23rd January 2025
I’ve been down another hole in the ground thanks to the London Transport Museum’s Hidden London tours. This time it was to parts of Dover Street station, or as we no it now, Green Park. This is a new Hidden London tour for 2025 and follows a similar theme to many others. We were met outside Green Park station (by the Diana Fountain) and once our tickets and photo ID had been checked and safety and other formalities completed Eesa and Becky led us into the station and down towards the Piccadilly Line platforms. Just before reaching the platforms however we went through a private door into the “lost world” of Dover Street station’s passages from the platform over-bridges to the disused lift shafts.
These now redundant passages took passengers to and from the lifts to the platforms but the station became too busy to carry on using lifts. When the lifts were replaced by escalators there wasn’t room for them at the Dover Street site so in 1933 a new ticket hall was opened below ground, accessed from entrances on Piccadilly and in Green Park and the station took its new name from the park.
The passages retain much of the original tiling in a light blue and white colour scheme and some original sign-writing too.
No Hidden London station tour can escape the system’s role in the second small disagreement of the 20th century and in the case of Green Park it was initially used for storage by some of London’s museums but after London Transport’s headquarters at 55 Broadway received a wee present from the Luftwaffe the museums were turfed out and the redundant passages converted to an operational headquarters for the LT board. This included a suite for the Chairman, Lord Ashcroft, at the foot of one of the lift shafts. Considerations of class meant he got newly plastered and painted walls whereas lesser mortals working and living down there kept the station tiling.
The tour returned along the passage to the Piccadilly Line before heading back into the public part of the station.
Then along the long tunnel to the Victoria and Jubilee lines. The tunnel where the mosaic tiles on the walls gradually turn from white and blue (Piccadilly end) to white and grey (Jubilee end). Also the long tunnel which makes some people avoid changing lines at green Park.
The point of this trek through the station was to get to the huge ventilation tunnel that expels warm air from the station and draws cooler air from the surface. There are no fans in the ventilation tunnel for this, the movement of the trains through the station platform tunnels is used, the trains being effectively huge pistons.
A long staircase leads down from Victoria Line level to Jubilee Line level.
and from the Victoria line level the tunnel rises vertically to the world above. In January this space is noticeably colder than the rest of the station.
Of course one of the fun parts of a station tour is getting to peek down at the trains and platforms from the hidden spaces behind the vents. So here’s the Jubilee Line platform seen from above the track.
And apart from making our way all the way back up to the ticket hall and handing back our visitor’s badges that was another tour done. Almost 90 minutes had passed but it didn’t feel like it. Considering it’s a new tour it all went very smoothly, nobody got lost and nobody was gained on route despite it being a busy station. The guides were knowledgeable and enthusiastic as ever. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a Tim Dunn/Siddy Holloway then Hidden London tours can be booked here.
There are more photos on my Flickr Album too.
