Chancery Lane's Disused Station

B-but it’s not disused…
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[@ulazygit]

During the late 90’s/early 2000’s, I worked for BT property and was briefly responsible for the use of the tunnels at 31/33 High Holborn. Although decommissioned as a telephone exchange (frames were still in place), it was still in use as a furniture store, had the standby generators still in place and commissioned, a working lift and an artesian well. The former staff restaurant had faux windows depicting rural scenes (cows in fields) and were dressed with curtains. The two main tunnels were stamped LRT, the cross tunnels GPO. The tunnels are reputedly haunted and a service tunnel leading to chancery lane station is often the scene of activity (or so it’s reported). The gents toilets are close by and a gentleman in old-fashioned overalls has been seen and spoken to here … only to vanish with no trace after interaction! The tunnels are indeed for sale ( and have been for some time) but come with liability for property above … ie should they collapse, you’d foot the bill! When I was last involved, some 2 decades ago, they had a price tag of £20m! Furnival Street had the equipment entrance and a lifting beam/hoist rated at 4 tonnes (so my memory serves) was affixed to the building. Pretty sure Tooks Close was used as a ventilation shaft (as well as an admin office building), and retains use, even though it’s been fully redeveloped. Be wonderful if any viewers used to work there and could add/corroborate my accounts as I remember them! Loved the Video! Long overdue!

[@jaymitchell9694]

I went down with my a friend of the family whom looked after them around 2010, still was BT ownership at the time and it was for sale back then. I remember the canteen menu board still displaying the the food they serve last. The old diesel generators corridor and some.of the old service tunnels. It was pretty amazing stuff. The guy who took us down had shown us a part the was "still in government use" shall we say, but the tunnels under there are all connect, you can essentially walk from one side of London to the other via tunnels (obviously not including the tube network). We went down via the lift in Furnival Street.

[@chrissaltmarsh6777]

I used to live in a flat on Queensway. One joyous part was that Queensway tube was on Bayswater, not Queensway, but Bayswater tube was on Queensway, not Bayswater. Just 100m apart. A satisfying, symmetric oddity.

[@StairStealer]

You know, I saw a handsome and charismatic fellow the other day and thought to meself, "That must be Jago, I cannot think of anyone else who could be that handsome and charismatic". What he was doing in St. Jacob's, Ontario is beyond me but there is no-one else who it could possibly have been who matches those two descriptors

[@andywarne963]

The Chancery Lane tunnels dont really look like the other deep-level shelters as they dont have the dividing floor halfway up. Except for a few short cross-passages which do have this floor. There is one such passage which had a sign "tea bar alley" with a counter and tables and chairs. All the tunnels had names painted onto small wooden signs. One of the tunnels near the Furnival St entrance was called "The Curlicue"

[@paulbivand9210]

Reminds me that I bought a Russian camera (last people to make twin-lens reflex) from the Russian camera shop directly on top of the Kingsway telephone exchange in the 1970s. It was opposite the Old Red Lion. There was a Russian gift shop next door selling Russian dolls and other such. Assume they were also trying to eavesdrop on the exchange underneath. Cold War times...

[@johna5635]

"When I say 'abandoned', it IS occupied... just not by the Underground!" love that explanation!

[@mr51406]

This channel has the best comments section! 🌹I love reading all your personal stories about the sites Jago explores. It helps this Canadian visit London vicariously. Many thanks! Chancery Lane excepted (unfortunately), one of the best features of the London Tube is that stations are really stations with dedicated buildings, not just holes in the sidewalk (sorry, pavement). Montreal’s Métro may be recognizable for its Parisian pneumatic rolling stock, but what made it successful is taking the London idea of genuine architectural landmark stations.

