London Transport Museum brings back in-person tours of Clapham South deep level shelter in new season of Hidden London

Tour tickets on sale Friday 11 March

• In-person tours of the disused tunnels of Clapham South return for first time since March 2020 – discover the historical significance of this little-known site, from stories of wartime sheltering to Windrush.
• New season of in-person tours includes iconic favourites such as Down Street station – Churchill’s secret refuge – along with more recent additions such as Kingsway Tram Tunnel, once the most important stretch of tram track in the Capital.
• Fifteen different Hidden London experiences to choose from, with more virtual tours on sale than ever before.
• Explore locations featured in the hit UKTV documentary series Secrets of the London Underground
• Priority booking available to London Transport Museum Friends and newsletter subscribers, sign-up via ltmuseum.co.uk to avoid missing out.
• Tickets for all tours go on public sale on Friday 11 March 2022.

London Transport Museum is launching a new season of its Hidden London tours, which take ticketholders to fascinating secret locations across the capital’s Underground network that are usually off limits to the public.

 

In-person tours of Clapham South deep level shelter will return for the first time in two years, taking visitors down into the eerie tunnels of this little-known location that is steeped in history. Ticketholders will hear the extraordinary tales of Londoners seeking refuge in this labyrinth of underground passages during the Second World War as well as the stories of Caribbean migrants arriving on the Empire Windrush who, temporarily, made this deep-level underground shelter their home.

In person tours of Aldwych, Charing Cross, Down Street, Euston, Moorgate and Piccadilly Circus disused stations and tunnels will also go on sale, offering visitors the chance to go where few have ventured before and explore underground locations with unique stories to tell about London’s past. The new tour season includes a number of locations featured on UKTV’s popular Secrets of the London Underground series. Fans of the show can follow in the footsteps of presenters Siddy Holloway and Tim Dunn to explore these special sites for themselves.

Led by expert guides with a wealth of fascinating facts and tales to share about these ‘forgotten’ parts of the London Underground, visitors will explore disused tunnels, platforms and lift shafts that lie concealed just a stone’s throw away from unknowing modern day commuters.

 

From old favourites to a more recent addition – tickets for in-person tours of Kingsway Tram Subway will also go on sale. Opened in 1906, and once the most important stretch of tram track in the Capital, visitors will explore the remaining tunnel and former tram station and learn the story behind this relic whose disused ramp leading down beneath the city’s streets has long been a mystery to the modern-day passer-by.

A new season of virtual Hidden London tours will also be available to book, with more tours to pick from than ever before. Join from anywhere in the world via Zoom to get up close to out-of-bounds areas on the network. Expert guides will share the history of these mysterious parts of London’s transport system through a gallery of contemporary photos, videos, never-before-seen footage as well as archival images from London Transport Museum’s collection. Access to many sites on the virtual tour roster is so restricted that in-person Hidden London tours will never be possible, making these virtual experiences particularly special.

For those who prefer their cultural experiences above ground, a new season of walking tours of Covent Garden, Kingsway, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Victoria Embankment will also be on sale. Explore these areas with expert guides who reveal fascinating little-known historical tales and titbits about the area and its transformation over the last 200 years.

 

Tickets for all tours will be available to London Transport Museum’s enewsletter subscribers ahead of general release, sign up via ltmuseum.co.uk for priority booking.
Tickets go on public sale on Friday 11 March 2022 via ltmuseum.co.uk/hidden-london
Tour information and dates 
Run by London Transport Museum, Hidden London is a programme of exclusive tours and events across the Capital at locations rarely seen by, and usually off limits to, the public. Venturing beyond secret entrances and unassuming doorways, visitors will be led on atmospheric journeys into disused stations and concealed spaces on the Tube network. Guests will glimpse places steeped in history and hidden in plain sight around the city.

 

 

• In-person tour – Aldwych: The end of the line
  Selected dates between 3 and 28 August inclusive.
  Tickets: Adult £44.00, Concession £39.00
  Aldwych station is one of London’s little-known relics, holding myths and memories of times gone by. Opened to the public in 1907, it was never heavily used and closed in 1994, after almost 90 years. Learn about the varied history of this station; from providing shelter to Londoners during the Blitz, to being used for film and TV shoots including Darkest Hour (2017), Sherlock (2014), Mr Selfridge (2013) and Atonement (2007).

