Mornington Crescent tube station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mornington Crescent | |
 |
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|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Mornington Crescent |
| Local authority | Camden |
| Operations | |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Platforms in use | 2 |
| Transport for London | |
| Zone | 2 |
| Annual entry/exit | 3.009 million † |
| History | |
| 1907 1992 1998 |
Opened (CCE&HR) Closed (Northern Line) Reopened |
| Transport for London List of London stations: Underground | National Rail |
|
| † Data from Transport for London [1] | |
Mornington Crescent is a station in Camden Town in north London, named after the road it is on. The station is on London Underground's Northern Line Charing Cross branch, between Euston and Camden Town. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.
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The station was opened as part of the original route of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) (now the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line) on 22 June 1907. Prior to the station's opening, the name of "Seymour Street" had been proposed. After opening, it was little used, and for many years it was open only on weekdays, and before 1966 Edgware-bound trains passed through without stopping.
The station is opposite the music venue KOKO which was once the Camden Palace, and before that, the Music Machine, during which time many punks used to congregate outside the station.
[edit] Closure and reopening
On 23 October 1992 the station was shut so that the then 85-year-old lifts could be replaced. The intention was to open it within one year. However, the poor state of neglect that the station had been previously kept in meant other work had to be completed, and the station was closed for most of the 1990s, amidst talk of it closing permanently.
However, a concerted campaign to reopen the station was launched, as the station is held in fond regard due to the popular BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, which frequently features the game round Mornington Crescent, a complex game which takes its name from the station.
The station was reopened on 27 April 1998 by the regular cast of the show (Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden) and a memorial plaque to the late Willie Rushton, one of the longest-serving panelists, was installed at the station in 2002.
During the station's rebuilding, the original distinctive light blue tiling pattern was restored to the station (though taking into account modern requirements). The ticket hall was reconstructed and the original emergency stairs closed. Modern safety requirements are for squared rather than spiral stairs (since an accident at Bethnal Green station which was the worst loss of life on the whole of the Underground), and so the second lift shaft was converted (losing the unnecessary extra two lifts) into a staircase on one side and a series of station facilities on the other.
Since its 1998 reopening, the station has been open at the same times as most other stations, including weekends, in an attempt to relieve the pressure on the increasingly busy nearby Camden Town station.
[edit] Cultural references
- Belle & Sebastian released a song entitled "Mornington Crescent" on their 2006 album, The Life Pursuit. Frontman Stuart Murdoch claimed he had fallen in love with the romance of this former closed station when passing it once.
- My Life Story's 1995 album Mornington Crescent takes its name from the station, featuring photos in its sleeve notes.
[edit] See also
- Mornington Crescent (game), from the BBC Radio 4 programme I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. The comemorative blue plaque for satirist Willie Rushton is located at the station as a result.
[edit] External links
| Previous station | London Underground | Next station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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toward Kennington
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Northern Line |
