted by the present pylon electricity cables which will restrict crane swing ! Of course PP could still be granted noting (but ignoring) Local Plan Policy. In one of the Future Merton Documents "local area studys" or words to that effect are old proposals to change the 1950s ? brick shops along Christchurch Road.
Merton Abbey Mills and Merton Abbey Works (shown in the map at 4:14) were the site of William Morris' and later Liberty's printing and textile workshops before it became the current arts, crafts and office location. The toy manufacturer Lines Brothers (makers of Tri-Ang toys) had a factory nearby, although it was closer to South Wimbledon station than Colliers Wood. Lines Brothers were one of the companies that switched to making Sten guns during WW2.
Merton Abbey Silk Printing Works was Joesph Littler's Works (he sent his dirty water down to William Morris at the Merton Abbey Works (a former Copper Mill, the site became part of Merton Board Mills paper processing). Littler's main customer was Liberty's of London whom acquired the silk and fabric printing works from the Littler Family. From memory the 1901 census lists Littler's Family approx at what is now Runnymeade but the area had a slightly different name at the time, being a bit of Merton with the south Side of Phipps Bridge Road being Mitcham
@@highpath4776 The board mill being adjacent the river Wandle was very handy for the LFB when the stores of scrap newsprint self combusted which happened often, causing chaos with the runouts of buses at AL and on the 155 route. Apart from cardboard and hardboard they also made Formica under licence for a while.
Putting platform signs at different heights and making them visible to both standing and seated passengers is the kind of innovation that the Los Angeles subway should adopt. One suspects that the architects of Colliers Wood rode trains, and the ones that designed the L.A. subway never have.
@@bertspeggly4428 One must listen carefully to the audio announcements. I suppose the deaf and hard of hearing count stations, because Wilshire/Western and 7th/Metro Center are the only intermediate stations that are inherently distinctive.
The last stop on the northern line where you’ll be able to get a seat on the tube during rush hour lol, from Tooting Broadway onwards its mission impossible
I lived in Colliers Wood for a short time when I moved to London for work in 1974 - Close by in Briscoe Road. The tube station was always very clean & well maintained. Trains used to fill up to the gills at the two Tooting stations up-line to central London. Hard to think that was nearly 50 years ago 😕
You have a great talent for making subtle but pointed comment. They applied to build more towers because it worked so well the last time. Don't get me started on towers! Ahem! Edgware, Canons Park, Stanmore, Finchley Central, Rayners Lane.
As a SW London lad born and bred it is reassuring that I personally know the location of every shot you used in this video. I can remember the CW tower being a car park and voted the 2nd or 3rd most ugliest building in London before its refurbishment.
Same here, Grew up in Pollards Hill, but my Father grew up near Phipps bridge and played over in the Liberty works grounds as a boy. My Brothers in laws lived only a hundred yards from Kennington station too.
I visited the Lion Tower in the late Seventies. It wasn't cladded in those days, but it sure was hideous. It was a tawdry brown and quite similar in design to Centre point in London's West End. Why erect a tower in the midst of nowhere? Were my thoughts upon first seeing it - especially when Croydon's nearby! It's hard to believe that Brown & Roots, one of the best engineering groups in the world, was amongst the tenants at Lion House! Brown & Roots was a leading company responsible for the design of oil rigs all around the world. Rigs that were the height of the Eiffel Tower, or was it Nelson's Column (we'll have to ask Jonn Noakes if he's still around!) My brother was employed as a printer there. Printing intricate details of the design of oil rigs was a high status job - long before the advent of CAD. Nb: My brother told me it was the Germans that led the world in printing very detailed design concepts, with companies such as Tektronik! My brother treated me by taking me to the Defac - canteen to me and you, treating me to a brown derby. Being amongst Americans, I felt very excited. It was as if Red Adair was about to burst through the door! For the main course I had spaghetti Carbonara accompanied with a root beer. My brother decided for a sloppy Joe with creamed beef! Who would have thought that such a thrilled event would occur in Colliers Wood! It was 1977, and I was fifteen at the time! Name anyone in the UK that knew what a Creamed Beef was in those days? Thank you Colliers Wood!