[@robclark4626]

Yes I worked in Kingsway Trunk Switching Centre (as it was once called) from 1971 to 1982 when it closed. I was a Technical Officer and located in the room at the end of the repeater station that was the Radio Interference Investigation Group, though much of what we did was secret stuff. Just outside the room was the first Radiopaging equipment. We used to listen to the Central line trains rumble by above us. The address of the complex was 31-33 High Holborn, though as the video shows, had a goods lift shaft in Furnival Street and a less used passenger lift in Tooks Court. My very first visit to the place though, was as an apprentice after walking miles along the deep level tubes. A huge door opened and I was amazed to see people working there (around 200 staff at the time). It also had its own artesian well, a tea bar and a restaurant with a bar adjoining with a games room. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJvcZGWlfLZredE

[@timsully8958]

Concise, precise and rather nice 🤔 I knew the multiple Northern Line express tunnels saw varied uses but had no idea the extent of Chancery Lane 😮 Likewise I hadn’t even noticed the old station building despite having been that way myriad times over the years, which makes me feel rather silly 🙄 I do love the building at Queensway though. Very grand and one of those places you think “Now, if I were a wealthy swine and to have my own flat in London…” 😉 Nice shot of Kingsway tram station too. Really must sort out a visit now they seem to be doing them regularly. Thanks for the reminder 😜 Cheers mi’ dear 👍🍻🍀

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Excellent. Just in time for a break from sanding walls and stripping doors.

[@cyberwomble7524]

Oddly, I have to get back to sanding dolls and stripping wh... well, least said soonest mended.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

I learned something today! Very familar with the area as I spent most of my working life there. But I had always thought the old tube station was the one next door. Thank you for putting me straight. Of course chaging from lifts to escalators nearly always required moving either the surface buildings of the platforms - most recently at Angel. Only at Holborn was the solution of two flights of escalators doubling back on temselves used.

[@jeremypreece870]

This is a real Jago special: An abandoned station that is not abandoned (but very heavily used), but is actually about the above ground station building that is abandoned, except that it is (and always has been) in use. JH a man of Charisma? Well he needs a lot of charm talk himself out of that one.

[@andywarne963]

I used to go in there most days (and many nights) as it was indeed an entrance to the Kingsway Exchange, and later, a BT computer installation (long since removed). Inside the door there is a short staircase leading downwards and round a corner to the passenger lift, which is a fairly small high-speed lift (unlike the Furnival St one which is huge and slow). We always had a problem getting items delivered there as it was a deliberately anonymous door.

[@spencerdavies4666]

In the late eighties I worked for BT and used to send IBM 9 track tapes to the Kingsway Computer Centre. Later when it was closed some of the staff were transferred to our location. Didn't sound like a great place to work, they didn't get out much.

[@davidjames579]

@@spencerdavies4666 Holed up for months in case of Nuclear Attack?

[@andywarne963]

@@spencerdavies4666 The day of the great storm of 1987, I was called in, early morning and I did manage to get there through the devastation that had happened but the shift there were totally unaware that anything was amiss! I suggested that they go up and have a look at High Holborn and they returned back down in a state of shock!

[@kein370]

The entrance is still there to the left of the number 31 l think and furnival lane was a goods entrance and you can see where crane was . I think there’s another entrance in the old British Gas building left of station entrance and a newer one at the top of the street in a recently redeveloped buildings sub basement .

[@dodgydruid]

My fellow long range sniper mate was security guard for years in the building at 1:44 when it was used by the Law Society, I worked round the back in Red Lion St for the Law Society myself, blimey to think of all the gone years O.o I used to get customised ciggies from the "Old Holborn" tobacco emporium which incidentally used to supply Churchill with his iconic cigars, oh I can smell the warm fuggy aroma of that shop now :D

[@chrisstephens6673]

With these strikes on the rail system, there are too many abandoned stations right now.😁

[@highpath4776]

Thanks for letting me Chancery Lane had a surface level building, I never really thought about it. I suppose "abandoned" depends on ones definition of Station - is it the platform, the link from the rail interface to the outside world, or the buildings for ticket sales, parcels, etc ?

[@eattherich9215]

According JE Connor's 'London disused underground stations', the now disused Chancery Lane surface entrance had lifts down to platform level. In 1934, the lifts were replaced by escalators and the two entrances were created.

[@nickbarber2080]

There was another entry to the GPO facility via double doors from the Central Line platforms.This was used for moving large equipment.

[@bobcosmic]

Another gem on Friday afternoon from Jago Hazzard !

[@professorjamesmoriarty5191]

There are quite a few ways down into that complex, including the links into the station itself. Tooks court shaft has been caped off, and what used to be known as tunnel "z" was back filled with concrete to keep people out of the rest of the system. Used to get some very puzzled looks on the eastbound platform.

