Courtesy of Wikipedia. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).
Have you ever wondered where they film all those scenes on London’s underground in movies like James Bond’s Skyfall?
Well, the answer is here, at one of London’s disused tube stations.
At first glance, it looks like just another station on part of the tube network. But then you scratch your head and think to yourself, I don’t remember seeing a stop for the Strand.
Well, that’s because it closed in 1994 due to lack of use and confusingly, was then called Aldwych Station (as nearby Charing Cross Station called itself Strand Station until it reverted to being Charing Cross in 1979).
Strand Station, sorry, I mean Aldwych Station, opened in 1907 and started life as the southern terminus of a branch off-shoot of the Piccadilly line.
Though never heavily used, it found it’s forte during the Blitz of 1940, when hundreds of Londoners including families with children, were able to take nightly shelter on its platforms and train tracks.
And not only people. Due to its proximity to some of London’s most important museums, it was even used to store important treasures like the Elgin Marbles!
London Transport Museum organise fascinating tours of the station. Check their website for details.