Old Street: Mum and Dad are Fighting Again

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Today we're going to take a look at Old Street Station. Now, I must confess that I've been meaning to do this one for years, but when I started the channel, the station was undergoing refurbishment. So, some of the footage depicts the station looking nothing like it does today.

[00:00:19]I guess I'm recording stuff for posterity or something.

[00:00:24]Anyway, Old Street. Old Street is a station on the Northern Line of the London Underground and National Rail.

[00:00:31]Specifically, what is usually known as the Northern City Line. It's located under the Old Street Roundabout, what's sometimes known as Silicon Roundabout.

[00:00:40]It's called that cuz it's home to many IT firms, not because there are a lot of plastic surgeons here. The station opened in 1901 and it was always intended to be a joint venture. What's now the Northern Line was back then known as the City and South London Railway and what's now the National Rail Line was back then known as the Great Northern and City Railway.

[00:01:03]Well, it wasn't really known as anything because it hadn't opened yet. The two companies, which I'll refer to as the CSLR and the GNCR, made their agreement in 1899. The CSLR was the first of the deep level tube lines running at that time from Stockwell to King William Street, but they were in the process of extending to Angel in Islington. They'd done pretty well out of their line so far. In fact, they were carrying more passengers than King William Street could handle. Therefore, they planned to kill two birds with one stone, to rid themselves of the problematic King William Street and extend their catchment area to North London. The plan was to abandon the section from Borough to King William Street and build a new section that would serve London Bridge, Bank, Moorgate, Old Street, City Road and Angel. Later they'd go on to Euston per this map of 1908. It would approximately follow the route of the main roads because they were nervous about tunneling under buildings.

[00:02:06]The GNCR meanwhile was intended to be a tube line built to an appropriate size to take main line trains. The aim was for it to carry trains from the Great Northern Railway from Finsbury Park to Moorgate. Stopping along the way at Drayton Park, Highbury, Essex Road, and Old Street. This wouldn't quite work out as planned. The Great Northern Railway would pull out before the line was completed leaving the GNCR as a short isolated tube line with very large trains.

[00:02:39]Anyway, while both lines would be serving Moorgate, they agreed to build a joint station at Old Street which would be the main interchange between the two.

[00:02:49]Moorgate would be two separate stations unlike today. Now, back then the Old Street roundabout didn't exist. The station was built on a street corner. It opened on the 17th of November 1901.

[00:03:04]While the CLSR was ready to go, the GNCR was still being built. So, the station was only half complete. It featured lifts down to the CLSR platforms which were below the GNCR ones. The GNCR opened a little over 2 years later on the 14th of February 1904.

[00:03:24]They were very much the poor relation.

[00:03:26]Their line had lost its primary purpose and it didn't really have any scope to expand. Meanwhile, the CLSR ran right across the city and it was still growing. Possibly as a result of this, the two companies clashed over Old Street or possibly under it.

[00:03:42]Although the station was jointly owned, the two companies had very different opinions of what that meant. The CLSR seemed to think that it was basically their station and the other railway was just kind of there. And the GNCR, not entirely surprisingly, felt that they should be equal partners.

[00:04:01]There were several disputes over staffing, receipts, and the cost of running the station. In 1909, a new uniform was introduced especially for the staff at Old Street, which reflected both companies. In 1913, the GNCR was taken over by the Metropolitan Railway, who had a line running through Moorgate.

[00:04:22]And the tables had well and truly turned. The CSLR was suffering from competition with electric trams, which were cheaper and covered much of their turf. They were not as wealthy as they had been. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Railway was a much bigger company, running main-line trains all the way out to Buckinghamshire. Interestingly, the Metropolitan also put in an offer to buy the CSLR, which was turned down.

[00:04:48]Instead, the CSLR was taken over, also in 1913, by Underground Electric Railways of London, who owned the District, Piccadilly, Bakerloo, and Hampstead lines. So, the two railways, backed by their new and powerful owners, struck a deal. Since they couldn't share the station, they wouldn't. Instead, what would happen was that each company would run the station in its entirety for an alternating period of 2 years.

