5 June 1924 (1924-06-05) Closed | 22 June 1907 (1907-06-22) Opened Number of platforms 2 | |
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Lists of stations DLRUndergroundNational RailTramlink Original company Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway Similar City Road tube station, King William Street tub, York Road tube station, Kentish Town station, Down Street tube station | ||
South Kentish Town is a disused London Underground station located in Kentish Town, north London.
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It was opened in 1907 by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway and remained for just 17 years until it was closed in 1924 due to low passenger usage. Latterly, it was on the Northern line between Camden Town and Kentish Town stations. The surface building survives on Kentish Town Road and is currently a retail unit.
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History
South Kentish Town station was opened on 22 June 1907 by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) on its branch to Highgate (now Archway). The station was planned to be called Castle Road, however this was changed just before it opened. The Castle Road name had already been fired into the original Leslie Green tiles inside the station, so after the name change they were painted over with the revised name.
The station was temporarily closed following unofficial strike action at Lots Road Power Station during the afternoon of 5 June 1924. It was decided not to re-open the station after the power was restored, due to the very low number of passengers using it; in fact, since as early as 1908 some trains did not stop there. During the Blitz of the Second World War it was adapted for use as an air-raid shelter.
There have been occasional proposals to rebuild the platforms and the station as part of the redevelopment plans for Camden Town. The layout of South Kentish Town is similar to Kentish Town (also originally a CCE&HR station); with two 23 ft diameter lift-shafts and an 18 ft diameter spiral staircase. South Kentish Town now serves as an access point for permanent way works and as an emergency egress point for passenger services.
A prose piece called South Kentish Town was written in 1951 by John Betjeman which tells the fictional story of a passenger who became trapped in the disused station. It was based on a true incident where a train stopped at the station and mistakenly opened its doors, but in reality nobody became trapped.
