The London Underground, commonly referred to as the Tube, began operation in January 1863, making it the world’s oldest subterranean transport system. The first deep-level lines were hand dug by an army of workmen equipped with shovels and spades. Over the past 160 years, the Underground has developed a history as sprawling, and complex as the lines themselves. The London Transport Museum‘s Hidden London experience gives the public a chance to see disused Tube stations through immersive and educational walking tours.
Hidden London conducts behind-the-scenes excursions on a rotating basis in eight different Tube stations, each with its own unique past. At a Charing Cross Underground platform that has been defunct since 1999, visitors find themselves among empty escalators and corridors — silent except for the distant rumble of trains on other lines. Guides share the station’s history and show a scene from the movie Skyfall in which James Bond slides down the same escalators the group just descended.
Movies, television shows and music videos are often filmed in these abandoned, atmospheric stations. The concealed parts of the Aldwych and Euston lines have been undisturbed, their period architecture and fading posters giving the impression of having been frozen in time. Several of the tours cover the role played by the Underground in World War II: air-raid shelters. The Down Street station was famously used as a secret wartime bunker for Winston Churchill. Moorgate station, opened in 1865, was originally home to gas-lit, windowless wooden carriages. Closed since 1939, the station’s depths reveal dim maintenance tunnels and neglected lift shafts.
Hidden London advises that those undertaking the 120-min walking tour “have an adequate level of fitness.” Virtual tours are offered for a more accessible option. Some locations featured have extremely restricted access, making a public, in-person tour impossible. In 2019, the London Transport Museum opened Hidden London: The Exhibition. Designed by Skellon Studios and Seeing Things, the exhibit recreated the “spooky” feeling of the Tube stations featured in the tours in the museum’s gallery in creative ways, including a replica of Aldwych station’s ticket office and a recreation of Churchill’s Down Street dining room. The exhibition has closed, but Hidden London walking and virtual tours are ongoing.
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