Tottenham Court Road station

Tottenham Court Road station
Tottenham Court Road is a London Underground and Elizabeth line station in St Giles in the West End of London. The station is served by the Central line, the Elizabeth line and the branch of the Northern line. The station is located at St Giles Circus, the junction of Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road and is in Travelcard Zone 1, with a second entrance at Dean Street.
History
Central London Railway
The station opened as part of the Central London Railway (CLR) on 30 July 1900. From that date until 24 September 1933, the next station eastbound on the Central line was the now-defunct ; the next stop in that direction is now . The platforms are under Oxford Street west of St Giles' Circus and were originally connected to the ticket hall via lifts at the east end of the platforms. The original station building was on the south side of Oxford Street and was designed in common with other CLR stations by Harry Bell Measures. The building and its neighbours were demolished in 2009.
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway
The Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR, now part of the Northern line) arrived here on 22 June 1907 but used the name Oxford Street until an interchange (linking the eastbound Central line with the southbound Northern line via the ends of the platform) was opened on 3 September 1908 from when the present name was used for both lines. The next station north on the Northern line was originally called Tottenham Court Road, but was renamed to at this time.
The original ticket office was directly beneath St Giles circus and was accessed from stairs on three street corners around the Circus. Its original lift shafts and emergency stairs are still extant. A set of emergency stairs can be used as access down to the ends of the Northern line platform. The lift shafts are used for offices and station facilities.
Early improvements
Like a number of other central area stations, Tottenham Court Road underwent improvements during the 1920s to replace the original sets of lifts with escalators. Works commenced in 1923; a new subsurface ticket hall, under St Giles Circus, was constructed and the escalators came into service on 28 September 1926 (upper set) and 1 February 1926 (lower set). A shaft for three escalators was driven from the ticket hall under the junction down to the east end of the Central line platforms ending at an intermediate circulation space. A further pair of escalators descend from this level to the north end of the Northern line platforms. The lifts were removed and the redundant shafts were used as ventilation ducts. In 1938 a chiller plant began operating at the station. This was decommissioned in 1949.
Passenger congestion entering and leaving the Northern line platforms was partially eased by the addition of a short single escalator at the centre of the platform leading up to a passageway linking to the intermediate circulation area. However, this was in itself a cause of congestion, as traffic trying to leave the station from the Northern line found itself in the path of traffic entering and travelling to the Central line.
In the early 1980s, the entire station was redecorated, losing the distinctive Leslie Green-designed platform tiling pattern of the Yerkes tube lines (which included the CCE&HR), and the plain white platform tiles of the CLR. It was replaced by distinctive mosaics by Eduardo Paolozzi, located on platforms, passages and escalator entrances.
Initial plans for station expansion
The station had four entrances to the sub-surface ticket hall from the north-east, south-west and north-west corners of the junction and from a subway beneath the Centre Point building which starts on Andrew Borde Street. The entrances were frequently congested leading to occasions during peak periods of the day when they were briefly closed to prevent overcrowding in the station.
In the aftermath of the King's Cross fire in 1987, London Underground was recommended to investigate "passenger flow and congestion in stations and take remedial action". A Parliamentary bill was tabled in 1991 to permit London Underground to improve and expand the frequently congested station, however this was not proceeded with. In 2000, London Underground consulted on a station upgrade including a new larger ticket hall, new escalators and step free access, which would have taken 4 years to construct.
Expansion as part of Crossrail
The station was eventually reconstructed and upgraded in the mid 2010s as part of the Crossrail project to construct the Elizabeth line, with the £500million station upgrade taking eight years. To enable the station expansion work to occur, both the Astoria theatres and the original Central line entrance were demolished. During construction, the Central and Northern lines were alternately closed for several months to allow for upgrade works to take place.
Upon completion in 2017, the project delivered:
A new ticket hall six times larger than previous, located below St Giles Circus and the forecourt of Centre Point
New public plaza outside Centre Point, with station entrances designed by Hawkins\Brown
New dedicated set of escalators to access the Northern line
New and expanded passageways underground
Escalators down to the eastern end of the future Elizabeth line station.
Step-free access throughout the station
Restoration of existing artwork by Eduardo Paolozzi, and a new artwork in the ticket hall by Daniel Buren
On Dean Street, a dedicated western entrance and ticket hall was built to access the new Elizabeth line platforms. These platforms stretch for between the two ticket halls, underneath Soho Square. The completed western entrance and Crossrail platforms were handed over to TfL in early 2021. Crossrail links Tottenham Court Road to Canary Wharf, Abbey Wood, Stratford, and Shenfield in the east with Paddington, Heathrow and Reading in the west. The central section of the Elizabeth line opened on 24 May 2022 between Paddington and Abbey Wood. Direct service to Reading, Heathrow, Stratford and Shenfield commenced on 6 November 2022.