[@marienbad2]

Why am I unsurprised that Moriarty knows this information?

[@professorjamesmoriarty5191]

@@marienbad2 What can I say? I get around you know....

[@eggyboy123]

Very interesting Jago. Used to look after those bunkers in south west wales

[@simoncrabb]

A little Googling reveals just how big the tunnels underneath are, they stretch some distance along High Holborn, as far as Leather Lane in the East and Brownlow Street in the West.

[@roundel52]

Wow, that's long. I think there are 3 bus stops in that space!

[@terrybailey2769]

The Kingsway tunnel contained more than just a single telephone exchange. The two tunnels contained generators and air purification equipment in case of nuclear attack and some significantly important services should the worst happen, it being the terminus of the one of the transatlantic telephone cables.There were a number of "deep level" tunnels leading from there to various parts of london , part of a network which carried inter exchange cables. I worked there as part of my training during the early 70's. It even had it's own resturant and bar. Interestingly one of the escape routes was up a short flight of steps and through crash doors onto one of the Chancery Lane platforms. I believe that it was for sale at one time but no-one wanted to take on the responsibility as owners would be responsibile for any damage to buildings on the surface above the tunnels which might be caused by susidence.

[@AtheistOrphan]

3:02 - That was the ‘Equipment Lift’ entrance, and up until a couple of years ago those brackets within the faded square shape on the front held a pretty substantial crane.

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

I remember going into what was Beaties of London in the late 1970's as a school boy, until they opened an even better one in Woodgreen Shopping City as it was. Never knew it was a former Underground Station and had an important history.

[@marienbad2]

Jago's most confusingly titled video yet! You handsome devil, you!

[@Bunter.948]

At last it's been said, namely that you are indeed charismatic and handsome, not to mention witty, elegant, ... Thanks, Simon T

[@patrickjmorgan]

I mention this facility on social media a few times, as I went down into it as a survey team in late 90's when it was unoccupied. It was being considered for a data storage facility but actually, it was so damp/dank that it wouldnt have been suitable for our clients needs. I found, in my scavenging around, 2 BN Mercury-Arc rectifiers, still in their delivery wooden case. I bet they are still there below one of the lift shafts....or which there are several.

[@daveshrum1749]

My God that's creepy ! That's exactly what I was thinking Jago ! 😆 love your videos as always sir. Staywell.

[@Locomotiveman1994]

While you mentioned British Museum: you said you'd make a video on it quite a long while ago, and I'm still waiting for it to come out!

[@davidjames579]

Has anyone ever seen it? I've tried peering in the dark on a train from Tottenham Court Rd and never caught a glimpse.

[@HarisCountrys]

@@davidjames579 I think it was demolished a long time ago

[@craigthomson3621]

yes - you can see the abandoned platforms and the white tiling of the old British Museum station from a Central Line tube train.

[@JagoHazzard]

It’s on the way!

[@colinbodger321]

There was another entrance to the telephone exchange, known as Kingsway Trunk unit. That is the green door on the eastbound central line station.

[@AtheistOrphan]

# ‘Don’t know what they’re doing but they laugh a lot behind the green door!’

[@davidjames579]

@@AtheistOrphan Playing an Old Piano apparently

[@Figulus]

You're majestic, Jago!

[@WCKD.404]

I’ve personally been to Chancery lane bunkers many times and it’s very interesting some bits are flooded sadly but still interesting to explore a lot of history in the bunkers still my favorite bit of the bunker is the canteen

[@andywarne963]

Although I worked down there regularly for a few years I regret that I never got to see that large canteen/bar. It was in an area off-limits to us. I have only subsequently seen it on sub-ex videos.

