The time on this trip continues to fly! It’s already Monday night, so I’ve only got two full days left before I head home on Thursday. š¦ But still some fun experiences to come! And a good Sunday to spill the tea on. Let’s get this done!
Sunday was definitely a day I was looking forward to because of what was on my agenda. Not that I haven’t enjoyed everything I’ve done so far, but Hidden London tours are always a guaranteed good time, so I was excited to have another one on my to-do list. Regular readers may remember that I went on my first tour in 2019 (Piccadilly Circus) and have been on them on the two London trips I’ve made since then, going to Clapham South in 2022, and Down Street last September. They’re informative, well-organized, and a lot of fun, so I’ve pretty much committed to finding a new one to go on every time I’m here! Now, I assume I’ll run out of tours at some point, but that hasn’t happened yet. And if I get the chance to go on one a second time with someone who’s interested, I may just do it!
This time around, Hidden London took me to Aldwych (originally named Strand). I’m very glad this one started at noon because that not only gave me plenty of time to walk there from my hotel, but it also gave me time to adjust to the time change here. Although we moved our clocks an hour forward in the US a few weeks ago, the UK hadn’t done it yet. So in my luckiness, I got to “spring forward” not once, but TWICE this year! Yay. š And I’m actually happy that I chose to walk instead of taking the tube because the city was eerily quiet and empty, which stood out to me even more so because it’s been so busy and people-y thus far, thanks to the Easter weekend. But being mid-morning on Easter Sunday, everyone was likely either sleeping, brunching, or going to church, so I had the streets largely to myself! I’ve walked around the city during quieter times before (usually late at night heading back to wherever I’m staying or early morning when I’m catching a train for a day trip) and it’s always a neat way to see my favorite city. So of course, I snapped a few photos along the way.
After a pleasant, if somewhat grey-sky-filled, walk, I found myself at the entrance to the non-operational station. Well, there are two entrances (see below), but thanks to the specific instructions from Hidden London, it was clear which one to go to (go to the Surrey Street entrance, not the one facing the Strand). As with the other tours I’ve done, there were already some other people waiting outside and within a few minutes, three helpful Hidden London staffers came out to greet us and explain the process. During my first Hidden London tour, I learned that I needed to have ID with me, which makes sense when you think about it, but as I shared in my post about that tour, I checked and re-checked the information I was given and there was NOTHING in it about needing ID, so I didn’t have it (I still managed to do the tour though). Obviously something has changed since then because the email confirmation and tickets now clearly state that photo ID is required. It was a non-issue as I’ve been sure to have ID with me for all subsequent tours, but let this be another reminder to bring yours on your own Hidden London journeys! Anyway, we showed our IDs, went through a cursory bag check, got our visitor badges, and headed into the station.
Right off the bat, this tour felt slightly different as we walked into the (now closed-off) station entrance, just as passengers did for nearly 90 years. It’s clean, still in mostly good shape, and could have almost been ready for passengers! That’s probably down to a couple of things – the station was open until 1994, so it feels at least a little modern, and also, it’s regularly used as a filming location for TV shows and movies, when studios need that “vintage Underground” vibe. Our guides, Tommy and Clive, did a very nice job of taking us through the history of the station, starting with the reason for its creation. It was thought it would be nice for West End theatre patrons to have another station to use, but the irony is that one theatre those patrons went to, the Royal Strand, was demolished so the station could be built on the same site. Whoopsie-doodle! Also somewhat bizarrely, the only function of the station was as the terminus to the Piccadilly branch from another nearby station, Holborn, so all trains did from Aldwych was go back and forth between those two stations. Because of this, and also because there were other stations with more connections nearby, Aldwych never got much usage, averaging maybe 450 passengers per day (that’s VERY few for an Underground station). As a happy side effect of the low usage though, we were told the drivers learned who the passengers were over time, even to the point of knowing their names. This led to them doing some unique things, like decorating the tube trains for Christmas each year. Ho ho ho! Even with such a small number of passengers, Transport for London kept the Aldwych open, though it was closed for a period during World War II so it could be used as an air raid shelter. Over time, it was also closed on Sundays and then Saturdays, eventually getting to the point where it was just open for the morning and afternoon commutes. The straw that broke the camel’s back in was when it was determined that the original elevators from 1907 needed to be replaced, which would have cost Ā£3 million, and that just wasn’t worth it, so it was closed for good in 1994. But again, it lives on as a TV and movie filming location, which actually generates income, so that’s a plus. Oh, and if you’re wondering why it was renamed from Strand to Aldwych, it’s because there was another station near Charing Cross called Strand, so this one became Aldwych to eliminate confusion.
