Scenic Lancaster Gate

[@JagoHazzard]

Go to ground.news/jago to spot media bias and make sure you’re getting the full story. Subscribe through my link to get 40% off the Vantage subscription this month only.

[@SmudgeThomas]

We cackled at the "well a significant chunk of everything"

[@peabody1976]

Thank you for highlighting a lesser-loved station, and for not being on the fence about it.

[@alexmckenna1171]

An Art Deco front would have been wonderful... I'm thinking of having one installed on my own face. It would be an improvement.

[@roseharvey2664]

Glad to see Lancaster Gate being featured. It's in a very handy spot. I lived there for a while and really the station was mostly lifts and a staircase - which was used very often.

[@Saint_Dan132]

that park looks lovely

[@VictorianDad]

It does. I lived in London for 20 years and never knew of its existence.

[@caw25sha]

Most of Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens is just grass and trees which is fine, I'm not complaining, so the ornate and formal Italian Garden isn't typical.

[@recklessroges]

@@caw25sha The park has been slowly adding art. I like the new pumpkin next to the round pond.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Postcards being a prompt for videos is awesome! You should do a video where you show them all to us.

[@alanclarke4646]

Yes please Jago.

[@andyilsley2448]

I used to stack shelves in a gateway that became a Somerfield 😂

[@tantaf123]

Watching a new jago video never gets old :)

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

Lancaster gate used to be very useful for Paddington, before the Elizabeth line opened.

[@recklessroges]

Well this is a happy surprise. I used to go to that station to visit my great aunt. I found that I could often run down the stairs faster than waiting for the lift, (but my knees inform me that those days are behind me.)

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

I'm so glad that Jago has none of those seaside naughty postcards - who knows what sort of video he would do if he had!

[@caw25sha]

How do you know he hasn't? 😅

[@alanclarke4646]

​@@caw25shaI was going to ask this. And I'm sure if he has some of those postcards, subsequent videos would be most entertaining! 😂😂😂

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

I'd say these videos are quite naughty already -- all those trains running into tunnels, nudge nudge, wink wink.

[@ianmcclavin]

I remember the eastern end of the westbound platform at Lancaster Gate in the 70's, dingy and dilapidated. It was given a fresh coat of paint and improved lighting in the 80's, but still stuck out like a sore thumb. Further refurbishment of the station in the early 2000's included a complete retiling of both platforms, so the area now blends in better with the rest of the station.

[@paulhayes5724]

Hearing "Lancaster Gate" always makes me think of when it was an oft-heard metonym for the Football Association. Presumably for some years this was the tube station of England managers...?

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

It is easy to miss, and I indeed do miss it. This is my station. When I have visited London, I have usually lived at a hotel more or less halfway between Lancaster Gate and Queensway. I would like to visit London again. Not to see the station, but to see some of the many sights in London I have not yet seen.

[@brettpalfrey4665]

I must have cruised through Lancaster Gate , hundreds of times..but I never got off, and explored..another trip for me, the next time I am in London..thanks Jago!

[@jakeandrews-iz4wf]

Your videos are the pick and mix to my branch of Woolworths

[@alanclarke4646]

Hahaha!

[@jan-toreegge9252]

"...bright and unblemished by soot..." Unlike much of the London that I visited in my youth (the 1970's and 1980's). Soot and brutalist architecture notwithstanding, this had me chuckling throughout.

[@ianhelps3749]

I have actually used this station. I was staying at the Thistle Hyde Park hotel down the road. Can't remember very much about the station apart from the lifts. It's also handy for Bayswater which has some good pubs and restaurants.

[@teecefamilykent]

Brilliant video sir.

[@PerCPH2200]

It has been said, that Lancaster Gate in 1988 was the last ex-CLR station with the original (and essentially non-refurbished) 1900 Sprague lifts still in use. I have however never seen any photos of them, and unfortunately, my explorations never brought me there in time.

[@ClydebridgeStation]

Funny story about the hotel, near the station, the Royal Lancaster Hotel. Several years ago, a mate of mine came up with the idea, of a group of us having a couple of days in London, and he thought that, as the hotel was in central London, it was a small, cheap hotel, pretty basic. He thought it would be £10 a night, per person. Given that this hotel hosted the closing dinners for both the 1991, and 2015 Rugby World Cups, and that it is pretty big, as shown on both their website, and streetview, that £10 a night, per person, soon evaporated!

[@peterdavy6110]

The most pleasant place to pass time near Lancaster Gate was the Archery Tavern pub. Alas, no more.

[@stevegreen8262]

I think it looks like C&A

[@AlanEvans789]

That was my instant reaction as well, it's an old C&A.

[@MichaelCampin]

A bit like the single fare buses for £2"at the moment Jago

[@DrivermanO]

Good video of a cyclist going through red light with a pedestrian on the crossing at 6.30!

[@philiplettley]

No mention of a certain film, filmed at the hotel, specially in relation to the fountain. Though at least they didn't blow the bloody doors off the station lol. Nice hotel local to Paddington, have travelled to and from station, but then walked to Paddington

[@richardeyers322]

is it me i think the frontage looks ok,just plain and simple,it allways works,and as always just brilliant,

[@reddwarfer999]

But it's not even ugly or brutalist or anything. In a way that would have been better. It's just completely non-descript.

[@DadgeCity]

I'm not an old fogey so I think the station looks quite smart.

[@barrysharp9792]

Totally agree Jago. Definitely looks like a closed down supermarket. Possibly the worst station I have seen. It doesn't fit with the other frontages around it. Just YUCK.

