Southgate tube station

Southgate is a London Underground Piccadilly line station in Southgate. It is located between Arnos Grove and Oakwood stations and is in Travelcard Zone 4.

Southgate
Southgate Location of Southgate in Greater London
Location	Southgate
Local authority	London Borough of Enfield
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2017	5.59 million^[1]
2018	5.23 million^[2]
2019	5.43 million^[3]
2020	2.71 million^[4]
2021	2.31 million^[5]
Key dates
13 March 1933	Opened (Piccadilly line)
16 July 2018	Temporarily renamed 'Gareth Southgate' for 2 days^[6]
Listed status
Listing grade	II* (since 28 July 2009)
Entry number	1188692^[7]
Added to list	19 February 1971; 52 years ago (1971-02-19)
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51°37′57″N 0°07′41″W / 51.6325°N 0.12805°W / 51.6325; -0.12805Coordinates: 51°37′57″N 0°07′41″W / 51.6325°N 0.12805°W / 51.6325; -0.12805
London transport portal

Night view

Station sign and seating

History

Southgate station opened on 13 March 1933 with Oakwood on the second phase of the northern extension of the Piccadilly line from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters. Prior to the station's opening, alternative names were suggested including "Chase Side" and "Southgate Central". On opening, local residents were given a free return ticket to Piccadilly Circus.^[8]

On 19 June 2018, at around 19:00 BST there was an explosion at the entrance of the station, injuring five people.^[9]

On 16 July 2018, the tube station Southgate was renamed "Gareth Southgate" for two days in recognition of the efforts of the England football manager Gareth Southgate in leading the England team to fourth place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.^[10] However, controversy soon followed after a video was posted to social media of a woman illegally tearing the sign down while laughing, prompting TfL to make a statement saying that she was not a member of the Tube Staff, nor had the authority to remove the sign.^[11]

Architecture

The station is built in the Art Deco/Streamline Moderne design style using brick, reinforced concrete and glass and is one of the best known of the many stations Charles Holden designed for London Underground. The station building is circular with a flat projecting concrete roof. Externally, the flat roof of the raised central section appears, impossibly, to be supported by nothing more than a horizontal band of windows that provide daylight to the ticket hall. The roof is actually supported, umbrella-like, from a central column within the ticket hall. The whole building is topped by an illuminated feature resembling a Tesla coil, designed to look as if it is taken from Frankenstein's laboratory.^[12]

 

Escalators with uplighters at Southgate station

Like Arnos Grove, Oakwood and Cockfosters, Southgate is a listed building in this case at Grade II* (regraded from Grade II in 2009) and retains much of its original decoration. The two escalators have the original column lighting, while bronze panelling is in evidence throughout the station. However; the station is not without change: in the late 1990s, one of the three entrances was filled in to be used as a new ticket office, and due to the design of the automatic barriers, one of the two remaining entrances is exit only.

In 2008, the station was extensively renovated, with new tiling at platform level, a partial new floor in the main ticket hall, and improved signage throughout.^[13] The station won the London Regional category award at the 2008 National Railway Heritage Awards for the modernisation of a heritage station.^[14]

The original escalators were replaced in the late 1980s with the then standard London Transport design. The balustrade of the escalators was manufactured from bronze, rather than aluminium to maintain the 1930s period appearance of the station and to satisfy the requirements of English Heritage.

The preserved condition of the station's original features, particularly the escalators, makes Southgate popular for filming scenes for period dramas.

Location

The station was developed as a bus/underground interchange and the main building sits on an island between Southgate Circus and Station Parade where a series of bus stops are located. A secondary building containing shops wraps around the other side of the parade.

The station is located on a hill and whereas the platforms at the stations on each side are on the surface those at Southgate are in a short section of tunnel. The tunnel portals are visible from the platforms when looking north, a unique occurrence for a deep-level London Underground station. As usual on the Piccadilly line, the platforms are labelled Westbound and Eastbound. However, the tunnels run more or less north-east to south-west at Southgate, so eastbound is north-eastbound and westbound is south-westbound.^[15]

In the early 1980s, moving picture advertising was tested in the tunnels south of the station. The pictures were of a child on a beach turning to face the camera.

Southgate is the northernmost station in tunnels on the London Underground network.

Services

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Arnos Grove towards Uxbridge, Rayners Lane or Heathrow Airport (Terminal 4 or Terminal 5)		Piccadilly line		Oakwood towards Cockfosters

Connections

London Buses routes 121, 125, 298, 299, 382, W6, W9, 616, 628, 688 and 699 and night route N91 serve the station.

References

1. . London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Archived from the original (XLSX) on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
2. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
3. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
4. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
5. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
6. "Gareth Southgate Tube Roundel". Geoff Marshall.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
7. Historic England. "Southgate Underground Station (1188692)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
8. Mott, R. (2001). A Southgate Boyhood. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. p. 22. ISBN 0-902922-61-0.
9. "Five injured in Tube station explosion". BBC News. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
10. "World Cup 2018: Tube station named Gareth Southgate". BBC News. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
11. "Outrage as 'random' woman is filmed tearing down Gareth Southgate Tube sign". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
12. Emmerson, Andrew (2010). The London underground. Oxford: Shire Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7478-0790-2. OCLC 462882243.
13. "London Underground".^{[dead link]}
14. . Lists of winners. National Railway Heritage Awards. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014.
15. line layout

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southgate tube station.

• "Photographic Archive". London Transport Museum. from the original on 18 March 2008.
  • Site for Southgate station, 1930
  • Cutting and tunnel portals under construction, 1932
  • Station under construction, March 1933
  • Station open, November 1933
  • view of the escalators and original 1930s lighting
• . CharlesHolden.com. 1933. Archived from the original on 19 November 2003.
  • . CharlesHolden.com. 1933. Archived from the original on 11 December 2003.
  • . CharlesHolden.com. 1933. Archived from the original on 4 July 2004.
  • . CharlesHolden.com. 1933. Archived from the original on 3 July 2004.