All but the most seasoned commuters depend on Green Park station's signs to the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines; out to the park, Piccadilly or Buckingham Palace; or for lifts, tickets or the cash machine. But a Hidden London tour reveals that there are plenty more signs languishing in places now closed to passengers.
These directions are not given in the now-familiar formats, with printed text on white enamel backgrounds. They are painted onto tile or plaster, with block-capital text and an assortment of arrows. Lines are not indicated; the message 'to the trains' apparently sufficed.
Of course it did: these date from a time when this station only served the Piccadilly line, with the Victoria (1969) and Jubilee (1979) lines decades away. The station had opened back in 1906, as the Dover Street station on the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (unsurprisingly shortened by passengers to the 'Piccadilly'). It wasn't a financial success, but there were enough passengers using Dover Street that it struggled to cope. When the line was taken into public ownership in 1933, both it and Dover Street station were officially renamed, to the Piccadilly Line and Green Park station. A modernisation project saw Green Park's ticket hall moved, with an entrance in Green Park itself, and the original lifts replaced with escalators. The pssages around those lifts were also closed, preserving the signs.
Not only are the arrows in assorted shapes; even the quantity can vary!
Some signs are now almost entirely hidden, with just a tantalising fragment peeping out from the accumulation of new walls, coverings, and grime.
There's another treat for sign-spotters on the tour. Grilles over the platforms give a new view of more familiar signage.
Of course, the tour has many more secrets to disclose! I'll leave those for you to discover for yourselves. But be warned - there are plenty of stairs...
