London by Tube

By Mark Igoe

An online guide to London by the oldest underground railway system (metro) in the world, locally called the Tube. It describes all the main visitor attractions, shopping venues and architectural landmarks in the central area of London (Zone 1) and how to get to them, has links to all their websites and is cross referenced by station and venue. Each entry is given its location; how far it is from the relevant station, and an explanation of its importance, its history and whom it has been associated with. Entries include the major stores and markets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Igoe
• Release date: Jul 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301789795

Mark Igoe

Marco Books are written and published by Mark Igoe. Mark has written widely on travel, history and sport over thirty years in a half dozen different countries in Europe and Africa. He has published a dozen books, often co-authored by his wife Hazel, including a best selling guide to Zimbabwe and a popular guide to buying French property, published by Cadogan and branded by the Sunday Times. He has three grown up children and now lives in Norfolk, England with his wife and two bicycles, all better looking than he is.

Book preview

London by Tube

Getting Around, Underground

Mathew Tanner, Joss Waterfall & Mark Igoe

Smashwords Edition 2015

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Editor: Mark Igoe

Marco Books

London Underground Map

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system except as may be expressly permitted by the UK 1988 Copyright Design & Patents Act and the USA 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Posthouse Publishing Ltd, The Old Post Office, Swanton Novers, Melton Constable, Norfolk NR 24 2AJ.

The publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of information in the book at the time of going to press. However, they cannot accept responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience resulting from the use of information contained in this guide

Contents

Introduction

A-Z sights

Station Names index

Bakerloo Line

Central Line

Circle Line

Jubilee Line

Northern (Bank branch) Line

Northern (Charing Cross branch) Line

Piccadilly Line

Victoria Line

Docklands Light Railway

Further Afield

Introduction

Exploring London by Tube means not getting lost, avoiding traffic jams, getting to your destination quickly and, with a Travelcard or Oystercard, roaming at will. This guide treats the network as an attraction in its own right. If you head off to London’s Transport Museum, best reached by going to Covent Garden Tube on the Piccadilly line, you can learn about its fascinating history.

How to use this guide

Each section is devoted to a one line: Bakerloo, Central, Circle, DLR, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria. There are no separate sections for the Hammersmith & City or the Metropolitan lines, because these both run in tandem with part of the Circle line. The Circle and District lines are combined because they stop at the same stations. Taken together, the lines in this book service every major Tube stop in London Underground’s central Zone 1, which has something of interest close by including the venues for London 2012. There is also a section called Further Afield.

Organization

• Under each stop, the sights above ground are listed in order of walking time from the station.

• Where appropriate, sights are organized in a straightforward walking route.

• Where attractions are in a different direction, one direction is followed first before returning to the station and following the sights in another direction. You will be aware that this has happened when an attraction has a shorter walking time than the entry that precedes it.

• If a station is an intersection between lines, attractions may be described in a section for another line and there will be a reference for you to find the entry.

• Only the stations that have a listing are shown. The line or route you take is a matter of choice or convenience. If you have an attraction in mind, consult the index of sites or the index of station names and it will direct you to the entry and the station that you need. Alternatively, you may want to explore a single line. On the Central line, for example, you could travel from west to east, to visit Portobello Market and Notting Hill (Notting Hill Gate) in the morning, have lunch in one of the many eateries in Selfridges (Bond Street), and then have an afternoon in the Wallace Collection admiring French and Dutch masters. Or you might line hop and switch from the Central line to the Bakerloo line at Oxford Circus for a stroll through Regent’s Park. Finally, if the weather is good, why not take the Jubilee line and head for Gabriel’s Wharf (Southwark) to enjoy a pizza and a bottle of wine beside the river? Whatever you want to see or do in London, it’s easy by Tube. This guide provides a key.

Maps and Information

In conjunction with using this guide, visitors should arm themselves with a good tube map. You can get one from any tourist information booth. The best source of information is Transport for London’s Tube website where you’ll find maps (details of tickets and station facilities, as well as up-to-date information about delays or problems. The Journey Planner gives you transport options, journey times and prices between any two points in London.

Note that if you are only travelling for one station, your destination will usually be within less than a 10-minute walk. Also, that for the purposes of this guide, lines and stations have been chosen for each sight, but that other lines and stations may also be appropriate.

The Underground Map

The first all-inclusive map of the London Underground was published in 1906. With the routes traced over an ordinary map, it served its purpose up to a point but was hard to understand. Harry Beck, a 29-year-old unemployed engineering draughtsman, saw that it could be improved and, in his own time, sketched out in an exercise book the basis of what became a design classic.

Inspired by his work drawing electrical circuits, Beck’s design broke with a traditional map format and limited routes to horizontal, vertical and 45-degree diagonal lines. All surface detail, except for a simplified version of the River Thames, was omitted and each of the lines, although they were already colour-coded, was given a more distinctive colour to make the map easier to read, especially at night. Perhaps most importantly, he made the central area (now Zone 1) out of proportion to its size, as if seen through a convex lens, and shrank the outlying areas so that the entire network could be concentrated into a manageable format. Sadly for Beck, he had signed away his copyright for a pittance in 1937. A room at the London Transport Museum has now been named after Beck to honour the man who brought clarity and ease of use to the most complicated underground rail network in the world.

Tube information

Tickets, Oyster Cards & Contactless

There are several ways to travel on the London transport system. You can buy a ticket for a single journey on the Tube (not a return), you can purchase a stored value prepaid smart card called an Oyster Card or Visitors Oyster Card, which can be pre-bought and has discounts; or you can buy a Travelcard. Oyster fares for 2015 can be found here or from or tube or London over-ground station or over 2,200 Oyster Ticket Stops.

You can also use your credit or debit card if it has a contact-less logo on it; see here for which cards – and there are also mobile phone apps that can bee pre-loaded, see the same site.

These can also be used on the Dockland Light Railway and London over ground lines, but there are some restrictions here, depending on your method of payment. Since, on the top up or pay-as-you-go system, your credit is retained indefinitely on the card you can use it for multiple visits. It can also handle both payment systems at the same time.

Children under 5 go free and 4-13 year olds are free on buses and trams and on the Underground with an Oyster photocard. 14-15 year olds are also free but need a photocard on buses and trams as well as the Underground.

A Travelcard is a ticket that offers an unlimited number of journeys for a limited time in a specific zone or area of the city, starting in the centre and working outwards. Most places covered by this book are in zones 1-3. There are also weekly, monthly and yearly travel cards available.

A single ticket is per mile the dearest way to travel but obviously the best choice if you are just passing through. For the Underground tickets are available either from ticket offices at the stations or from machine, many of which will accept credit/debit cards. You need an

Oyster card to:

Use pay as you go and daily price capping

Buy 7 Day, Monthly