Visiting Brompton Road disused tube station

The Covid-19 lockdown and economic downturn have affected most strands of society, including museums and other cultural venues. How can they remain relevant in a post pandemic world while trying to generate much needed income? A dynamic digital offering is one answer. London Transport Museum is trying just that with a series of 'virtual' tours from its Hidden London portfolio; in effect, an intimate series of Zoom meetings focused on two disused underground stations that can't be visited in real life. At £30 a head, these aren't particularly cheap but I couldn't resist buying a ticket to find out if an online visit was worth it.

I chose a visit to Brompton Road, a Leslie Green designed station on the Piccadilly line which was open to passengers between 1906 and 1934 (the other available tour is of King William Street station). Passenger numbers at Brompton Road were lower than expected for a station initially built with four lifts (it gradually lost these and other assets to other stations). Its decline inspired a piece of contemporary culture when a phrase to signal to passengers that it wasn't stopping ("Passing Brompton Road") was adopted as the title of a stage play. Brompton Road was finally closed when the nearby Knightsbridge station gained a new entrance and presumably even more passenger numbers. 

Much of Brompton Road station was later bought by the War Office and used as a base of operations by the Anti-Aircraft Division of the Territorial Army during World War II. So far, so not dissimilar to some of the other ghost stations.


Photo (taken by me in 2008): The Leslie Green tiled frontage only remains on the Cottage Place side of the old station, which I learned was actually the staff entrance to the station. The Brompton Road entrance has long been demolished.







 

Unlike some of these stations though, a virtual visit is the only legitimate way to see more of Brompton Road, because it's unlikely to be open for actual tours anytime soon, even after pandemic restrictions are lifted. The Ministry of Defence sold its site to a private owner in 2013 for what is thought to be planned residential development. This doesn't appear to be the same person who clearly had access in 2011 to film this video. Transport for London continue to own the platforms, but they can only be accessed by arranging for trains to stop and pick up on very special request.

Pros and cons of a virtual visit

It almost goes without saying that the biggest drawbacks of a virtual visit are the absence of seeing and smelling the underground, and the inability to take photographs. Bearing in mind that this isn't possible at Brompton Road anyway, it's not much of a con.

The biggest pro was an engaging tour lead in the form of London Transport Museum's Siddy Holloway, though it's fair to say the tour guide makes or breaks any tour. Siddy's Hidden London colleague Laura Hilton Brown was also on hand, so lots of expertise available for any questions. It was also very good to see reasonable close-ups of the station plan and photos from when it was in use: even if some of these are available to view on the Internet there is something to be gained from seeing them in the company of a knowledgeable guide. Finally, the promise of a PDF booklet for tour attendees remains a tantalising prospect.

After preliminaries, the online tour lasted just over an hour. There was an opportunity for questions during the event, but the time for questions at the end didn't materialise during a rushed wrap-up - perhaps the host had to be somewhere else? A couple of questions had come in on the chat at the end so it was a bit disappointing that time wasn't taken to answer them (there were still a few minutes of the advertised 90 minutes session remaining).

On balance it was just about worth the ticket price, though £25 is probably a fairer price tag - I'll need to see the promised PDF to judge completely! On the plus side, I didn't need to pay to get to London, I could see and hear everything (not always a given on a walking tour...), and there were insights aplenty into the station history and operations. 

So a thumbs-up from me. All things considered, I'm very happy to support London Transport Museum as they try new ventures during these constrained times.



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