As part of a plan to raise £500million from development above new Crossrail stations, a residential development of 92 homes as well as retail units will be built above the western ticket hall by developer Galliard Homes and a new West End theatre as well as retail and office space will be built above the eastern ticket hall by developer Derwent London. The new theatre will be the first West End theatre to open in over 50 years.
Artworks
In the mid 1980s, Eduardo Paolozzi was commissioned to create an artwork for the station. The design includes panels of tessellated and hand cut smalti mural mosaic, and is a distinct and noticeable feature of the station. The frenetic design was intended to reflect the station's position adjacent to Tottenham Court Road's large concentration of hi-fi and electronics shops. During the expansion of the station for Crossrail, sections of the mosaic were restored, moved or replaced while other section were destroyed, some sections of which have been removed to be conserved at the University of Edinburgh.
As part of the expansion of the Eastern ticket hall, Art on the Underground commissioned an artwork by Daniel Buren, a French conceptual artist. This piece, 'Diamonds and Circles' permanent works 'in situ', was Buren's first permanent public commission in the UK. The artwork comprises colourful diamond and circle shapes, which contrast with Buren's trademark stripes in black and white, fixed to internal glass walls throughout the ticket hall. The piece was completed in 2017.
As part of the Crossrail project, two artworks were commissioned by Turner Prize winning artists - one for each ticket hall. At the eastern ticket hall, Richard Wright created a fresco of geometric patterns in gold leaf on the concrete ceiling above the Crossrail escalators. At the western ticket hall, Douglas Gordon installed a video artwork above the escalators, involving Gordon's giant blinking eye with names of Soho establishments that no longer exist reflected in it.
Services
Services at Tottenham Court Road are operated by London Underground (on both the Central line and Northern line) and by the Elizabeth line.
Services at the station are as follows.
London Underground
Central line
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
12 tph to Northolt of which 9 continue to
12 tph to White City of which 9 continue to
12 tph to Loughton of which 9 continue to Epping
12 tph to Newbury Park of which 9 continue to Hainault
Additional services call at the station during the peak hours.
The Central line also operates a night service on Friday and Saturday nights as part of the Night Tube. Trains generally operate every 10 minutes in each direction, with trains every 20 minutes to Ealing Broadway, Loughton and Hainault via Newbury Park.
Northern line
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
10 tph to Edgware
8 tph to High Barnet
2 tph to Mill Hill East
20 tph to Kennington of which 10 continue to Battersea Power Station
Additional services, including direct trains beyond Kennington to Morden call at the station during the peak hours.
Elizabeth line
Elizabeth line services began calling at Tottenham Court Road on 24 May 2022 and all services are operated using EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
8 tph to
8 tph to
6 tph to
4 tph to
2 tph to
4 tph to of which 2 continue to
These services combine to give a service of 16 tph in each direction. During the peak hours, the service is increased to 20 tph in each direction.
On Sundays, the services between Shenfield and London Paddington are reduced to 4 tph, with another 4 tph terminating instead at Gidea Park.
Future developments
Crossrail 2
The Crossrail 2 project proposed a station at Tottenham Court Road, the only planned interchange between the Elizabeth line and Crossrail 2. The expanded station built as part of the Crossrail project took the future demands of Crossrail 2 into account, which will allow for less construction disruption if the line is built. The proposals involve a new Crossrail 2 ticket hall on the site of Curzon Soho on Shaftesbury Avenue. This has been criticised by campaigners. The station and ticket hall site were first safeguarded as part of the route during the development of the Chelsea-Hackney line in 1991. In November 2020 plans for Crossrail 2 were shelved.
In popular culture
The station was used for a sequence in the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London.
A scene in the 2008 film The Bank Job is set in the station, though it was shot at Aldwych tube station.
A scene in the musical We Will Rock You is set in the station; the musical played across the street at the Dominion Theatre from 2002 to 2014.
Connections
London Buses day and night routes serve the station.
References
External links
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
City of Westminster, Draft Planning Brief – Crossrail: Tottenham Court Road Station (Eastern Ticket Hall), May 2005, Retrieved 31 January 2008
Photos of Paolozzi's mosaics in the station
Conservation of the TCR Station Mosaics
Images from An American Werewolf in London prior to installation of Paolozzi mosaics
Rebuilding work and schedule (Transport for London)
Restoration and rebuild of Central Line Paolozzi mosaics by mosaic artist Gary Drostle
Central line (London Underground) stations
Northern line stations
London Underground Night Tube stations
Proposed Chelsea-Hackney Line stations
Tube stations in the City of Westminster
Former Central London Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1900
Former Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907
Railway stations served by the Elizabeth line
Buildings and structures on Tottenham Court Road
Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom
St Giles, London