Mind the gap on your way to the dining room: Brompton Road Tube station goes up for sale

 
Could be quite a climb between floors: old signage at the long disused Brompton Road Tube station
All pictures: Nick Ansell/PA
Pa|Deborah Maby7 August 2013

Nestled in an exclusive corner of central London between Harrods and the V&A is a long-disused Piccadilly line Tube station called Brompton Road. Now owned by the Ministry of Defence, it is being sold to cut costs and will go on the market next month. Depending on planning permission, it is likely it will become someone's very desirable Knightsbridge home.

Then: Brompton Road Tube station when it was in use in the Thirties (Picture: EPA)

On the outside, the building retains the original distinctive red glazed wall tiles that are a hallmark of the Underground's historic stations.

Steep: the station is expected to achieve a sale in the region of £20 million
Historic: the exterior of Brompton Road station. On the left, you can see the distinctive red glazed tiles of the Leslie Green stations

Tube trains stopped at the station between 1906 and 1934 before it was removed from the Piccadilly line because it was not used by enough people.

Remains of the 4th operations room

In 1938 it was acquired by the War Office and used as an anti-Luftwaffe command centre during the Blitz.

Tickets please: inside Brompton Road Tube station when it was in use (Picture: EPA)

The building became headquarters of the Army’s 1st Anti-Aircraft Division, protecting the capital and surrounding areas. Floors were built into the lift shafts to create operations rooms, complete with a telephone exchange, pneumatic tubes to carry messages and a huge table map of southern England. Information on approaching German aircraft reached the station from radar stations and observers, and was sent on to fighter squadrons and anti-aircraft batteries.

Old walkway showing the distinctive red and oxblood glazed tiles

By the early 1950s, Second World War defences were considered obsolete and the site now houses the London University Air Squadron, the London University Royal Naval Unit and 46F Squadron Air Training Corps. An MoD spokeswoman said the units would be found new homes before the sale in September.

Old map of London on the wall in the 4th operations room. The building became the headquarters of the Army’s 1st Anti-Aircraft Division, protecting the capital and surrounding areas

Dean Nicholas of the Londonist blog points out that: "Unfortunately for any multi-millioniaire Tube aficionado hoping to steal a march on rush hour, the platforms themselves remain the property of Transport for London and are sealed off from the station."

Ministry of Defence surveyor Julian Chafer looks at the wartime map

Julian Chafer, an MoD surveyor who has been working on the site, said: "Although I'm not a military historian, I imagine that down here it would been the same sort of thing as you see in wartime films.

Hmmm, maybe this could be the dining room? Julian Chafer has a viewing

"Today, the only remnants of the now dark and sooty site's military past are a map showing the capital's anti-aircraft battery areas, ammunition signs and a weapons rack.

Careful: the remains of an old GEC Bakelite switch

"There would have been maps on the walls, there would have been perhaps an operations table and perhaps a scale model of part of the city, actually physically moving scale models about with the anti-aircraft batteries so people could envisage exactly where they were in the city."

Dangerous indeed: the site is probably not quite ready to move into...

The building is expected to command a high price. Mr Chafer, 47, said: "It's in a prime location, we've got [Grade II*-listed] Brompton Oratory next door, Harrods just down the street, so - subject to what planning authorities say - I think it is likely to be a residential development above ground.

That was the life: women Underground staff relax in the Brompton Road staff club during the First World War (Picture: London Transport Museum)

"Quite what happens down here with this site is anybody's guess... But I'm sure there are specialist developers out there that would find something to do with this part of the site."

Could do with some updating: the building is for sale with Jones Lang LaSalle

The estate agent handling the sale is Jones Lang LaSalle. Residential land director Simon Hodson said: "This well located prime central London site provides an excellent redevelopment opportunity and we are expecting a high level of interest from a variety of purchasers."

Could be a lovely spiral staircase...

The station is expected to sell for an amount in the region of £20 million.

Transport commentator Christian Wolmar, author of The Subterranean Railway, a history of the Tube, points out that: "Brompton Road is one of several closed railway stations that have lain empty for years but now are being considered for alternative uses, or even reopening.

"Aldwych, South Kentish Town, Down Street and York Road are all stations that have closed but have surviving street entrances. Some have at times being used. Down Street was the headquarters of the Railways Executive Committee in the war and Churchill also held War Cabinet meetings there. South Kentish Town now houses a pawnbrokers and a massage parlour while Aldwych, which has the advantage of not having any through trains, is often used by film crews.

"York Road – on York Way – is another former Piccadilly line station closed because it was too near King’s Cross that has lain empty since before the war and there is some speculation about whether it should be reopened, given the vast amount of development on the Railway Lands behind the revamped King's Cross and St Pancras stations. Marlborough Road, just north of Lord’s cricket ground, housed a Chinese restaurant for many years but is now merely an electric sub-sation."

One person who has already expressed an interest in acquiring the site is Ajit Chambers, the CEO of The Old London Underground Company. On April 24 2012 he made a £25 million offer but received a letter from the MoD saying it was not up for sale yet but he would be allowed to make a bid as and when it was. According to Mr Chambers, the Qatari Royal family are his opposition on the bid.

Wartime relic: remnant of the site's dark wartime past

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