[@WCKD.404]

@@andywarne963 ah yes it was cut off due too many large amounts of asbestos I believe but I don’t know as this is of recent that they started doing that or many many years ago

[@amethyst7084]

Thanks Jago - another really interesting account of tube station history👏🏾. I recently saw a post on a London Underground enthusiast Facebook site, which showed a black and white photo of the old building of Chancery Lane in action. Today, we can all see that Chancery Lane has no surface level building, and like some other tube stations, only has steps leading down to the subsurface ticket hall and escalators. Another interesting thing about Chancery Lane is that its platforms are not on the same level, as you'll see with many of the other Central Line stations. Instead, they look almost one 'on top of the other' (maybe the eastbound platform is deeper than the westbound one?). With some of the deeper lines, like Waterloo and Embankment on the Bakerloo Line, you can visibly see this. Maybe something of a video on this aspect too would be good? 😉👏🏾

[@alibrown172]

Brb. Setting up a gofundme to buy my own disused tubestation/nuclear bunker

[@andywarne963]

Its interesting that a definitive history of this complex has never been written, and the reason is that for a few years there was a secret usage of part of it. Its well known that it was the Kingsway Exchange, and less well known that in the 80's for a few years a BT computer centre was located there. neither of those functions were in any way clandestine. But in the 80's the people allowed into the BT area, including myself, were absolutely not allowed into the area of the 4 large tunnels which run north-south, to the south side of the 2 main tunnels. A couple of our team did try to "wander" but were stopped by security guards. What is definitely true though is there is nothing there now apart from a huge complex which BT must spend a fortune preventing it becoming derelict and flooded.

[@captainadams8565]

I went down there in the 1990s. I was part of the cable clearance team decommissioning Kingsway.

[@sbv-zs7wz]

Interesting, I worked near chancery lane for a few years, in the spot of the old gamages store, didn't know about the station building. Regarding the shelters/telco spaces, I think one of those nearer holborn end is the basis of the proposed station/complex entrance in proctor Street.

[@kein370]

I agree 👍

[@JackDD]

The shot of TaxAssist (I assume?) at 3:13 made me chuckle.

[@timparkin9805]

I have actually been in the Chancery Lane bunker. It was around 15 years ago. Very large indeed.

[@handyandy6050]

Thank You for this nice "video-ette", Jago. You are obviously in "mega composition mode" for other videos, just to say, we appreciate the work you put in.

[@RogersRamblings]

Such is the effort engaged in by our intrepid researcher there is, I think, little chance of him being arraigned in a Court of Chancery.

[@WCKD.404]

One more thing I forgot to add to my previous comment is that police and military do training down there as well but I haven’t seen it but either armed police or BTP come to check on the bunker once every week or so

[@tonys1636]

I wonder what other bunkers we don't know about under London, we all know of the War Rooms beneath the Admiralty and the pedestrian tunnels that connect all the Whitehall Ministries, the Norman Shaw building (formerly New Scotland Yard, now offices for MP's) and the Palace of Westminster. The air raid shelters at Clapham South, some of it is now an Hydroponics Farm growing Micro Greens. The plants don't waft in the breeze but to the vibrations of the Northern Line trains above.

[@eattherich9215]

There is a nuclear bunker under Hampstead heath accessed by the never completed North End station. The surface building looks an electricity sub-station. London is dotted with disused bunker, including one in Camberwell, just off Vestry Road.

[@Leonard_Smith]

I look forward to your longer ones soon 👍

[@worstuserever]

I've pretty much given up on Chancery Lane station. Far too many times it's closed (lack of staff the most frequent excuse) and, despite ample foreknowledge, the announcements are only given after leaving St Paul's and Holborn instead of allowing passengers an opportunity to jump off early. Maybe tfl are running it down deliberately toward permanent closure and I'm falling for it? Sorry for the rant, thank you for once again enriching our experience of localities we take for granted.

[@eattherich9215]

I know the station may be closed on the weekends, but it's permanent closure seems unlikely.

[@eastlancsesteem]

TFL can upgrade it like they did with Bank and Angel.

[@stevebeal73]

I used to work for BT and we rather called loosely called it "Kingsway" just to confuse the enemy, I suppose. In the late 1970s, when I was neither handsome not charismatic, I was nevertheless appointed Secretary of the Kingsway Closure Committee. Basically, we were working on transferring all of its telecommunications services elsewhere. Then I got a promotion and moved away to a much more interesting centre of telecommunications, certainly one that didn't need Sewage Ejector Pumps to get rid of you know what to the street level sewer. Needless to say, I visited "Kingsway" many times.

[@ACELog]

Holborn Tube Station also has a building above it. In 2005-2007, I worked in the 2nd floor office. Seems like it used to be a hotel - was individual rooms off a corridor. Back in the 1970's, I worked in the Kingsway exchange for a few weeks, on the Motorola Metropage computer installation.

