24. Knightsbridge

Friday 27th December 7.30pm

This has had an expensive looking make-over to match its surroundings - it's right outside Harvey Nichols and is opposite One Hyde Park, where an apartment was priced at £100+million (but which apparently sold for £40million). I don't suppose anyone living there is going to be using the Tube though are they? The tiling on the platforms has been covered up with metal cladding which makes it look more like a Jubilee line station (the fanciest and newest line), but without the wide platforms and all the modern conveniences that brings. And is it just me or does that roundel look like it's made of plastic?

Wikipedia entry here.

23. South Kensington

Friday 27th December 12.15pm

Or 'South Ken' as I heard someone heading to the Albert Hall refer to it as, in a way that was best described as 'annoying'. This isn't a part of London I go to very often as it's simultaneously too posh (all those fancy shops) and too dull (all those fancy shops, all those museums). And it's also quite poorly served by the Tube.

It's actually quite a small station and seems remarkably unchanged since it was built, which is surprising considering how busy it is now. The best thing about it is the long subway that goes from it to the museums, which stops you getting wet and is decorated in the same tiles as the Tube station.

Wikipedia entry here.

22. Shepherd's Bush Market

Friday 20th December 9.15pm

Quite how Shepherd's Bush ended up being served by three Tube stations so close together is something of a mystery as surely even the area's biggest fan would admit that it's nothing special. This station is named after what must have been the area's biggest attraction but it didn't actually get that name until 2008 when the huge Westfield shopping centre opened and they realised that two Tube stations and an Overground station all sharing the same name might be confusing.

It's basically identical to Goldhawk Road station, which is no surprise as they're at opposite ends of the market: two above ground, elevated platforms and a small ticket office at street level. I guess these kind of stations were intended to be the starting point for journeys not destinations so they saved the glamour and the style for the bigger stations in the centre of London, but somehow they ended up winning as this line now uses the most up-to-date trains, with walk-through carriages and tons more room that the old trains.

Wikipedia entry here.

21.Goldhawk Road

Friday 20th December 6.15pm.

There's not really much need to use this station - there are two others at different corners of Shepherd's Bush Green, both situated much nearer places you'd want to go, so I was partly just here to tick it off the list but mostly because of music. There's a song on the last Pet Shop Boys album called Love is a Bourgeois Construct which is mad but which included my favourite lyric of the year: "I've been hanging round with various riff-raff, somewhere on the Goldhawk Road" - so how could I not visit?

The station itself is about as unremarkable as they come, although it seems to be typical for this part of the line. The trains run above ground, elevated above the city around it. The platforms are open air and then you walk down some stairs to a small ticket office at ground level and then you're out in the street - it couldn't be any more functional if it tried!

Wikipedia entry here.