Warren Street tube station

For other uses, see Warren Street station (disambiguation).

Warren Street
Station building
Warren Street Location of Warren Street in Central London
Location	Euston Road
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	1
OSI	Euston Square [1]
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	18.25 million [2]
2020	7.74 million [3]
2021	7.04 million [4]
2022	13.01 million [5]
2023	14.08 million [6]
Key dates
22 June 1907	Opened
1 December 1968	Victoria line opened
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51°31′29″N0°08′18″W / 51.52472°N 0.13833°W / 51.52472; -0.13833
London transportportal

Warren Street ( /ˈwɒrənˌstriːt/ ) is a London Underground station, located at the intersection of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road in the northernmost part of Fitzrovia, and named after adjoining Warren Street. It is served by the Northern and Victoria lines. Even though it is relatively used less than a number of neighbouring stations, it provides an interchange between the two lines as well as access to the University College Hospital.

The station opened in 1907 as Euston Road, ^[7] and was designed by Leslie Green. It was refurbished in the 1930s by Charles Holden, when escalators were first installed. An extensive refurbishment took place in the late 1960s to accommodate the Victoria line, when it briefly acted as a temporary terminus. It was the first station on the underground to have a dedicated Wi-Fi surface in 2012.

Name and location

The premises adjoins Warren Street, Euston Road and Tottenham Court Road; Warren Street is named after the 18th-century naval officer Sir Peter Warren. ^[8] The station is on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line between Euston and Goodge Street stations, and on the Victoria line between Oxford Circus and Euston stations. ^[9] It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and is the nearest tube station to University College Hospital, being opposite the main building. ^[10] It is also a 0.1-mile (160 m) walk to Euston Square on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, which is at the other side of the hospital building. ^{[11] [12]}

London Buses routes 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 134, 205 and 390 and night routes N5, N20, N29, N73, N205, N253 and N279 serve the station. ^[13]

The station has a relatively low footfall for Victoria line stations in the area. In 2020, the annualised total for Warren Street was around 7.7 million, lower than Euston (8.8 million), Green Park (9.4 million), Oxford Circus (14.6 million), Kings Cross St Pancras (18.8 million) and Victoria (23 million). ^[1]

History

Northern line

The station was part of the original Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, running from Charing Cross to Camden Town. Work started on the station in 1902, designed by Leslie Green. ^{[14] [15]} It was opened along with the rest of the line on 22 June 1907 by the President of the Board of Trade, David Lloyd George, under the name "Euston Road". ^{[14] [16]} This name can still be seen in the Northern line platform tiling. ^[17] The station's name changed to "Warren Street" the following year, on 7 June 1908. ^[18]

In the early 1930s, Charles Holden designed a refurbishment for the station, including the surface building. ^{[19] [20]} In September 1933, the station was rebuilt, with escalators installed in place of the original lifts. ^[21] Tripod gates were fitted to the station entrance in July 1968. ^[22]

Victoria line

Warren Street was not in the original proposals for the Victoria line, but was added by the time work began in 1962. This was done to break up a lengthy section of tube between Euston and Oxford Circus, and provide an additional public transport access point to the local area. ^[23]

The Victoria line platforms opened on 1 December 1968 as a temporary southern terminus of the line. ^[22] Trains ran into the southbound platform and reversed; the northbound platform was not originally used. ^[24] The interchange with the Northern Line was cumbersome as it involved a staircase and two escalators. ^[22] The extension southwards towards Victoria officially opened on 7 March 1969, though through trains had been running since 24 February. ^[25] Along with other Victoria line stations, the new complex was originally decorated with tiles showing an illustration relating to the station's name – in this case, a maze (signifying a warren). ^[26]

Later history

On 27 April 2012, Warren Street station became the first London Underground Wi-Fi enabled tube station. ^[27]

Incidents

On 23 November 1984, a fire broke out in a maintenance compound near Oxford Circus. The Victoria line was part-suspended, with trains terminating at Warren Street. The line reopened on 17 December. The fire was believed to be caused by a discarded cigarette, which led to a smoking ban on all below-ground components of the Underground, including trains, platforms and stations. ^{[28] [a]}

On 23 July 2018, a woman died after being hit by a Victoria line train at the station. The police did not believe there were any suspicious circumstances. ^[30]

Cultural references

The Northern line northbound platform of the station was used for location filming in the 1972 horror film Death Line , featuring a group of cannibals living underground. ^[10]

Gallery

• 
  Northern line northbound platform looking north, July 2008
• 
  Northern line northbound platform, looking south, February 2018
• 
  Tiling on Northern line southbound platform, revealing the former station name, Euston Road
• 
  Station roundel
• 
  Victoria line northbound platform looking north, July 2008. After a few years, the station was renovated
• 
  Warren Street station viewed from the north-east across Euston Road

References

Notes

1. Following the King's Cross fire in 1987, smoking was banned on the Underground completely. ^[29]

Citations

1. "Out-of-station interchanges". Transport for London. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
2. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
3. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
4. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
5. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
6. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
7. "Warren Street". British History Online. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
8. Weinreb et al. 2008, p. 984.
9. "Warren Street Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
10. "Warren Street". Transport for London Artwork. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
11. Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. February 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2025. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
12. Euston Square Underground Station to Warren Street (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
13. "Warren Street Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
14. Day & Reed 2010, pp. 76–77.
15. Wolmar 2005, p. 175.
16. Smithers 2016, p. 9.
17. Badsey-Ellis 2005, p. 294.
18. Butt 1995, p. 241.
19. "Warren Street". Hidden London. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
20. "Design for Warren Street London Underground Station, London: perspective view". RIBApix. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
21. Lee 1968, p. 25.
22. Day & Reed 2010, p. 168.
23. Horne 1988, p. 28.
24. Horne 1988, p. 44.
25. Horne 1988, p. 45.
26. Martin 2012, p. 237.
27. Andrew Laughlin (7 June 2012). "London King's Cross and Warren Street Tube stations get free Wi-Fi". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
28. Day & Reed 2010, p. 187.
29. Day & Reed 2010, p. 191.
30. "Woman dies after being hit by train at Warren Street station". London Evening Standard. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2022.

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
• Badsey-Ellis, Antony (2005). London's Lost Tube Schemes. Capital Transport. ISBN   185414-293-3.
• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN   978-1-85414-341-9.
• Horne, M.A.C. (1988). The Victoria Line – A Short History. Douglas Rose. ISBN   978-1-870-35402-8.
• Lee, Charles Edward (1968). Sixty Years of the Northern. London Transport Board.
• Martin, Andrew (2012). Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube. Profile Books. ISBN   978-1-847-65807-4.
• Smithers, Owen (2016). Automating the Northern line. Amberley. ISBN   978-1-445-65483-6.
• Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (2008). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Pan Macmillan. ISBN   978-1-405-04924-5.

• Wolmar, Christian (2005) [2004]. The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. Atlantic Books. ISBN   1-84354-023-1.

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station in 1914
  • Station in 1934 after rebuilding
  • Internal view of ticket office in 1934

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Euston towards Edgware, Mill Hill East or High Barnet		Northern line Charing Cross Branch		Goodge Street towards Battersea Power Station, Morden or Kennington
Oxford Circus towards Brixton		Victoria line		Euston towards Walthamstow Central