[@john1703]

See also The Eisenhower Centre on Chenies Street, just off Tottenham Court Road. The people tunnels lie beneath the latter road, near the Northern Line.

[@isashax]

Fascinating as usual, Jago!

[@pacificostudios]

What a handsome building is the old Chancery Lane station, and the architect didn't even feel obligated to make it symmetrical.

[@brettpalfrey4665]

We may be needing a few Nuclear Bunkers soon..hope not!! Thanks Jago...

[@adrianrutterford762]

Thanks for another interesting video. Have a good weekend Mr H.

[@MrGreatplum]

I’d never clocked that it didn’t have (anymore) a surface building - great info as always!

[@TheLondonTransportDroid]

Another great video

[@GeorgeChoy]

never knew that, thanks for educating us

[@richardmcgowan6383]

Thank goodness we don't have to worry about the threat of nuclear war anym...Oh.

[@jerrysims6691]

Ah, my daily dose of Jago! All is well in the World.

[@Hanzo.Azmodan]

"Handsome & Charismatic" ?? As your appearance is, to say the least, elusive to non-existent, we only have your word for that sir! Prove it sir! Prove it! 😁

[@maggiesamuels2937]

I use to work in the office building next door to the bunker thing in Furnvial Lane and now and again the WiFi use go down, we always use to think it was because what was in the bunker thing next door.🤫🤔

[@Jimyjames73]

Very good - thanks for sharing 🙂🚂🚂🚂

[@ReubenAshwell]

I've heard about those tunnels and I've really wanted to get into them.

[@CorvoFG]

Might be needing that bunker soon!

[@peterjohncooper]

Perhaps you could consider some unused tube lines that would be useful hidey holes in event of current situation going nuclear.

[@katbryce]

Holborn to Aldwych on the Piccadilly Line Green Park to Charing Cross on the Jubilee Line

[@peterjohncooper]

@@katbryce Thank you. Just hope we get a few minutes notice.

[@simonf8902]

I’d take an abandoned chance handsomely with Jago.

[@andrewlong6438]

I worked on the London buses account in the mid 1980s which were based out of the offices above Oxford Circus.

[@brick6347]

I called my youngest son Leon. He's going to kill me when he grows up.

[@highpath4776]

He might be a king

[@brick6347]

@@highpath4776 I'm not related to his mother, so I don't think his chances of royalty are too good.

[@eattherich9215]

Leon does a delicious fish finger bap.

[@srhvideo]

I'm not sure how much of an after thought it was but the fancy building over the Central London Railway station at Oxford Circus, now probably widely thought of as the second entrance to Oxford Circus station, wasn't there when the station opened

[@jespencer7805]

There’s another entrance from one of the platforms in the station and a ventilation shaft in Leather lane.

[@davidsummer8631]

If you don't work or live in the area Chancery Lane is one of those underground stations, you don't really end up using

[@jackiespeel6343]

'In the long ago' it was useful for getting to part of what was then the Public Record Office.

[@oakwoodian4465]

@@jackiespeel6343 And dear old Gamages, of course, in days of yore!!

[@sevenowls7776]

Ooo... nuclear shelters! What is it about them that makes them so button-pressingly exciting? When you were in Edinburgh did you get anywhere near the Barnton bunker? It's still a bit of a mess but it's getting there. Thanks again JH!

[@johna5635]

Maybe because Nuclear Bunkers allow you to survive the "button pressing"!?

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Great video, you charming and handsome fellow. 😂

[@eastlancsesteem]

Chancery Lane had a chance to be on the tube and it did! 😁

[@fumthings]

if you want a look at the "secret" tunnels, you can look at the program Griff Rhys Jones made several years ago when he went down there.

[@eattherich9215]

Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway also look at hidden bunkers in 'Secrets of the London underground' broadcast on the Yesterday channel.

[@doublea06]

Fast, not boring video.

[@188basstrom]

well done Jago

[@johnallen7807]

We may regret decommissioning them as shelters just as all the defence cuts are coming back to haunt us?

[@SeventhSwell]

Looking more and more like that nuclear bunker would come in handy. While I still have the chance to say it, thanks for all the fun videos!

