Down Street Tube Station - the ghost station under Mayfair

What is not very well known about the London Underground service is that there are multiple stations which have opened and closed since the advent of the service back in the 19^th century; as the London Underground is the oldest of its kind in the world.

One of these stations happens to be one called Down Street; which as a matter of fact, has been closed since the years between the wars, the year 1932, to be exact. However, in spite of not being open to the public for decades on end, even in its present and antiquated form today, the Transport for London organisation is open to and is in fact, inviting ideas for uses for the long shut down station.

It is to be taken into due account, however, that the rent for the use of the premises of the erstwhile station will not really be too much of a bargain as it is said that the station will cost about a hundred thousand pounds on an annual basis in terms of rent and in addition to this, there will be a lot of improvements and modifications which need to take place and obviously, be paid for.

An interesting thing which may have been forgotten about Down Street station is that it was used during the Second World War by the then British Prime Minister of legendary stature, Winston Churchill, as a place at which to hold Cabinet meetings until the time of the completion of the Cabinet War Rooms which were located under the Whitehall.

As a matter of fact, it can be said with a great degree of certainty that Winston Churchill, himself, was not fond of the place and viewed it as an uncomfortable necessity due to its low level of comfort on account of the wind which was generated by trains passing by. While the station in its present day avatar cannot boast of a lift which functions or is even present; there was one which was in fact functional during the Edwardian era and Churchill insisted another be fitted due to the large number of stairs which take the visitor to the station from ground level right down to the platforms.

As for the number of steps, it is said that they number either a hundred and twenty two or a hundred and twenty three. As can be imagined, due to the lack of regular use of the station, the interior of the station cannot really be said to be all that well maintained.

What is interesting about the station is that it has a few etchings on the walls from the point in time that people used to frequent it. ‘I hate my job’ is one; which can be said to be very likely to find sympathisers even today! In addition to this, there is another one which warns visitors of the two [known] portals to parallel universes.

If one is in search of the closest hotel to Paddington station he or she would do well to search for some Hotels near Oxford Street in order to book himself or herself into, prior to his or her visit to London. If one would wish to pay a visit to the Down Street Tube Station to evaluate it, perhaps as a potential suitor or buyer, then he or she would likely be pleased to know that the station is not located far away.

Down Street Tube Station was opened back in the year 1907. While in many parts of London, the residents of the area where a new tube station opens are at least partially relieved on account of their commute being made easier, this was not the case with Down Street tube station as the residents of the area, most of whom were wealthy, voiced and registered their protest as they had no real need of another tube station; taking into account the fact that there are other tube stations nearby.

A great point of complexity which exists in the modernisation and the consideration of proposals for the conversion of the Down Street Tube Station is that the station is not entirely abandoned. As a matter of fact, the trains which ply on the Piccadilly line no longer stop at the station yet at the same time, they come through every four or five minutes and the rumble of a train coming is discernible for a short while prior to the appearance of the train.

In addition to this, the utility of the station also covers its use by the fire and maintenance crews as an access point to the line, not to forget the fact that it serves as a perfectly legit escape route.