I used to live in Collier Row, Romford in East London. The name was often confused with Colliers Wood, despite Collier Row not having an S (with or without the apostrophe) at the end of Collier, and being at the opposite side of London. Both areas apparently derive their names from an association with charcoal burning…
By 1:23 you answered your own question: Merton Priory would have used a lot of charcoal for writing (it was a big teaching centre), heating, cooking and starting fires as well. It would have been used a lot just from the use of incense from a thurible in church services and buildings day to day to purify the air and protect against dark spirits. Hence they need wood and colliers to make the charcoal nearby - I would not be surprised if Merton Priory owed the wood itself. It could have started as today be described as accent woodland but changed over time to mostly or fully coppice woodland. but then again they would have grown oak trees to replace roofs etc
I had an uncle and aunt who lived in Robinson Road and I can still remember the walk with my parents and siblings from Colliers' Wood station 50 plus years' later.
This reminds me of that story about the mathematician who was asked what the most boring number was. I forget which he nominated, but it instantly became very interesting and thus paradoxically no longer the least inetresting.
You're probably thinking of the number 1729, aka. Ramanujam's number. The story is that his mentor G H Hardy was visting the dying young mathematician when the following incident occured, as it happens in Putney, not too far from Colliers Wood. "I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways." " [For completeness, 1729 = 12 cubed + 1 cubed = 10 cubed plus 9 cubed.]
From David Wells' 'Curious and Interesting Numbers': "51. This appears to be the first uninteresting number, which of course makes it an especially interesting number, because it is the smallest number to have the property of being uninteresting. It is therefore also the first number to be simultaneously interesting and uninteresting."
I love these videos about poor little under the radar stations, they need some love. Growing up in London I frequently used Warwick Avenue station and it always seemed under used, mainly due to the fact that most people living in the vicinity were far too posh (unlike me) to use the Underground.
49 bus from Streatham to Tooting Bec, then the Northern Line South to Colliers Wood. A short walk to The Shirley Box Company, Printers at Merton Abbey. My first job as an apprentice printer at 16 (1969).
Thanks for putting this up, if only to make me feel even more nostalgic for the areas where I used to live (Wimbledon and Sutton). I’ve passed through Colliers Wood station as man and boy more times than I care to remember, barely batting an eyelid in the process. So thank you for making me go all warm and fuzzy inside, even if that wasn’t your original intention! I moved out of London 20 years ago to live in Leicester, but still wonder what my life would’ve been like if I had stayed where I was.
Here's a useless bit of knowledge. There used to be a pub each side of the bus garage there (Merton garage). When pubs had closing times, The one on the left of the garage was outer London, so the closing time was 10:30 but the one on the right was in London and so the closing time was 11:00. So in the evening there was a stream of people going from one to the other. There used to be a line of bricks crossing the road denoting the county boarder. Can't for the sake of me remember the names of the two pubs though.
The King's Head in Merton, Surrey. The Royal Six Bells was over the wandle and must have been in Mitcham. As the Royal Six Bells was a coaching inn that might have explained the different hours.
Knew the station well when a driver at Merton Garage (AL), used to get to Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec to take over buses there. We had 15 and 20 minutes travelling time to get from AL to each respectively including the 5 minute walk from AL to the station. The Charles Holden pub was the Colliers Wood then, a picture of a charcoal burning pot and man on the sign.
And the scaffolding is still up to fix the window! Also - didn't know Colliers Wood station was grade II listed - this makes me irrationally pleased (it's my local station)
Yes they have not even bothered to replace the ones which have already fallen out. Worrying though because a pane of glass could travel a very long way if caught in the wind.
This could be a long-running series: The Least Interesting Stations on the Underground * Actually replace 'least interesting' with 'least known'. It actually looks a fine bit of architecture
I commuted to and from Colliers Wood when I worked in Mitcham for six months, 20 years ago. I never once gave the station a second glance as I was always keen to get to my digs and sleep late on a Sunday evening or to get home to Manchester after a long night shift. It's actually quite a nice looking station. I love the stained glass above the entrance. I don't think I'll be visiting again any time soon though.
I remember it well from when I lived in Mitcham, back in the early 1970's, although it was more usual for me to use Tooting Broadway. South Wimbledon and Morden were little used, as was Colliers Wood. This was evident by the frequency of trains on the Up line, arriving at Tooting Broadway from Colliers Wood being almost empty and filling up slowly, as they went farther North. On the Down line from Waterloo, the trains would empty the farther South they traveled, with a large proportion of passengers disembarking at Tooting Broadway, for onward travel by Bus, to Earlsfield, Mitcham and Sutton. The Lion Tower created a furore when it was built and continued to create protests at regular intervals. Sounds very much like it still does.
