Arsenal tube station

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Arsenal
Location
Place	Holloway
Local authority	Islington
Operations
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	2
Annual entry/exit	2.005 million
Transport for London
Zone	2
History
Key dates	Opened 1906
Transport for London List of London stations: Underground \| National Rail

Arsenal tube station, in Highbury, north London, is a London Underground station near the former Arsenal Stadium, which was home of Arsenal Football Club between 1913 and 2006. It is on the Piccadilly Line, in Travelcard Zone 2, between Holloway Road and Finsbury Park. It is the only Tube station named after a football club.

Opened as Gillespie Road on 15 December 1906, the later arrival of the football stadium led to a successful campaign for a change of name, and on 31 October 1932 it was renamed Arsenal (Highbury Hill). The suffix was gradually dropped but the original tiled walls of the platforms still bear the Gillespie Road name, spelt out in large letters.

The station is in a narrow Victorian residential street: when built, the station building was squeezed incongruously between residential properties on each side, occupying the width of just two terraced houses. Even after the surface building was rebuilt in the early 1930s and widened, with a further house being demolished, it has one of the narrowest frontages of any underground station. It is also unusual in not having any bus routes pass its entrance.

A sloping passageway leads down to the platforms, as a measure to handle the large crowds on match days. It has a "tidal" system unique on the Underground network, with a narrow section on one side divided from the main passageway by a full-height fence. The narrow section is used on match days for the lighter flow, according to time of day - for passengers catching trains before matches, or leaving the station afterwards.

The station is one of the least-used on the Underground network. It is largely deserted outside rush hours except on match days; even then, congestion means many supporters use the nearby Finsbury Park station, which also has the club store just outside, and is served by the Piccadilly Line, Victoria Line, buses and National Rail.

Arsenal Football Club moved to a new stadium, the Emirates Stadium, in July 2006. The stadium is on the site of Ashburton Grove, a former industrial estate approximately 500 yards from Highbury, and closer to Drayton Park and Holloway Road stations; however Drayton Park is closed and Holloway Road is exit-only on match days, and Arsenal station is still within walking distance of the new stadium. Therefore, despite a campaign by some local residents for a reversion to "Gillespie Road", the station has retained the "Arsenal" name and is still used by some Arsenal supporters to get to matches.

As part of the commemoration of Arsenal's move, a temporary mural was placed along the walls of the station passageways as part of London Underground's "Platform For Art" scheme, depicting memorable scenes from Arsenal's history, past and present. Arsenal captain Thierry Henry officially opened the mural on January 12, 2006, and it remained in place for a year.