Tottenham Court Road  | |
|---|---|
 Main entrance to the eastern ticket hall seen in March 2022 | |
  Tottenham Court Road Location of Tottenham Court Road in Central London | |
| Location | St Giles |
| Local authority | |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Owner | |
| Station code | TCR |
| Number of platforms | 6 |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| London Underground annual entry and exit | |
| 2020 |  6.05 million[1] |
| 2021 |  16.04 million[2] |
| 2022 | 48.95 million[3] |
| 2023 | 58.73 million[4] |
| 2024 | 62.06 million[5] |
| National Rail annual entry and exit | |
| 2022–23 |  34.878 million[6] |
| 2023–24 | 64.219 million[6] |
| Key dates | |
| 30 July 1900 | Opened (CLR) |
| 22 June 1907 | Opened (CCE&HR) |
| 24 May 2022 | Opened (Elizabeth line) |
| Other information | |
| External links | |
| Coordinates | 51°30′58″N0°07′51″W / 51.5162°N 0.1309°W /51.5162; -0.1309 |
 London transport portal | |
Tottenham Court Road is aninterchange station in theSt Giles area of theWest End of London forLondon Underground andElizabeth line services.
The London Underground station is served by theCentral andNorthern lines.[7] On the Central line, the station is betweenOxford Circus andHolborn stations. On the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, it is betweenGoodge Street andLeicester Square stations. The Elizabeth line station is betweenBond Street andFarringdon stations.
The station is located atSt Giles Circus, the junction ofTottenham Court Road,Oxford Street,New Oxford Street andCharing Cross Road and is inLondon fare zone 1, with a second entrance atDean Street,[8]
The station opened as part of theCentral London Railway (CLR) on 30 July 1900.[9] From that date until 24 September 1933,[9] the next station eastbound on the Central line was the now-defunctBritish Museum; the next stop in that direction is nowHolborn. The platforms are under Oxford Street west of St Giles' Circus and were originally connected to the ticket hall via lifts at the east end of the platforms. The original station building was on the south side of Oxford Street and was designed in common with other CLR stations byHarry Bell Measures. The building and its neighbours were demolished in 2009.
TheCharing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR, now part of the Northern line) arrived here on 22 June 1907[10] but used the nameOxford Street until an interchange (linking the eastbound Central line with the southbound Northern line via the ends of the platform) was opened on 3 September 1908[11] from when the present name was used for both lines. The next station north on the Northern line was originally called Tottenham Court Road,[11] but was renamed toGoodge Street at this time.
The original ticket office was directly beneath St Giles circus and was accessed from stairs on three street corners around the Circus. Its original lift shafts and emergency stairs are still extant. A set of emergency stairs can be used as access down to the ends of the Northern line platform. The lift shafts are used for offices and station facilities.
Like a number of other central area stations, Tottenham Court Road underwent improvements during the 1920s to replace the original sets of lifts with escalators. Works commenced in 1923; a new subsurface ticket hall, under St Giles Circus, was constructed and the escalators came into service on 28 September 1926 (upper set) and 1 February 1926 (lower set).[12] A shaft for three escalators was driven from the ticket hall under the junction down to the east end of the Central line platforms ending at an intermediate circulation space. A further pair of escalators descend from this level to the north end of the Northern line platforms. The lifts were removed and the redundant shafts were used as ventilation ducts. In 1938 achiller plant began operating at the station. This was decommissioned in 1949.
Passenger congestion entering and leaving the Northern line platforms was partially eased by the addition of a short single escalator at the centre of the platform leading up to a passageway linking to the intermediate circulation area. However, this was in itself a cause of congestion, as traffic trying to leave the station from the Northern line found itself in the path of traffic entering and travelling to the Central line.
In the early 1980s, the entire station was redecorated, losing the distinctiveLeslie Green-designed platform tiling pattern of theYerkes tube lines (which included the CCE&HR), and the plain white platform tiles of the CLR. It was replaced by distinctive mosaics byEduardo Paolozzi, located on platforms, passages and escalator entrances.
The station had four entrances to the sub-surface ticket hall from the north-east, south-west and north-west corners of the junction and from a subway beneath the Centre Point building which starts on Andrew Borde Street. The entrances were frequently congested leading to occasions during peak periods of the day when they were briefly closed to prevent overcrowding in the station.