@@highpath4776 Typical. Makes bad investment choices, but makes sure his ill-gotten gains can't be taken from him, by putting all his money in his wife's name. That should be made illegal, but this government wouldn't condone it, because they would have too much to lose. There are far too many 'Get Out of Jail Free' cards in British Business Law.
@@russbetts1467 In fairness to Ronald the 1973 oil price hike knocked business confidence and his companies had a lot of real estate in development or rented out that he could not shift at the costs due. While it may have been karma that his ruthlessness in deals had ended up against him it was mainly the smaller businesses that supplied him that suffered. Cash wise he didnt have that much but had a few cars and a (for those days) a large yatch. The Tower design may have been ungainly but he choose it for his own offices and it served successfully as one of the officies for the american oil facilities Brown and Root in the Wimbledon area- before they slimmed down and moved to Leatherhead (I think they are part of the Halliburton Group). The later (overseas /channel isles ) owners of the Tower probably didnt need to do the full glass external cladding, as a building Double Glazing for the windows would have done , with possibly more insulation would have created a lot of good studio flats cheaper and better rental returns.
I had always thought Colliers had to do with coal not charcoal but we live and learn thanks to JH. I did think Jago missed an opportunity with his thanks to patrons today, but another tale about a mostly innocuous stop made interesting as only he can.
The Brits weren't the only ones who did a bacterial test like that in that period. There's a well documented case of the same thing being done in the New York City subway in the same time period, as well as something similar in San Francisco. My guess is both countries were working together on this experiment. Interesting tidbit, I wasn't aware that the same thing happened in the London Underground. Great video as always!
In the 1960s and 70s there was a gents outfitters in the High street, John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch. That was the advert for the shop, ok I know, I'll get me coat.😬🤣🤣🤣
apparently based in Leeds, the home of off the peg mass made tailoring. I could never find anything to fit me there, Hepworths and The Co-op were the best for me
Basis of a drama sketch we once did. Various people walk past and I comment on an item of clothing or apparel they are wearing. "Nice, where did you get it?" "John Collier - down the High Street". Then a half-naked (but still decent) guy staggers in, gasping "Don't go down the High Street!" "Why, who are you?" "John Collier!" And yes, still remember the John Collier jingle on TV too.
Thanks for featuring Colliers Wood, Jago. I've got some reminiscent memories of Colliers Wood as it was my 'home' station for commuting to university in 1991-1992. It was always a pleasure to gaze at the architecural features of the station, while also taking in the historical references to Merton Abbey (which was the northern destination of the 293 bus at the time). I do miss it now, as it was special to me. 👏🏾❤🚇
I worked there very early 90's, it's a lovely little station by the standards of most of the rest of the Northern - less frantic than the Tootings, and less chance of getting assaulted than any of the stations on either side.
Great video which reminds me of my home in the dreaded tower until 2 years ago. I loved the area and its proximity to Morden Hall Park, the big Sainsbury's and the Aldi. Also some great railway history in the area and very handy for Tooting.
Enjoyed this. Colliers Wood was my local station for 15 years up until 2019, havent been back since I left so nice to see some recent footage. The coffee shop next to the station is a new addition.
@@highpath4776 The residents of CollyWood certainly have a large choice of where to get their coffee fix. Back in the day it was bring it from home, or from the Venus bar a few doors down during the couple of months they opened at breakfast time!
@@kingcal53 Does the Library Building still have a coffee shop - competing with Coffee In the Wood up the road, then there are the Costa Machines in the Co-op (and Sainsburys) MandS' restaurant is a bit pricey , there is the South American place next to the bus garage too. However there are no more going north until you cross over the Thameslink line and get the cafe next to the window shop or the eateries inside St Georges Hospital. (OK I have omitted Cafe Nero in Next and Starbucks (and now McDs) at Tandem Centre (Interestingly on the OS map there was not much where Tandem Works used to stand - It was in use in WW1 (and sort of taken into govt control as it was owned by Germans ) and presumably extended (I cannot remember when the now demolished clock tower building was put up - 1920s or 1950s ?
I remember that tower before it was reclad . We used to call it ghost tower because of how spooky it looked especially right before it’s renovation when the whole thing was hollow
This interesting video brought memories flooding back as I used to work in the Lyon Tower back in 1980s! You could certainly feel the tube running .And occasionally enjoyed some refreshment in the pub mentioned although at that time it was called The White Stag / Hart or something like that. At one time there were 4 pubs within 300 yards !The hotel was also an office block in a former life.
