Sloane Square tube station

History

The station was opened on 24 December 1868 by the District Railway (DR, now the District line) when the company opened the first section of its line between South Kensington and Westminster stations.

The construction of the station was complicated by the crossing of the site by the River Westbourne which ran through Hyde Park as the Serpentine Lake and was originally crossed by the Knight's Bridge at Knightsbridge. The River was carried above the platform in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. It remains in place today.

The DR connected to the Metropolitan Railway (MR, later the Metropolitan line) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the others tracks in a joint service known as the "Inner Circle".

On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station at Earl's Court to connect to the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the West London Line) to which it connected at Addison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the "Outer Circle" service began running over the DR's tracks. The service was run by the North London Railway (NLR) from its terminus at Broad Street (now demolished) in the City of London via the North London Line to Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road. Due to financial problems, the DR extended only one station further east, which is Mansion House - the new eastern terminus of the DR.

From 1 August 1872, the "Middle Circle" service also began operations through Sloane Square running from Moorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington then over the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track to Latimer 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 jointly by the H&CR and the DR.

On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House. On 31 December 1908 the Outer Circle service was also withdrawn.

In the late 1930s, the station building was rebuilt in the modern style and escalators were installed between the ticket hall and the platforms. The new station building did not last long as it was mostly destroyed during World War II. A German bomb that fell in November 1940 killed 37 and injured 79 passengers on a train 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 the tube 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.

Incidents and Accidents

On 5 April 1960, Peter Llewelyn Davies, one of the Llewelyn Davies boys who were the inspiration for the boy characters of J. M. Barrie's Peter 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.

On 26 December 1973, a terrorist bomb exploded in the telephone kiosk in the booking office. No one was injured.

The Station today

The station has ticket halls, escalators, a Wifi service, vending machines and a photo booth. It also has canopies over each platform.

Abandoned proposal

Sloane Square was going to be a stop on the long proposed Chelsea-Hackney line (a new London Underground line) but in the 2007 updating of safeguarding it was dropped. However it is planned to be re-introduced in the next safeguarding of the line. The Chelsea-Hackney line platforms would have been underground under the existing Circle and District lines tracks. Later, the proposal for both the building a station here was dropped and the London Underground was dropped once again in favour of a Crossrail line instead.

Connections

London Bus routes 11, 19, 22, 137, 211, 319, 360, 452 and C1, and night routes N11, N19, N22 and N137 serve the station.

In literature

Sloane Square is one of two tube stations (the other being South Kensington) mentioned in the song "When you're lying awake" from the operetta Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan.