The London Transport Museum has just released new tickets for its exclusive, award-winning Hidden London guided tours, running until the end of March 2025. These tours offer a unique opportunity to explore the hidden corners of London’s Underground history, normally off-limits to the public. Get ready to dive deep into the past with these fascinating journeys! These tours usually fill up quickly and they have been some of my most favorite tours I’ve been on over the years. I highly recommend doing as many as you can!
Revamped Clapham South Tour: A Wartime Time Capsule
A highlight of the new offerings is the revamped tour of Clapham South’s deep-level shelter, one of eight such shelters built in London during World War II. This underground labyrinth, opened in 1944, provided refuge for over 8,000 people during air raids. Later, it also housed Caribbean migrants arriving on the Empire Windrush in 1948 and visitors to the Festival of Britain.
The tour, starting on October 16, 2024, is led by two expert guides, one of whom portrays a 1940s warden. This immersive experience allows visitors to step back in time, walking through meticulously reconstructed spaces like the warden’s booth and canteen. You’ll also handle authentic wartime artifacts, sit on bunk beds turned benches, and learn firsthand what it was like to shelter there during the war.
Chris Nix, Director of Content at the London Transport Museum, emphasizes the power of presenting such unique history in an authentic setting, ensuring the stories of those who lived and worked there are told with respect and accuracy.
British Sign Language Tours: Accessibility for All
In an effort to make history accessible to everyone, Hidden London is introducing British Sign Language (BSL) tours at four sites. These tours, featuring a BSL interpreter, will run until the end of March 2025 and are exclusively for BSL users, their friends, and families. Here’s when you can join these unique tours:
- Aldwych: The End of the Line – March 9, 2025
- Baker Street: The World’s First Underground – January 25, 2025
- Charing Cross: Access all Areas – December 13, 2024
- Clapham South: Subterranean Shelter – October 17, 2024
Last Chance to Explore Down Street
Don’t miss your last chance to explore Down Street Station with the “Down Street: Churchill’s Secret Station” tour, which will be retired at the end of September 2024. Situated in Mayfair, Down Street played a pivotal role during World War II as the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters. Prime Minister Winston Churchill even took refuge there during the Blitz.
The tour has been enhanced with first-hand accounts, such as those from Madeleine Henrey, author of A Village in Piccadilly, describing life during the Blitz. Visitors will also meet a wartime steward projection in the Executive’s mess room, bringing history to life with insights drawn from personal diaries and declassified documents.
The “Down Street: Churchill’s Secret Station” tour will conclude on September 15, 2024.
Book Your Tickets Now!
Tickets for these exclusive tours are available now through the London Transport Museum’s website. Profits support the museum’s charitable work, conserving and sharing London’s rich transport and design heritage. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the hidden history of London’s Underground!
Visit www.ltmuseum.co.uk to book your tickets today!
Here’s a bit about each of the tours on offer:
Step behind the concealed doors of this busy interchange into the expansive disused areas that lay behind, some not seen by the public in nearly 30 years. Enjoy an unexpected view of the Piccadilly line, explore the two closed platforms of the former Aldwych branch complete with vintage posters, see the Aldwych crossover, original Leslie Green Edwardian design, and an original early 20th century signalling cabin.
Dates: Selected Wednesday to Sunday in October and November 2024, and March 2025
Tickets: Adult tickets £45, Concession £42
Baker Street: The World’s First Underground
Step into a historical journey at one of the oldest underground railway stations in the world. Hear what the very first Victorian passengers thought of underground travel and explore closed-off parts of the station including original platforms and corridors that lay hidden in plain sight – some of which last accessed by the public over 75 years ago.
Dates: Selected Wednesdays to Sundays from October 2024 to February 2025
Tickets: Adult £45, Concessions £42
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
Opened to the public in 1907, Aldwych was never as heavily used as originally intended and closed nearly 100 years later in 1994. The station has had a varied history; from providing shelter to Londoners during the Blitz, to being used for film and TV shoots including The ABC Murders (2018), Darkest Hour (2017), Sherlock (2014), and Atonement (2007). Explore the original ticket hall and lifts and discover abandoned platforms and inter-connecting walkways.
Dates: SelectedWednesday to Sunday in November and December 2024, and March 2025
Tickets: Adult tickets £45, Concession £42
Charing Cross: Access all areas
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
Walk under Trafalgar Square as you explore exclusive areas of Charing Cross station that are not accessible to the public. This tour will take you to disused parts of the station, including the Jubilee line platforms that were closed in 1999 but which you may recognise from many famous movies and TV productions since, including Skyfall (2012), Paddington Bear (2013), and TV’s Killing Eve (2019) and A Spy Among Friends (2022).
Dates: Selected Wednesday to Sunday in November and December 2024, and January 2025
Tickets: Adult £45, Concessions £42
Matinee Adult £40, Matinee Concessions £37
Matinee prices are available on the first two tours on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
PLUS: Charing Cross & Classic Afternoon Tea at The Clermont
Pair your Charing Cross tour with a quintessentially British afternoon tea at beautiful The Clermont, one of London’s greatest railway hotels, to enjoy tea complete with scones, finger sandwiches and homemade treats.
Dates: Available on Friday and Sunday’s 14.35 tours
Tickets: Adult £80, Concessions £77
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
Explore a century of the station’s history, from its humble beginnings on the corner of Melton and Drummond Street, to its exciting future as the London terminus for the brand-new High Speed 2 (HS2) line up to the Midlands and beyond. Discover a labyrinth of dark and dusty passageways once used by the travelling public, marvel at a gallery of preserved vintage advertising poster fragments that have been concealed for over 50 years and see the iconic Leslie Green station.
Dates: Selected Wednesdays to Sundays in October and November
Tickets: Adult £45, Concessions £42
Piccadilly Circus: The Heart of London
*As seen on UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground series*
Piccadilly Circus was London’s busiest station throughout the roaring twenties and the flagship of Frank Pick’s Underground. Behind secret doors you’ll see deserted passageways, original Edwardian design features and lift shafts, and you will learn about the successive layers of renovations that were undertaken to adjust to Londoners’ needs over the last century.
Dates: Selected Wednesday to Sunday in October 2024 and February and March 2025
Tickets: Adult tickets £45, Concession £42
Matinee Adult £40, Matinee Concessions £37
Matinee prices are available on the first two tours on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Secrets of Central London (Walking Tour)
Discover the secrets of the area around Theatreland, Covent Garden, Kingsway, and the Embankment with one of our expert guides. This walking tour reveals little known facts about the area that were pulled straight from our archives. Find out how well-known streets shaped London’s transport systems and get glimpses of some iconic Hidden London tour sites.
Dates: Every other Saturday and Sunday, October 2024 to March 2025
Tickets: Adult £20, Concession £17.50
Author: Jonathan Thomas
Jonathan is a consummate Anglophile who launched Anglotopia.net in 2007 to channel his passion for Britain. Londontopia is its sister publication dedicated to everything London.