The Charles Holden used to be called the Colliers Tup but I can't remember what it was before then. The Royal Standard has kept its name. Others have disappeared.
Arghh! When I did the recent "fill in the tube map" game that went viral, Colliers Wood was the only Underground station I just could not remember the name of. Did you have to remind me of my abject failure?😢
Lovely to see my neck of the woods get the Hazzard treatment. The landlord of the scaffolding-enrobed Dark Tower (as I still know it), Asif Aziz, was named in the House last week by our MP. (I'll say no more.)
"It's all right." That's what we love, nerdery with a sense of proportion. Though it's so redolent of its era, and not a bad era either, that I think it might rate "pretty good" from a local perspective.
I have never been to Colliers Wood. In my working days and youth I made infrequent use of the Tube but now regard London as a lost memory to avoid. I found the video warmly nostalgic and while you are accurate in calling the station "not particulary special but all right" I had no difficulty seeing why it is listed thanks to your presentation of it.
I like that semi-3D effect on the platform roundels, with the circle flat and the box around the name sporting some trim. I dunno, it just looks classy to me.
I remember whizzing through Maryland station on the Great Eastern Mainline during journeys from further afield, and thinking "there's a place called Maryland in London? Why have I never heard of it before?" It never gets a mention in the news - presumably nothing ever happens there. So what's the story?
really like these updates about stations, makes the journeys more fun and help with the pup quizz knowlage. Great job my duide. Can you do a video about my home stations, Loughton on the central line?
Haven't been there for 40 years, but the only thing that came to mind was that hideous dark grey tower, glad they have clad it, but it's still a eyesore.
"Collier" is also a reference to coal. Ships that brought coal to the South-east from County Durham and other coalfields were called Colliers. Coal mines (as in the underground ones, at least, are called "collieries".
Spent a bit of time in Colliers Wood, in The Tower actually. You should have put in a pic of how it looked before it was truly a hideous sight especially as it's the only large building in the middle of small houses.
Still has fab views as a result, though the flats inside are mostly single-aspect ovens, and the communal facilities are badly maintained by the dreadful landlord.
@@matthewmarks6951 Oh thanks for reminding me of the views, they were fantastic. I think bad maintenance might just be part of the original design at this point. Boarded up windows, strange stains on every carpet abandoned floors. At least the solid black car park is gone.
2:28 Can you show more these train route posters in videos. Video suggestion: Can you do a video about the history of train routes from London which separated and you had to be in the correct part of the train to go where you wanted.
Speaking of Colliers Wood, a music video by The Temper Trap, “Love Lost” (2010) features school kids running a lap around said location…and yes, a train makes an appearance.
Thanks for making this video. There are not many Underground stations in South London, so it's good if you can do them all. I have been to Collier's Wood Station, as there used to be a Hobbycraft close to it. (But I'm sure a few other people, who are trying to get 100 percent on the London Metro-Memory game are very happy to see this video.) I did note that the River Wandle is nearby the station. I've been considering "Doing the Wandle Trail" for years, but have never gotten around to it. Now I'm wondering how much of the old railway I might see on the Wandle Trail. You did do another video about a walking route, in that area. Maybe at some point, you could do videos about the walking routes in London and what Underground stations or bus stops people can travel to, if they want to take the walk.
There are a few stations like that on the Moscow and St Petersburg Metro systems: but the islands are wider, iirc (haven't been on either since around April 2014).
Another interesting fact is a few blocks from the station used to be "Connolly Bros Curriers" the originators of the famous Connolly leather used on upmarket cars. The plant was on the bank of the river wandle. I used to walk past it from the station. Its a shame the company folded, mainly owing to poor management. The Connolly name still exists but under different ownership.
@@andywarne963 I keep thinking the uplighters are there because when they got the local Sparky to quote for ceiling lights he said "that'll cost ya mate."
What is special about Colliers Wood is, obviously, that i used to live there. More objectively, I think that Colliers Wood 'feels' different from places further up the Northern line. Tooting feels like 'London', Colliers Wood feels 'suburb' in some rather different way. I don't think I could express it more clearly than that.
I know exactly what you mean. I think the reason for that is because the pre-1965 boundary of London was approximately the railway line between Haydons Road and Tooting, so I guess the area has always had a different history. It's the reason why Boundary Road which abuts the railway is named as such.
LeviNZ wishes to make known his deep liking for the design and fittings of the entrance hall and escalator space particularly...not to mention the abs. lovely tiling.
