Piccadilly Circus is a stop on the Bakerloo (between
Charing Cross and
Oxford Circus) and Piccadilly (between
Green Park and
Leicester Square) Lines of the London Underground in Central London.
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| A Bakerloo Line train arrives |
| Information |
| Type: |
Transport for London (Bakerloo & Piccadilly Lines) |
| Station code: |
ZPC |
| Opened: |
1906 |
| Platforms: |
4 |
The station was opened in 1906, firstly for the Bakerloo Line in March and the Piccadilly Line in December [1]. The station was designed by Leslie Green and built to his typical red tiled style used elsewhere on the Underground. Transport between the ground level booking hall and platforms was by lift (and a lot of stairs). Piccadilly Circus was the first Underground station to have automatic lifts which didn't require operators [2].
The station was a great success, so much so by the 1920s the station was often dangerously overcrowded with long queues for the lifts. Construction of a new station with escalators and a much larger circular booking hall underneath Piccadilly Circus roundabout itself began in 1924. Eleven escalators were installed for passenger transfer. The station was intended by the managing director of the Underground Frank Pick to be the flagship station of the Underground. The new station designed by Charles Holden opened in 1928 (the old station closing in 1929 [3]) and was an Art Deco masterpiece of bronze and Travertine marble.
The station continues to be an intregral part of the Underground in Central London with over forty million passengers entering and exiting the station a year. A memorial to Frank Pick was opened in the booking hall in 2016.
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| Bakerloo Line platform |
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| A now disused tunnel (by the public) showing the original tile pattern |
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| Piccadilly Line platform, blue tiles are used, brown on the Bakerloo platforms |
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| One of the walkways to the booking hall |
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| A Piccadilly Line train |
[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 148
[2] Siddy Holloway, Piccadilly Circus: the heart of London (London Transport Museum, 2019) p. 3
[3] Desmond F. Croome, The Piccadilly Line (Capital Transport, 1998) p. 27