 

• In-person tour – Charing Cross: Access All Areas
  Selected dates between 18 May and 17 July inclusive.
  Tickets: Adult £44.00, Concession £39.00

Go behind the scenes to exclusive disused areas off-limits to the public. Walk under Trafalgar Square and see London Underground in a different light. Closed to the public since 1999, the Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross are now synonymous with movie and TV filming. This is a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of the sites where blockbuster movies such as Skyfall (2011/12), Paddington Bear (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2014) and TV’s 24 (2014) and Killing Eve (2019) were filmed.

• In-person tour – Clapham South: Subterranean shelter
  *As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
  Selected dates between 6 April and 28 August inclusive.
  Tickets: Adult £37.00, Concession £32.00
  Journey 11 stories underground to explore one of eight deep-level shelters that exist below the streets of London. Opened to the public in July 1944, Clapham South deep-level shelter has over a mile of subterranean passageways that reveal the extraordinary stories of those who sheltered here, from Londoners seeking refuge during the Second World War, to hopeful Caribbean migrants arriving on the Empire Windrush, and even thrifty visitors to the Festival of Britain.

• In-person tour –Down Street: Churchill’s Secret Station
        Selected dates between 20 April and 5 June inclusive. 

Tickets: Adult £90.00; Concession £85.00
Get an intimate peek into one of London’s most intriguing hidden spaces. Situated between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park stations, Down Street had a short life as a working station from 1907 to 1932 but became critical to winning the Second World War when covertly transformed into the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters. Experience the warren of narrow tunnels where the nation’s railways were co-ordinated and Prime Minister Winston Churchill

secretly took refuge at the height of the Blitz.

 

• In-person tour – Euston: The Lost Tunnels
        Selected dates between 8 June and 24 July inclusive. 

Tickets: Adult £44.00, Concessions £39.00.

Discover a secret side to a station you think you know on a tour that explores a century of Euston’s history. Wind through a labyrinth of atmospheric passageways beneath the present-day station that were once used by the travelling public. Glimpse a bygone era through a gallery of vintage advertising poster fragments, and see the original Leslie Green station facade before the site is transformed for the arrival of HS2.

 

• In-person tour – Kingsway tram tunnel: linking up London

Selected dates between 25 May and 24 July inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £49.00; Concession £45.00

The Kingsway Tram Subway was once the most important stretch of tram track in London, linking together the extensive tram networks of north and south London. In 1952, this unique part of the Capital’s transport network closed, having served Londoners for some 46 years. The subway was conceived and built by the London County Council at the start of the twentieth century as part of an ambitious civic renewal programme for the Holborn and Aldwych areas and surprisingly more than half of the subway still exists, complete with original features. This tour will take you on a journey through the history of the remaining tunnels and the former Holborn tram station, revealing how it served London.

• In-person tour – Moorgate: Metropolitan Maze
       *As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
        Selected dates between 20 July and 28 August inclusive. 

Tickets: Adult £52.50, Concessions £47.50.

Explore the many wonders of Moorgate station, one of London’s first Underground stations. See an original Greathead Shield left abandoned from a planned tunnel extension in 1904 – the only complete one of its kind on the Underground network. Explore a maze of disused tunnels and track left behind from station upgrades through the years, glimpse corridors lined with original glass tiles of the City and South London Railway – the world’s first deep-level underground railway – and discover how long-disused areas of the station have been ingeniously repurposed for a modern London.

• In-person tour – Piccadilly Circus: The Heart of London
  *As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
  Selected dates between 13 April and 22 May inclusive.
  Tickets: Adult £44.00, Concession £39.00

our, visitors will be able to experience hidden areas of the station that have been closed to the public since 1929, as well as uncover the history of this iconic Grade II listed building and the famous architects responsible for its creation. Located directly underneath the celebrated landmark, Piccadilly Circus station opened in 1906 but was extensively modernised between 1925 and 1928 to meet passenger demands. This station is an engineering marvel and boasts one of the finest examples of subterranean architecture on London Underground.

