Knightsbridge (London Underground)
Knightsbridge is an underground station on the London Underground in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . It is located in the Travelcard tariff zone 1 on Brompton Road, right next to the Harrods department store . In 2013, 21.47 million passengers used this station served by the Piccadilly Line .
history
The station was opened on December 15, 1906 as part of the first section of the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (predecessor of the Piccadilly Line). In the early years, access to the platforms was via four elevators and an emergency staircase. The original station building, designed by Leslie Green , was on Brompton Road, at the intersection of Knightsbridge and Sloane Streets.
From the start, the station was very busy due to its proximity to Harrods and other exclusive shops on Brompton Road. This was in stark contrast to the nearby Brompton Road station , where frequencies were so low that many trains passed without stopping. In 1934 it was decided to close Brompton Road station and instead build an additional entrance with escalators at Knightsbridge . However, the station could only be reached from the southern entrance through a long, narrow pedestrian tunnel; there was hardly any space for the ticket counters either.
The continued rise in popularity of Harrods led to capacity constraints over time. The problem was solved in 2004 by the generous expansion of the entrance. The stairs now lead into an open space in the middle of the street. At the same time as the southern entrance was opened, a replacement for what was once the only entrance was built at the northern end. A new pedestrian underpass was built at the intersection of Sloane Street, Brompton Road and Knightsbridge. The platforms were now also accessed via escalators. The pedestrian tunnel from the oldest entrance was closed and now serves as a ventilation shaft.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2013 annual entries and exits. (Excel, 228 kB) Transport for London, 2014, accessed on July 27, 2014 (English).
| Previous station | Transport for London | Next station |
|---|---|---|
|
Brompton Road (closed) |
|
Hyde Park Corner |
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 6 ″ N , 0 ° 9 ′ 39 ″ W.