St Paul's is a

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

station located in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

financial district. The station, which takes its name from the nearby

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, is on the Central line, between

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

stations, and is in fare zone 1. It should not be confused with the former ''St. Paul's Thameslink'' railway station, a

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

railway station which opened in 1990, but has some distance from the Underground station. That station was subsequently renamed City Thameslink after one year, to avoid confusion for the emergency services. But for some years afterwards, many maps and guidebooks in circulation continued to carry the earlier name.

History

The station was opened by the Central London Railway (CLR) on 30 July 1900 with the name Post Office, after the headquarters of the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

on nearby St. Martin's Le Grand. The name Post Office was possibly chosen instead of the more obvious St. Paul's to differentiate it from a South Eastern Railway (SER) station which already held that name (but which today is called Blackfriars). Post Office tube station map

The station entrance was originally located on the north side of Newgate Street, on the west side of the junction with King Edward Street, but was moved to the east when the station was modernised in the 1930s with an underground ticket hall and

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...

s. A modern ventilation shaft in the centre of the traffic island at the junction indicates the location of the original lift shafts. When the SER station called St. Paul's was renamed as Blackfriars in 1937, the Underground station called Post Office took the name St. Paul's, which it has kept ever since. At the end of the 19th century, Newgate Street was a narrow road with some of its

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

character remaining. To reduce land purchase and compensation payments, the CLR routed its tunnels directly under public roads. At St. Paul's the narrowness of the road required the tunnels to be placed one above the other with the westbound tunnel uppermost. The

lift Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...

s originally operated to a level between the two platforms, with stairs up or down to the platforms as necessary. A high-level access passageway is visible at the lowest level leading to the disused lift lobby. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the electricity grid control room for London and Southeast England was housed below ground in the lift shaft.

The station today

The station entrances are located around the junction of Newgate Street,

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, England, which forms part of the A40 road, A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St Martin's Le Grand with Poultry, London, Poultry. Near its eas ...

and St. Martin's Le Grand.

is a short distance to the south. The main entrance to the cathedral is at its western end, a few minutes' walk away. St Paul's is also the nearest Underground station to the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and

One New Change One New Change is a major office and retail development in the City of London. It comprises of floor space, including of retail space and of office space and is the only large shopping mall, shopping centre in the City of London, the historic ...

. Other notable sites in the vicinity include the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

and the church of

St Mary-le-Bow The Church of St Mary-le-Bow () is a Church of England parish church in the City of London, England. Located on Cheapside, one of the city's oldest thoroughfares, the church was founded in 1080, by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rebuilt s ...

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 s ...

routes 4, 8, 25, 56, 76, 100, 133 and night routes N8, N25 and N242 serve the station.

Future proposals

An underground passageway linking

City Thameslink railway station City Thameslink is a London station group, central London railway station within the City of London, with entrances on Ludgate Hill and Holborn Viaduct. The station is on the Thameslink, Thameslink route between to the south and to the north ...

to St Paul's tube station to provide an interchange between the Central line and

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

services on the Thameslink railway has been suggested by London TravelWatch in a report in 2014, which suggested it would benefit passengers travelling from the Central line to Gatwick and Luton Airports.

Notes

External links

Abandoned stations
– Section on disused lift access passage
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's Tube Station Central line (London Underground) stations London Underground Night Tube stations Tube stations in the City of London Former Central London Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1900