Golders Green is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

station in

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

, north

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The station is on the Edgware branch of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

between

Brent Cross Brent Cross is originally the name of a crossroads that today forms a major interchange for traffic in the London Borough of Barnet, England. Located a mile from the centres of Hendon and Golders Green, the area also contains the Brent Cros ...

and

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

stations. It is in

Travelcard Zone 3 Fare zone 3 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail Nationa ...

and is the first surface station on the Edgware branch when heading north. The station is located at the crossroads of

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often freque ...

( A598) and Golders Green Road/North End Road ( A502). The station exit is adjacent to Golders Green bus station; a former exit to Finchley Road is now closed. Adjacent to the station is the

Golders Green Hippodrome The Golders Green Hippodrome was built in 1913 by Bertie Crewe as a 3,000-seat music hall, to serve North London and the new London Underground Northern line expansion into Golders Green in the London Borough of Barnet, London, England. Taken ...

, home to the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

for many years and now the headquarters of a religious organisation.

History

Golders Green station was opened by the

Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), also known as the Hampstead Tube, was a railway company established in 1891 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. Construction of the CCE&HR was delayed for ...

(CCE&HR, now part of the Northern line) on 22 June 1907. It was one of the railway's two northern terminals (the other being at Archway) and was also the site of the railway's depot. At the beginning of the 20th century Golders Green was a small rural

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

with only a few houses, but the opening of the railway stimulated a rapid building boom causing the number of houses and the population to increase greatly. To the south of the station in the tunnels beneath

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band o ...

is the partially built but uncompleted '' North End'' or ''Bull & Bush'' station. Before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

plans were made to extend the CCE&HR north from Golders Green to

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

to open up new areas of the

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

countryside to development and to create a source of new passengers. The war postponed the construction of the extension and work did not begin until 12 June 1922. The first section of the extension, as far as Hendon Central, opened on 19 November 1923. Golders Green was the last station on the Northern line to retain

semaphore signals Railway semaphore signal is one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore ...

, replaced in 1950.

Today

The station has three tracks running through it which serve a

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

and two

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

s. The platforms are numbered 1 to 5 with numbers 1 and 2 serving each side of one track and 3 and 4 serving each side of another. Platform 1 (the northbound side platform) is not presently in public use, as it is used by London Underground staff. Platforms 3 and 4 are used for trains terminating at Golders Green, which may then reverse back into London, but this is uncommon, and trains that start at Golders Green Depot continue to Hampstead Station to make their first stop. Two new lifts were installed during 2008, one on platform 2/3 and one on platform 4/5 to provide step-free access to the platforms. Ticket barriers are in operation.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes 13, 83,

102 102 may refer to: * 102 (number), the number * AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD * 102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India * 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal ...

139 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 139 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 139 (New Jersey bus) 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 13 ...

, 183, 210, 226, 240, 245, 260, 268, 328, 460, H2, H3, school route

631 __NOTOC__ Year 631 ( DCXXXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 631 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

and night routes N5 and N83 serve the station. Several

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

coaches also serve the station.

Gallery

File:Golders green 1 station 2037579 3f7d8512.jpg, Station entrance in 1962 File:Golders green 2 station 2037558 91bc9df9.jpg, Northern line in the 1962 snow File:Golders Green stn northbound south.JPG, Northbound platforms looking south. During refurbishment, platform 1 on the right is out of use (photo January 2008) File:Golders Green stn centre north.JPG, Centre terminating track looking north (2008) File:Golders Green stn centre south.JPG, Centre terminating track looking south (2008) File:goldersgreenplatform.jpg, Southbound platform 5 prior to lift installation works (2005) File:Golders Green stn roundel.JPG, Roundel on northbound platform 2 (2008) File:Golders Green stn tunnels.JPG, Tunnel portals to the south of the station (2008)

References

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** **

*
Layout of tracks and signals at Golders Green station
{{Northern line navbox Northern line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Barnet Former Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway stations London Underground stations located above ground Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907

Tube station The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Und ...

London Underground Night Tube stations London Underground depots