[00:05:17]This arrangement seemed to work pretty well, or at least I haven't come across any reference to it not working well. In 1922, the City and South London section of the station was closed while the tunnels were widened. As part of the UERL takeover, the line was to be joined to the Charing Cross, Euston, and Hampstead Railway, or Hampstead Tube, to form what we now know as the Northern Line. But Hampstead Tube trains were bigger than CSLR ones, so the tunnels had to be widened.

[00:05:46]The opportunity was taken to modernize the station and in 1925 escalators were installed. The station gained a new frontage designed by Charles Holden in one of his early commissions for the network. In 1933, both Underground Electric Railways of London and the Metropolitan Railway were merged along with a number of smaller transport providers into London Transport. In 1938, work was carried out to turn Moorgate into an interchange between the Metropolitan line, the Northern line, and the Great Northern and City line.

[00:06:18]That's because London Transport planned to massively expand the scope of the Northern line into the suburbs of North London and that would include turning the Great Northern and City Railway into another branch of the Northern line.

[00:06:31]Usually, this is referred to as the Northern City line. What this meant was that from 1938, Old Street was technically served by the Northern line and the Northern line.

[00:06:42]The Second World War brought an abrupt end to London Transport's plans and a combination of a lack of money and green belt legislation prevented things from being resumed after the war. The Victoria line opened in 1968 and this was yet more bad news for the Northern and City line because in order for the Victoria line to serve Finsbury Park, the Northern City line platforms there were handed over to it. This meant that the Northern City line now ended at Drayton Park, which, no disrespect to the good people of Drayton Park, is not exactly a destination that throngs of people were clamoring to reach. So, the already low passenger numbers dropped further. Meanwhile, change was a foot up above.

[00:07:23]The Old Street roundabout was laid out.

[00:07:26]This would necessitate the demolition of the old station entrance, but that didn't have to be a problem. Since the station had been built, offices had started to go up around the Old Street area. The station was no longer coping with the number of commuters. So, the opportunity was taken to build a completely new ticket hall below street level accessible by subway with an additional escalator. In 1975, the Northern City Line was handed back to British Rail with plans to connect it to the main line as had originally been planned back in the 1890s. In August of 1976, Old Street joined the national rail network. And during all this, the opportunity was taken to modernize the station further. Unfortunately, the 70s were not an inspiring period for London Transport design and as a result, the current station is a gloomy place. Other stations built or refurbished in this area got snazzy murals, but not Old Street.

[00:08:23]From the 2010s through to the 2020s, the station has undergone yet more redevelopment. As I mentioned at the start of the video, the entrances are a lot more inviting and the previously grim shopping center in the subway has been refurbished. Although I do miss the bookshop down there. But once you get into the station, it retains that 70s look. It's also weirdly spooky. The Northern City Line platforms feel rather neglected and the combination of winding corridors and the relatively few passengers getting off there give it an uncanny liminal sense where you might feel like you're the only person in this actually rather busy station. I kind of like that cuz I'm weird. There may be more refurbishment to come. There has been talk of adding the Northern City Line to the Overground and if that happens, well, the Northern City Line will need to be TFL-ified.

[00:09:16]Old Street, the place has changed a lot over the last century and a quarter and the station has changed with it. For a station called Old Street, it seems to be in a constant state of renewal.

[00:09:31]Well, I do hope you enjoyed this refurbished tale from in tube. If you did, please do consider leaving a like or subscribing for more. Today's main sources were London Underground Stations by David Leboff, The Big Tube by J.

[00:09:45]Graham Bruce, The City and South London Railway by T.S. Lascelles, The Northern Line by Mike Horne, The Amazing Electric Tube by Prince P. Holman, Building the London Tubes by Anthony Badsey-Ellis, Reconstructing London's Underground by H.G. Follenfont, and London's Underground Stations by Lawrence Menear.

[00:10:05]I would like as ever to thank my donors on Ko-fi, on Patreon, and here on YouTube for your generous support. You are the rail connection to my Finsbury Park, and I will see you all again very soon.

[00:10:18]Cheerio.