In the aftermath of theKing's Cross fire in 1987, London Underground was recommended to investigate "passenger flow and congestion in stations and take remedial action".[13] A Parliamentary bill was tabled in 1991 to permit London Underground to improve and expand the frequently congested station, however this was not proceeded with.[14] In 2000, London Underground consulted on a station upgrade including a new larger ticket hall, new escalators and step free access, which would have taken 4 years to construct.[15]
The station was eventually reconstructed and upgraded in the mid 2010s as part of theCrossrail project to construct theElizabeth line,[7] with the £500 million station upgrade taking eight years.[16] To enable the station expansion work to occur, both theAstoria theatres and the original Central line entrance were demolished.[17] During construction, the Central and Northern lines were alternately closed for several months to allow for upgrade works to take place.[18]
Upon completion in 2017, the project delivered:[16]
OnDean Street, a dedicated western entrance and ticket hall was built to access the new Elizabeth line platforms.[7] These platforms stretch for 230 m (750 ft) between the two ticket halls, underneathSoho Square.[19] The completed western entrance and Crossrail platforms were handed over to TfL in early 2021.[19] Crossrail links Tottenham Court Road toCanary Wharf,Abbey Wood,Stratford, andShenfield in the east withPaddington,Heathrow andReading in the west.[7] The central section of the Elizabeth line opened on 24 May 2022 between Paddington and Abbey Wood.[20] Direct service to Reading, Heathrow, Stratford and Shenfield commenced on 6 November 2022.[21]
As part of a plan to raise £500 million from development above new Crossrail stations,[22] a residential development of 92 homes as well as retail units will be built above the western ticket hall by developerGalliard Homes[23] and a newWest End theatre as well as retail and office space will be built above the eastern ticket hall by developerDerwent London.[24] The new theatre,@sohoplace, opened on 15 October 2022 and was the first West End theatre to open in over 50 years.[25]
In the mid 1980s,Eduardo Paolozzi was commissioned to create an artwork for the station. The design includes panels of tessellated and hand-cut smalti muralmosaic, and is a distinct and noticeable feature of the station. The frenetic design was intended to reflect the station's position adjacent to Tottenham Court Road's large concentration ofhi-fi and electronics shops. During the expansion of the station for Crossrail,[26] sections of the mosaic were restored, moved or replaced[27] while other section were destroyed, some sections of which have been removed to be conserved at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[28]
As part of the expansion of the Eastern ticket hall,Art on the Underground commissioned an artwork byDaniel Buren, a French conceptual artist. This work,'Diamonds and Circles', works 'in situ', was Buren's first permanent public commission in the UK.[29] It comprises colourful diamond and circle shapes, which contrast with Buren's trademark stripes in black and white, fixed to internal glass walls throughout the ticket hall. The artwork was completed in 2017.[30]
As part of the Crossrail project, two artworks were commissioned byTurner Prize–winning artists, one for each ticket hall.[31] At the eastern ticket hall,Richard Wright created a mural of geometric patterns ingold leaf on the concrete ceiling above the Crossrail escalators.[31] At the western ticket hall,Douglas Gordon installed avideo artwork above the escalators, with thought provoking statements translated into a variety of languages appearing and disappearing.[32] Gordon's work was unveiled in 2024.[32]
Services at Tottenham Court Road are operated by theElizabeth line, and theCentral andNorthern lines of theLondon Underground.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:
| Operator/line | Direction | Frequency to destination |
|---|---|---|
| London Underground Central line[33] | Westbound |
|
| Eastbound |
| |
| London Underground Northern line[34] | Northbound |
|
| Southbound |
| |
| Elizabeth line[35] | Westbound |
|
| Eastbound |
|
As of 2024, it is the fourth busiest station on the London Underground and the busiest Underground station on the Central Line with 62 million passengers using it per year.[36]
The station is also served by a night service on Friday and Saturday nights as part of theNight Tube. The station is served by Central line trains every 10 minutes in each direction and Northern line trains every 7–8 minutes in each direction.
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Circus towardsEaling Broadway orWest Ruislip | Central line | Holborn | ||
| Goodge Street | Northern line Charing Cross Branch | Leicester Square | ||
| Preceding station | Elizabeth line | Following station | ||
| Bond Street | Elizabeth line | Farringdon towardsAbbey Wood orShenfield | ||
| Former services | ||||
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
| Oxford Circus towardsEaling Broadway | Central line | British Museum towardsLiverpool Street | ||
TheCrossrail 2 project proposed a station at Tottenham Court Road, the only planned interchange between the Elizabeth line and Crossrail 2.[37] The expanded station built as part of the Crossrail project took the future demands of Crossrail 2 into account, which will allow for less construction disruption if the line is built.[37] The proposals involve a new Crossrail 2 ticket hall on the site ofCurzon Soho onShaftesbury Avenue. This has been criticised by campaigners.[38][39] The station and ticket hall site were first safeguarded as part of the route during the development of theChelsea-Hackney line in 1991.[40] In November 2020, plans for Crossrail 2 were shelved.[41]
London Buses day and night routes serve the station.
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