How about the actual tour? As I mentioned above, walking into a “fully-formed” station rather than the disused tunnels of Piccadilly Circus or the purpose-built air raid shelter of Clapham South definitely gave it a different feel. And, likely because the station itself was never very large to begin with, the tour felt slightly shorter, though I didn’t feel like we missed out on seeing anything or were short-changed on content/information. We started (and ended) in the original ticket hall and then got to walk on both of the original platforms. Interestingly, Aldwych was under-utilized from the start, so it was quickly determined that only one platform was needed for normal operation, so in 1917, the eastern platform was permanently closed. It became more useful in its second life though, when some of London’s art treasures were stored down there during the end of World War I and again during much of World War II (a disused tube platform several hundred feet underground was a good place to stash stuff!). It was neat to learn how these paintings and sculptures were brought down into the station via elevator and then moved to the platform using a rope-and-pulley system to get them safely down the stairs to the platform (they didn’t want to damage the art in transit, after all). And after visiting the purpose-built shelter below Clapham South a couple of years ago, I appreciated learning more about how sheltering was handled at a station like this (though I think every tour I’ve been on thus far has referenced the usage of tube stations as air raid shelters). In particular, I giggled when Clive told us that the group that helped provide entertainment for people while they sheltered, ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association), were jokingly renamed Every Night Something Awful by the people on the receiving end of their entertainment. š
In addition to all those (hopefully) interesting factoids about Aldwych, we also learned that, because it had a non-operational platform (Clive said they’re specific about that wording – the station isn’t CLOSED, since it’s used for filming, etc., so they instead use the term “non-operational”), because it was closed during WW2, and because it had so little usage even when it was open, this station has also been used as a bit of a testing ground for various dĆ©cor changes. There are sections of tile that duplicate the pattern from Piccadilly because they were testing a new kind of adhesive. There are photos of parts of the eastern platform being redressed as multiple other stations as new signs, lights, and dĆ©cor items were developed. And not only are there various posters up from TV show/movie filming, but there are also some up because their adhesive was also being tested. I’m sure it’s proven to be really useful to have a “test station” of sorts over the years!
Okay, okay – enough words! Hopefully the visuals will help bring this tour to life for you.
The closed-off entrance on the Strand shows the station’s original name, but that was covered with the current name while the station was operational. You can see the tour group coming together in front of the other entrance.
Clive took over from Tommy for this part of the tour. The diagram behind him shows how the original station plan called for three sets of elevators, but only one set was actually built. The photo on the right shows a shaft where another set was planned, but never installed.
A collection of posters seen on the walls! Although these are decades old, they aren’t as old as the station.
And that wraps up another Hidden London tour! If you keep your eyes on this blog though, you may just read about another one in the very near future. š Although this one was a bit shorter than I thought, it was still lots of fun and I’d recommend it as much as any of the other tours I’ve done. Don’t forget to go to the right entrance!
Post-tour, it was time for a little lunch, which was easily achieved because there were plenty of options around. I quickly found The Wellington and had a tasty bacon cheeseburger, though I was reallllly eyeing up the Sunday roast. That burger still hit the spot though, so I have no regrets. Some more London wandering helped me work a bit of that meal off, but being mid-late afternoon on Easter Sunday at this point, the quietness from my morning walk was…gone. People, people everywhere! I’m pretty good about bobbing and weaving my way through crowds, but THESE crowds gave me a run for my money. Thankfully, I didn’t wander for long as I was heading back to my hotel for a bit to chill out before heading back out for the evening.
Walking back to the hotel from the station, I deliberately went through Brick Lane because I wanted to find a lil’ sweet treat. And I found one. š
Now, I did have tentative plans for the evening. Would you be surprised that they involved Retro Bar? Not just going for a drink though, but going for a special event – drag queen bingo! I had no idea that was happening until Matt and I went there on Wednesday or Thursday and I saw a sign for it. Knowing that we had good luck booking a table ahead of time for drag queen trivia when I was here with friends in September, I emailed to see if I could get a table for this, but was told they were full. š¦ However, I was also told that I might be able to get in on the day if there was room, so I took a chance. Sadly, that chance didn’t pay off because when I went back there ~20 minutes before bingo, it was BEYOND full. Like, way beyond. So there went that idea!
Rolling with the punches, I walked to nearby Halfway II Heaven, but they were also really busy (they had an event that was just ending when I got there), so I then tried Ku Bar, in Chinatown. I did end up having one drink there, but as the kids say, the “vibe was off,” so I hatched another plan. Some quick googling revealed a bar closer to my hotel, The Old Ship, which looked chill and had a singer coming in for the evening who was advertised as “the ‘soul’ in heart and soul.” Perfect! This involved me going BACK to my hotel briefly because it was in the same direction anyway and then catching a bus to the bar. I don’t give London busses their flowers often enough, but aside from traffic, they’re about as easy to navigate as the tube. And it was kind of refreshing to take a different form of public transport! I found my way their easily (okay, I actually missed my stop, but the next stop was only a couple blocks further down) and, unlike Ku Bar, I really liked the vibe. The staff were very friendly and there were plenty of people hanging out, though there weren’t any open seats for me, so I enjoyed my drink standing at the bar while waiting for the singer, Miles Elliot to start his act. I stayed for several songs and he sang some good stuff – Aretha Franklin, Jackson 5, and Stevie Wonder, to name a few. Really glad I found this place! Not sure I’ll make it back on this trip, but I’d be happy to go back on future trips.
Okay, it may have been Monday night when I started this post, but it’s now Tuesday night and I’m tuckered out from a satisfying, but full, day out. Time to wave goodbye to this post and get cracking on the next one, as this trip starts to come to an end. I’ve still got tomorrow though!
That One Guy Who Travels 