 

• Virtual tour – Aldwych

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

Aldwych station is one of London’s little-known relics, holding myths and memories of times gone by. This exclusive virtual tour of one of the most popular Hidden London sites allows virtual visitors a glimpse of places that aren’t accessible in person such as the ladies toilets – with some fascinating original features that have long since disappeared in modern Underground station – and the upper ticket hall with its original ticket windows and telephone booths – some dating back to the station’s opening in 1907.

• Virtual tour – Brompton Road

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

Located between Knightsbridge and South Kensington stations on the Piccadilly line, Brompton Road station was closed in 1934 after the Piccadilly line was extended. It was closed along with stations such as Down Street and York Road as they were only lightly used – with some services passing through without stopping. Zoom in for this special behind the scenes digital tour to learn about its time as a Second World War bunker and see what the disused station looks like today.

 

• Virtual tour – Euston
  *As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

In 1907 two separate Underground stations opened at Euston running the lines which would ultimately become the two branches of the Northern line. This virtual tour explores the remains of these two original structures that have been closed for over a century, taking you to parts of the station not usually accessible on an in-person tour. See the passageways, emergency stairs and lift shaft of the Hampstead tube as well as getting a last look inside the iconic Leslie Green station building before it is demolished. New and never-before-seen footage makes this the ultimate tour of Euston’s Underground.

 

• Virtual Tour – Holborn (Kingsway)

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50
In 1898 the London County Council (LCC) decided to completely redevelop the area in London we now know as Kingsway and Aldwych. This required new public transport to bring people to and from work and in response the LCC built a tram subway underneath Kingsway itself, to facilitate interchange between South and North London trams.  This tour explores how public transport unlocked parts of London previously inaccessible at the turn of the 20th Century and how these spaces adapted and changed when they were no longer required to serve their original purpose, often in very unusual ways.

 

• Virtual Tour – King William Street

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

King William Street station has the honour of being the first disused deep-level Tube station. Closed in 1900, King William Street was the original but short-lived northern terminus of the City and South London Railway (CSLR), which was the first deep-level underground railway in the world. On this special behind-the-scenes virtual tour, see what the disused station looks like today and find out how it is being used during the Bank station extension project.

 

• Virtual tour – York Road
  *As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*

Selected dates between 12 April and 22 August inclusive.
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

An unusual Leslie Green designed station located on the Piccadilly line between King’s Cross St Pancras and Caledonian Road, York Road had a short working life between 1906 and 1932. Situated in a relatively poor area of London at the time, the station never had much custom and was eventually closed. The station building has been dormant ever since. This virtual tour explores unique surviving features such as a tiled lift lobby and signal cabin as well as modifications to the station with never-before seen footage.

 

• Walking Tour – Secrets of Central London 

Selected dates between 8 April and 28 August inclusive. 

Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50

Discover the secrets of London on a walking tour of Covent Garden, Kingsway, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Victoria Embankment. Join our expert guide and tour off the beaten path, down inconspicuous back streets to locations steeped in history hidden in plain sight. Find out how the area has transformed over the last 200 years and see abandoned transport infrastructure and remarkable feats of engineering that have shaped London.

 

For more information on individual tours visit: ltmuseum.co.uk/hidden-london

 

Hidden London exhibition extended to summer 2023
Explore the award-winning Hidden London exhibition in London Transport Museum’s Global Gallery. Bringing together the largest number of rare archive photos, objects, vintage posters, secret diagrams and decorative tiles from disused stations in one location for the first time, the exhibition reveals the mysteries of the Capital’s ‘abandoned’ Underground stations. Delve into the secret wartime histories of Down Street and Clapham South and discover the creative ways forgotten subterranean spaces are being adapted for today’s world. By popular demand the exhibition has been extended until the summer of 2023.
Hidden London Hangouts on YouTube – new episodes each Saturday at 18:00
Hidden London Hangouts give everyone a chance to learn more about the Capital’s subterranean transport secrets with wit and humour from four loveable Londoners and experts in their field. New episodes are released on London Transport Museum’s YouTube channel every Saturday at 18:00. Visit www.youtube.com/ltmuseumvideo to see up and coming as well as previous episodes. Each episode is hosted by self-confessed Tube geek and broadcaster Alex Grundon.