Experience the 160 years of London Underground’s history by exploring the secret and ‘forgotten’ locations where it all took place with London Transport Museum’s award-winning Hidden London tours.
Tickets are now available for the February and March 2023 dates, giving ticketholders an exclusive chance to step behind-the-scenes of history. Hidden London guided tours are the only ones in the city that grant guests access to these locations on the Underground network, which are usually off limits to the public.
Four in-person tours will be on offer in February and March, including tours of the original 19th century passageways and features at Shepherd’s Bush, the bomb-proof wartime corridors concealed at the now disused Down Street station on the Piccadilly line, Euston’s secret 1960s gallery of advertising posters; and the labyrinth of underground passages hidden deep beneath Clapham South built to shelter Londoners during the Second World War.
A brand-new virtual tour, ‘Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground,’ will also debut on 28 February as part of London Transport Museum’s celebrations to mark 160 years of the London Underground.
This online tour will be led by an expert guide to allow guests from all over the world to discover how the London Underground network evolved over the years since its beginning on 10 January 1863.
Featuring exclusive documents from London Transport Museum’s archives, this new tour looks into previously unexplored locations on the network, offering a unique chance to discover how some stations came to be forgotten and sometimes repurposed in surprising manners as the needs of London changed.
Also released are new dates for London Transport Museum’s Secrets of Central London walking tour of Covent Garden, Kingsway, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Victoria Embankment. On this tour, expert Hidden London guides reveal fascinating and little-known historical tales and snippets about the area and its transformation over the last 200 years.
All Hidden London tours were written by historical experts from London Transport Museum and based on content drawn from the Museum’s extensive archive and collection. They were recently named ‘Best Hidden Gem in the World’ at the Tiqets’ Remarkable Venue Awards 2022 by public vote.
Fans who can’t get enough Hidden London content can subscribe to the Hidden London Hangouts, a regular series hosted on London Transport Museum’s YouTube channel by team members Chris Nix, Siddy Holloway and Laura Brown, and joined by broadcaster and self-confessed Tube geek Alex Grundon.
The series takes viewers behind the scenes of the Hidden London tours programme as the team explore various parts of the London transport system and share findings from their research. A new season of episodes will be released in February, available on London Transport Museum’s YouTube channel.
In person Hidden London tour details and ticket information:
Clapham South: Subterranean Shelter
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground *
Step back in time to the dark days of the Second World War and discover how south Londoners found refuge in this deep-level shelter during the blitz. This secret labyrinth of underground passages was built to accommodate over 8,000 people, and came complete with several canteens, medical stations and sleeping quarters. The tour also explores how the space was repurposed after the war and shares the stories of the first Caribbean migrants who temporarily lived there after having arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush, making it their first home in Britain.
Dates: Wednesday to Sunday between 22 to 26 March
Tickets: Adult £37, Concessions £32; Special rate of £32 applies for weekday matinee tours
Shepherd’s Bush: Suburbs to the City
Relive the days when this West London station was one of the busiest on the network, providing an essential commuter link from London’s western suburbs to the City of London as the original western terminus of the Central London Railway (today’s Central line). You’ll learn how the station has transformed over the years since its opening in 1900, how a then new ticketing system became an ancestor to our present-day Oyster card; and see original Central line design features that remain frozen in time, just out of sight of modern-day commuters.
Dates: Wednesday to Sunday between 22 February and 26 March
Tickets: Adult £44, Concessions £39
Down Street: Churchill’s Secret Station
Enjoy rare access into one of London’s most intriguing spaces, hidden between the Piccadilly line tracks in Mayfair. Located between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park, Down Street had a short life as a working station from 1907 to 1932 but became critical to winning the Second World War when covertly transformed into the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters. You can experience the warren of narrow tunnels where the nation’s railways were coordinated, and where Prime Minister Winston Churchill secretly took refuge at the height of the Blitz.
Dates: Wednesday to Sunday between 22 February and 19 March
Tickets: Adult tickets £90 / Concession £85
Euston: The Lost Tunnels
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
Explore a century of the station’s history, from its humble beginnings on the corner of Melton and Drummond Street, to its exciting future as the London terminus for the brand-new High Speed 2 (HS2) line up to the Midlands and beyond. Discover a labyrinth of dark and dusty passageways once used by the travelling public, marvel at a gallery of preserved vintage advertising poster fragments that have been concealed for over 50 years, and see the iconic Leslie Green station. Plus learn about the newest innovations to a Tube and Network Rail station that serves over 42 million passengers each year.
Dates: Wednesday to Sunday between 22 February to 26 March
Tickets: Adult £44, Concessions £39