[@craigthomson3621]

Unfortunately the latest generation of nuclear weapons are far more powerful than those deployed in the 40’s - 70’s, so many older nuclear bunkers might not offer the level of protection required.

[@AndrewG1989]

But unfortunately there was a tube derailment or accident at Chancery Lane station that happened on the 25th January 2003. Injuring 32 people but luckily no fatalities thank goodness but I do think it was the worst tube derailment on the London Underground in history.

[@msamour]

Hey Jago! Can you do a ghost station video for Halloween? Thanks for the great quality in your content.

[@dancedecker]

Not sure if it counts as well as what you had asked Jago for, but Darren from AdventureMe channel who does train videos too, mostly of abandoned lines and stations, is hoping to do a Livestream Ghost Tour of Blackpool Rigby Road heritage tram shed on Halloween night itself , as it has many spooky stories pertaining to it Just thought it worthy of a mention after what you asked about. Cheers.

[@msamour]

@@dancedecker Thank you you Sir!

[@dancedecker]

@@msamour You are most welcome. Happy to help.

[@rainyfeathers9148]

I'd like to walk around The City of London one day☺. I wonder if tourist get confused by the two Londons or if they even notice there's two, I don't notice and I'm a local🤔

[@stephenpegum9776]

My wife used to work for a firm of accountants based in Took's Court when I first moved to London in 1977 !! And if you look closely at 3:01, you can see a "To Let" sign on that office building but I couldn't enlarge the picture enough to see the name of the agency.

[@teecefamilykent]

Ya daft so n so, awesome video though sir.

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

Was this the inspiration for the government's nuclear bunker that got infested by giant rats in the James Herbert book (either Lair or Domain) I read in my schooldays in the 80s?

[@davidbull7210]

This video has spurred the rhetorical question of how many tube stations lack any sort of surface building. I'm tempted to confidently state that Piccadilly Circus has none, but I wouldn't want to be rebuffed in the comments section by some anoraksworth telling me that there is indeed a proper entrance to the station but that it's only open once every fifty years (weather permitting)

[@pmberry]

Isn't there a fortified external staircase still to be found at the rear on Fulwood Lane (the passageway adjacent to Chancery Station House)?

[@doktorzombie6147]

Can you do video about Kingsway Tram Stop?

[@AtheistOrphan]

I think he’s already done one.

[@kapuchinoification]

My understanding is that there is also an entrance into the bunker from the current tube platforms.

[@andywarne963]

Yes there is. Its clearly visible from the tunnel below as an upward staircase.

[@tonycallen]

'It was hardened for nuclear attack'...that's handy then..

[@llwyde1104]

Here on Furnival Lane, you say? Furnival Street , surely?

[@PabloBD]

Now we need you to find a way into that nuclear bunker

[@marcocura295]

How long before Jago ditches the day job and becomes a permanent KZbinr? His output would probably quadruple! 🤣

[@sianwarwick633]

When you says 'hardened against nuclear attack' , I have to pinch myself and ask if we're not back in the mid-50s for the second or third time, are we ?

[@ubergeekian]

Uerl, or ürl, sounds like a Swiss internet term.

[@Zeremony69]

You should make a podcast lol

[@Thommygun-qv7um]

Such a handsome man. But since I was so hyperfocused on the handsomeness, I missed the video...

[@narubyriverlione]

Really I wish I got 1% of your humor. "...this overrules what ever you said in the comment..." Consider overruled, with pleasure ! Take care mate.

[@teejayy2130]

In this video do we see that the mysterious Jago has two shadows?🤔😀

[@JagoHazzard]

I traded it in for a second shadow.

[@kidmohair8151]

leavingalikeandacomment..take that! you foul algo-deities of the tube-u-all!

[@symy92]

And now I'm wondering how many underground stations only have entrances in the pavement and not an actual building??

[@highpath4776]

Notting Hill Gate comes to mind, that must have had a surface building. Oxford Circus ? Picc Circus, Bank all come to mind.

[@stevefry5783]

@@highpath4776 Oxford Circus does have a surface building, Hyde Park Corner doesn't. Regent's Park?

[@philipfischer1612]

Was there an abandoned station next to the V&A ?

[@JagoHazzard]

Yes - Brompton Road. I did a video on it a while back.

[@philipfischer1612]

@@JagoHazzard thanks