27. St. James's Park

Saturday 18th January 3.00pm

Blimey that's a punctuation nightmare isn't it? Now I've read Eats, Shoots and Leaves and thought I had a handle on the whole apostrophe business but this 's' followed by another 's' thing still catches me out and I'd have put money on this being St. James' Park. But no.

The station itself is build underneath 55 Broadway, which is the headquarters of the Tube company - a stunning building which according to Wikipedia they are vacating next year and turning into flats, so I've got a couple of years to win the lottery/find myself a sugar Daddy to buy me one.

The above ground bits of the station include shops and lots of marble, and it works unlike Picadilly Circus where you used to be able to get into Tower Records but it was all a bit of a nightmare. And somehow this reminds me of Grand Central Station, although obviously it's actually nothing like it.

Wikipedia entry here.

And with that I have visited one-tenth of the Tube stations in just over a year. I realise things are going to get a lot more difficult as I leave Zone 1 but it's been fun so far and has completely changed the way I think about the Tube - if you see me waiting for a train I'm likely to be lost in contemplation of the tiling. I love the Tube!

26. Temple

Saturday 18th January 2.45pm

Turns out this isn't where I thought it was. I knew it was on the Embankment but thought it was opposite Cleopatra's Needle - somehow I muddled it's religious name with the whole Cleopatra business and assumed they were connected. So I could never understand why anyone would use it when it was right next door to Embankment and Charing Cross stations. As I walked and walked along the Embankment, past Somerset House and beyond I realised my mistake.

It does feel like it's in the middle of nowhere though, and why would anyone use it? It's the quietest Tube station I've been though - I was the only person in the ticket hall as I went through the barriers. Disappointingly the rather lovely station building is now a Walkabout pub. But I guess it will get a new lease of life if Thomas Hetherwick's bridge gets built. Fingers crossed then.

Wikipedia entry here.

25. Barbican

Saturday 11th January 12.45pm

I love that picture! Now the underground has smartened its act up it feels quite rare to see anything looking tatty. Of course there are bits of it that are a mess because they're being rebuilt, and lots of it is going to look scuffed from use, but this is the first thing like this I've seen and it's right there on platform 1 as the train pulls into the station. Something about that makes me really happy.

The station itself is small with the platforms hardly below ground level, and open to the elements although I guess at one point they had a roof to keep you dry. It only serves one route and I'm starting to think that this type of station: small, no escalators, no endless corridors, just getting local people to where they need to go, is becoming my favourite kind of station.

Wikipedia entry here.

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.