London Author Ben Pedroche

Come to London and it’s highly unlikely that you’ll avoid using the Tube. You can cycle all you want, buses are only going to get you so far and taxis are a twice a year treat for most of us. Sooner or later, you’ll find yourself heading down an escalator, peering at the spaghetti-like network of intersecting lines and trying to work out if Bank and Monument are the same or different stations.

We’re exasperated about having to wait three whole minutes for the next train to arrive, we curse the checkpoints that never apologise when they’ve taken too much money off of our Oyster card and yet we couldn’t do without it. This year saw the number of passengers using the Underground surpass one billion. It’s come a long way since its inception in 1863, evolving with different lines coming and going.

The changes in the Underground’s make-up have seen some stations left behind, and are now disused. But while they now lie dormant, they have not been forgotten and author Ben Pedroche tracks them down in his new book Do Not Alight Here. The London Word caught up with him to discuss the Tube, architects and why there is such a big gap between Caledonian Road and King’s Cross.

Your new book is all about the Tube. What first drew you to the London Underground?

‘I’ve always been interested in the city aesthetic. I come from just outside of Nottingham, so I’ve always been aware of cities. I had a brother at university in Luton and I used to come and visit him at weekends.

I was very taken with the gritty urban metropolis and it was also the transport that drew me. I thought it was pretty cool that you could take these trains that went underground. I’m not really interested in the trains per se, I’m not a train geek, but it was the whole combination of lines going across each other that intrigued me. Plus I’ve always had an interest in derelict buildings and I liked the idea of tracking down the stories behind them.’

How did you go about devising the routes for the walks that take in these abandoned stations?

‘Originally it was going to be short walks just within central London but as it expanded out, I had to refine the process. The problem was then that you had these large sections where you would see nothing for 20 or 30 minutes. It was quite painful to leave certain bits out and so I put those in at the More Things to See section at the back.

‘I got a big map of London and split it up into boroughs. I had about 16 or 17 walks but wanted to keep it even so I settled on 12, which meant combining some.’

Did you test drive some of the walks?

‘Yes, I didn’t want the walks to be over two and a half hours so I plotted them out on Google Maps. I went out with a stopwatch, stopping and starting and taking notes, revisiting some in case any had changed. There was a lot of refining, checking on maps, just to make sure I had a rough idea of how long they would take.’

Why is there such a big difference in the number of Tube stations in the north compared to the south?

‘It’s because most of the rail companies who make up the Underground we have now, they were aiming to get in from the north. That’s why we have Euston, St Pancras but once they got to the river, they would have to stop because the river was a physical barrier and it was expensive to build bridges.’

Do you think Londoners have a good underground system compared to those in other European cities?

‘Yes, I think so. I’ve ridden the underground in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Paris, Budapest and they’ve all copied the London model, which I think is quite a compliment. I haven’t been to every one but it’s certrainly the best one I’ve ever been on. Take the one in Los Angeles, which is rubbish. It’s strange because it’s such a massive city but the trains are infrequent and the network is pretty small. So for me, although there’s room for improvement, it’s still the best.’

In the book you talk about architects who were important in the development of the Tube, such as Leslie Green and Charles Holden. Given the significance of what they produced, are they somewhat overlooked in terms of important architects?

‘Definitely, because the Underground stations are beautiful buildings. The reason why they lasted is that they are not just functional with clear routes in and out but they are also beautiful places. I don’t see any reason why you should put stations on a different level to any other type of architecture.

‘I’m sure that at the time Leslie Green wasn’t intending for his buildings to be seen as aesthetically pleasing. The reason why he used the terracotta bricks is that they were easier to clean from the smog that was around at the time. It was one of those things that people see them now as beautiful in retrospect but I don’t think that Leslie Green was designing a station, I’m sure he had an inkling that it was nice looking but I don’t think he was aiming for it to be a design classic. So given that the stations are so iconic and so important in the history of London, I don’t think that these guys should be forgotten.’

How do you think the Crossrail project is going to affect London’s transport capabilities?

‘It’s a huge project and it’s actually going to make some of the stations in my book not disused any more! There’s a lovely stretch from Canning Town to North Woolwich, which is derelict at the moment and some of the stations are going to be brought back. I think it’s going to be good; nice brand new stations, a natural progression. It seems too straight a line and it’s a long time until it’s all going to be finished but I think it’s going to be good.’

What do you do when you’re not tracking down London’s lost stations?

‘I work in online marketing. The plan is to get a couple of reference books done, quit the day job and hopefully become a full-time writer.’

Whereabouts do you live in London?

‘Kilburn, although it’s more towards West Hampstead.’

What’s it like to live in that area?

‘I like it a lot, it’s a lively area. Both my girlfriend and I need to live where it feels like living in London. It’s going to be a problem in the future when we’re looking to buy somewhere as we’ll have to move further out to get value for money. The great thing about the book is that to begin with, I didn’t really know south London but I got to explore some great places like Sydenham and Herne Hill. But I don’t really mind where I live as long it feels like London.’

If you could pick any one of the disused stations in your book to bring back, which one would it be?

‘I wouldn’t actually pick a Tube station but would go for a train station. It’s on this stretch where the Crossrail is going to be. There’s a station in particular, near City Airport, called Silvertown. It’s right next to the river and it’s a ghost town. There used to be this big sugar factory and everyone who lived there would have worked at the factory. The station sits there dilapidated, all decrepit. The Crossrail is going to come right by it but it’s not going to be brought back, which to me is weird, because it’s two minutes from City Airport.

‘If I was going to go for a Tube station, I would go for York Road, which is actually on the cover of the book. The building is still there, and that one would be great to be brought back into use, because it’s the reason why there’s a big gap on the Picadilly line between Caledonian Road and King’s Cross. Trains still pass through it and if you’re quick when looking out of the window, you can actually see the platforms as you go past.’

Could you tell us a bit about the underground shelters and how they were used?

‘Sure, because they have a fascinating history. The deep level shelters were there not originally intended as air raid shelters but as part of a high speed train system within the Tube. There were to be tunnels underneath the tunnels to allow them to bypass certain stations. However, this never transpired because of the outbreak of the Second World War. Eight were created and they earmarked five to be used as air raid shelters. The other three were used for other purposes like the one at Goodge Street was used by Eisenhower who had his meetings there during the war.

‘Then in the 1950s a lot of people came over from the West Indies as there was a labour shortage and they were invited to Britain. They’re known as the Windrush Generation as they came over on the ship Empire Windrush. They were housed there and the nearest job centre was in Brixton, which is why Brixton is now the centre for Afro-Caribbeans.’

What other books do you have lined up?

‘The one I’m working on is about powerstations and gasworks. Obviously you’ve got a lot of those in London, like the ones at Battersea and Greenwich. Take for instance the Tate Modern, which shows you what a great building but how you can reuse them.’

Do Not Alight Here is out now, published by Capital History.