Covent Garden tube station

Covent Garden is a London Underground station in Covent Garden. It is on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square and Holborn. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.

Related Topics:
London Underground - Covent Garden - Piccadilly Line - Leicester Square - Holborn - Travelcard Zone 1

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Covent Garden station is one of the few stations in Central London for which platform access is only by lift or stairs. It was previously "exit only" on Saturday afternoons, when the surrounding shopping areas are at their busiest, since so many people visit the station and there is the risk of dangerous overcrowding of the platforms. It is reportedly the busiest station on the network at which access to the platforms is primarily by lift. The "exit only" rule has now been lifted although all tube maps and station posters indicate that it becomes extremely busy, mainly at weekends and gives details of the alternative methods of getting to Covent Garden without using the station.

Related Topics:
Central London - Lift - Stairs - Tube maps

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Covent Garden is only 260 metres (290 yards) from Leicester Square station, the shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the Underground network. The distance is so minimal that it takes longer to travel from the platforms of one station to the platforms of the other by train, than to walk between the stations.

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The station is unusual in being tiled in a light colour pattern, as it has always been, making its passageways appear light, airy, and welcoming.

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Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) services first ran on 15th December 1906, and the station opened on 11th April 1907.

Related Topics:
15th December - 1906 - 11th April - 1907

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Transport for London have committed themselves to easing the congestion at the station, which may involve the creation of a new exit further north along Long Acre (i.e. away from Covent Garden Piazza and nearer the eclectic shopping district which surrounds Neal's Yard), and the provision of escalator access.

Related Topics:
Transport for London - Covent Garden Piazza - Neal's Yard

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The station areas, especially the platforms, are said to be haunted by the ghost of an actor, who used to visit the bakery which stood in the station's place before it was built.

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