Sloane Square | |
|---|---|
 Station entrance | |
  Sloane Square Location of Sloane Square in Central London | |
| Location | Chelsea |
| Local authority | Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| London Underground annual entry and exit | |
| 2019 |  16.59 million[1] |
| 2020 |  6.28 million[2] |
| 2021 | 7.38 million[3] |
| 2022 | 12.77 million[4] |
| 2023 | 13.16 million[5] |
| Key dates | |
| 24 December 1868 | Opened (DR) |
| 1 February 1872 | Started "Outer Circle" (LNWR) |
| 1 August 1872 | Started "Middle Circle" (GWR) |
| 30 June 1900 | Ended "Middle Circle" |
| 31 December 1908 | Ended "Outer Circle" |
| Other information | |
| External links | |
| Coordinates | 51°29′33″N0°09′24″W / 51.4925°N 0.1566°W /51.4925; -0.1566 |
 London transport portal | |
Sloane Square (/ˈsloʊnˈskwɛər/) is aLondon Underground station inChelsea, servingSloane Square. It is on theCircle andDistrict lines, betweenSouth Kensington andVictoria stations. It is located inLondon fare zone 1.[6]
The entrance to the station is on the east side of Sloane Square (A3217). It is adjacent to theRoyal Court Theatre and is the nearest station forKing's Road shopping, thePeter Jones department store and theCadogan Hall.[7]
_p125_-_Sloane_Square_(map).jpg)
The station was opened on 24 December 1868 by theDistrict Railway (DR, now the District line) when the company opened the first section of its line betweenSouth Kensington andWestminster stations.[8]
The construction of the station was complicated by the crossing of the site by theRiver Westbourne which ran throughHyde Park as theSerpentine Lake and was originally crossed by the Knight's Bridge atKnightsbridge. The river was carried above the platform in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. This pipe remains in place today.[9]
The DR connected to theMetropolitan Railway (MR, later theMetropolitan line) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the other's tracks in a joint service known as the"Inner Circle".
On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station atEarl's Court to connect to theWest London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now theWest London line) to which it connected atAddison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the"Outer Circle" service began running over the DR's tracks.[10] The service was run by theLondon and North Western Railway (LNWR) fromBroad Street (now demolished) in theCity of London via theNorth London line toWillesden Junction, then the West London Line toAddison Road. From Addison Road it ran over DR tracks toMansion House.[10]
From 1 August 1872, the"Middle Circle" service also began operations through Sloane Square running fromMoorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington then over theHammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track toLatimer Road then, via a now demolished link, to the West London line to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House. The service was operated by theGreat Western Railway.[11]
On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House.[12] On 31 December 1908, the Outer Circle service was also withdrawn.[12]
In the late 1930s, the station building was rebuilt in the modern style. Escalators were installed between the ticket hall and the platforms in early 1940, making the station the first on the sub-surface network to have escalators.[13] The new station building did not last long as it was mostly destroyed duringWorld War II. A German bomb that fell in November 1940 killed 37 and injured 79 passengers on a train[14][self-published source] in the station and destroyed the ticket hall, escalators and the glazed roof over the tracks.
In 1949, the Metropolitan line operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on thetube map as the Circle line. By 1951 the station had been rebuilt again in a similar style to the 1930s building. The arched glass roof was not replaced and the current station does not have the light open atmosphere of the original. The office building above the station entrance is a later addition.
The Hole in the Wall pub on the eastbound platform existed from 1868 to 1985.[15]
On 5 April 1960,Peter Llewelyn Davies, one of theLlewelyn Davies boys who were the inspiration for the boy characters ofJ. M. Barrie'sPeter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and who resented the public association with the character named after him, committed suicide by throwing himself under a train as it was pulling into the station.[16]
On 26 December 1973, a terrorist bomb exploded in the telephone kiosk in the booking office. No one was injured.[17][self-published source]
Sloane Square was considered as a potential station on the long-proposedChelsea-Hackney line which has been absorbed into plans forCrossrail 2. The station is no longer on the planned route.[18]
London Buses routes11,19,22,137,170,211,319,360,452,C1 and night routesN11,N19,N22 andN137 serve the station.[19][20]
Sloane Square is one of two tube stations (the other beingSouth Kensington) mentioned in the song "When you're lying awake" from the operettaIolanthe byGilbert and Sullivan.[21]
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Kensington towardsEdgware Road | Circle line | Victoria towardsHammersmith via Tower Hill | ||
| South Kensington | District line | Victoria towardsUpminster | ||
| Stations |
| ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling stock |
| ||||||||||
| History |
| ||||||||||
| Depots | |||||||||||
| 2015 consultation route |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous proposals |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
