Old Street Station – 22nd January 2024
I passed through Old Street station this morning and took these pictures.
Note.
- I arrived at the station on a Great Northern train from Moorgate.
- I walked through the dingy tunnels of the old station and then used the escalator to get to the surface.
- I then walked around the centre of the roundabout, before walking to the Southbound bus stop.
- From there I took a 21 bus to take the last few pictures.
- I wrote the first post about construction at Silicon Roudabout; Silicon Roundabout Goes Two-Way, in May 2019.
This really has been a slow construction job.
The Anonymous Widower 
The old NSE passenger tunnels look really grubby. With the revamp of other parts of this station, it would be a good PR move to clean & repaint the rest of the station – it’s obviously been many decades since it was last done, and it currently falls way below how TfL typically keeps their stations. Obviously money is short, but at least a deep clean is necessary.
Comment by Michael 'Long Branch Mike' Olivier | January 22, 2024 |
The stations on the Northern City Line with the exception of Moorgate; Old Street, Essex Road, Highbury & Islington and Drayton Park all need a substantial upgrade.
Old Street is getting a surface makeover, but it is not touching the major problem of the underground works, which need lifts to the four platforms.
Essex Road is a disgrace, that I use occasionally. But I do believe that it could be rebuilt as a tower of perhaps a hundred quality flats for people, who had a car-free lifestyle.
Highbury & Islington was once a grand Victorian station, but now it’s a dump. There is another disused entrance on the other side of the road. Perhaps just fix the access.
Drayton Park could be converted into a step-free station for the Emirates stadium.
Except for perhaps Drayton Park, finance would be a problem.
Unless perhaps, the stations were developed as part of a City of London project, that extended the route to its originally proposed terminal of Lothbury, which could be connected by a subway to the newly-expanded Bank station.
Comment by AnonW | January 22, 2024 |
Thanks for the additional info AnonW. There is a group that is advocating rebuilding the Highbury & Islington station – https://highburyandislington.net/ – which is heartening.
Comment by Michael 'Long Branch Mike' Olivier | January 23, 2024 |