[@tolby53]

When the central London railway started, they wouldn't have said the flat fare was two pence, they would have said it was tuppence. That's how 2d was always pronounced, I'm old, so I remember

[@iainawatson]

Jago: How did we get from Harry Bell Measures' elaborate frontage to, well, this? Me: Probably the same reason every other ugly building in the UK looks the way it does. Jago: It all goes back to the 1960s. Me: There it is.

[@stephenlee5929]

I'm not sure, but I think it looks like a number of 60's/70's Post Office buildings. I quite like it, but am glad the style isn't used often on the Underground. Sad about the old Hotel though.

[@andyt2510]

Before those bushes grew, you could have a proper gander of the fountains like the postcard.

[@caw25sha]

And also some proper ducks and proper swans.

[@highpath4776]

Problem really in promoting Lancaster Gate/ Hyde Park was either the folk in West London were closish to it anyway, or lack of resident population at the east of the line, more useful once the Central was extended to the eastern suburbs

[@tonylancaster8704]

I been through Lancastergate many times but never got out there. As the station shares my surname i was going to have a look out side on my next trip on the central line but after watching this video i have changed my mind as you put it its very pretty, as for the supermarket look maybe your should said it looks like a Netto.

[@markiangooley]

White tiles are great for spreading light. Any white surface is. A friend complained to me that her kitchen was dark and said that when her budget allowed she would get shiny stainless-steel kitchen appliances. I told her that those would be no better than gray ones, and white ones would be her best choice. She didn’t believe me… Then there was American Airlines, using the natural shiny aluminum skins of their aircraft to reflect sunlight and keep the insides cool… except that the planes got hot as if they were gray…

[@thegorillaguide]

The entrance looks like a mid 70's Post Office

[@programmingfortheweb]

I worked in that building on Oxford Circus about 45 years ago. Can't remember which floor

[@eattherich9215]

@1:08, there is a long closed postoffice branch near me that looks just like that.

[@garytalbot6437]

Your videos are awesome!!!

[@stevesaul7975]

Have you got a cold Jago? If so I hope you're feeling better soon.

[@the_ratmeister]

Question for Mr. Hazzard, how many tube stations have you done an individual video on, and how many do you have left?

[@TomPageNet]

I know this is horribly unfair, but loving the simple and honest nature of the videos I slightly felt a pang of sadness at the incorporation of adverts. I appreciate what you do with your time and how you pay the bills is totally your concern.

[@rainyfeathers9148]

When you're binging and get a new video, bless🙌🏾. That simile is actually pretty apt, unfortunately😅, the 1935 one gives pub upstairs and grocer at street level.

[@Duarte_martins]

Having lived just a stone's throw away from this station during my student days, I can attest to how desperately the Central Line needs modernisation. The terrible air quality, stifling heat in summer, and overcrowded carriages were a daily ordeal - indeed it's the reason why I've since tried to avoid the Tube whenever possible. While it serves its purpose, the dated infrastructure and facilities really highlight how overdue the line is for a comprehensive refurbishment. Fully agreed on the aesthetics as well - what were they thinking!?

[@Jimyjames73]

No Jago @ 0:49 - no that is not too wired & specific - I can see what you are getting at - me too I can see what you mean by it looks like an old supermarket shop front!!! 🤔😉🚂🚂🚂

[@michaelcobb3347]

If it was a Gateway then a Somerfields then it would probably be a Morrisons now like our local supermarket.

[@Julius_Hardware]

I was conceived in Lancaster Gate (the road, not the station). You are welcome.

[@caw25sha]

Not the sort of information parents typically pass on to their offspring.

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

@@caw25sha Especially if actually conceived IN THE ROAD.

[@ash36230]

Always enjoy the planning mistakes of the 50s-80s coming to bite us back in the rear end

[@NathanEllisBodi]

What about Wavy line stores? Head offices were in Uxbridge.

[@stothsam]

My main memory of Lancaster Gate tube station is of regaining consciousness while walking past it around four in the morning after an evening of particularly heavy drinking back in my student days, and thinking, "Where the hell is Lancaster Gate?" Nonetheless I actually managed to walk all the way back to West Kensington without collapsing in Hyde Park, as I assumed I would!

[@apolloc.vermouth5672]

Anton Corbijn took that really cool photo of Joy Division at Lancaster Gate..... but then he can make anywhere look moody and interesting.

[@phaasch]

Lancaster Gate - change here for Gateway, Safeway, Somerfield and Cheeseway😅

[@PontiacS]

"Enough of the News, let's get back to the Olds". The Ricky Gervais Show used that "Olds" bit.

[@DBIVUK]

It's not just the lifts that shut Lancaster Gate. It often closes due to staff shortages.

[@RadioJonophone]

Jago showing us the fountain of his youth.

[@caw25sha]

"Scenic Lancaster Gate". Should've gone to Specsavers.

[@petes6814]

Well, i like it (the station frontage that is). it has a certain “Design Centre” feel about it although a good clean would help even more. Actually, what happened to the Design Centre? It was a must visit for me in the late 70s and early 80s.

[@1234j]

😂 lovely weather for ducks

[@Alan-ln3ls]

The writer Bill Bryson described it is the "f- you" style of hotel architecture.

[@DJVLDN]

That 1960s brutalist frontage was beautiful 😢

[@andrewrevans8496]

Are you sure you’ve got your dates right? I’m sure it was a hotel from the start; Michael Caine visits it in The Italian Job, which was released on 5th June 1969 so must have been filmed in ‘68.

[@roderickmain9697]

Looks dull from the outside. Old supermarket branch of Marks & Scrapes. It would be improved by a big (really big) roundel stuck on the outside. (a la Morden). But...yeah...60s buildings/ The white heat of dull-and-drab-ness in architecture.

[@ZonkerRoberts]

I had no idea Lancaster Gate had out-of-station interchange with Paddington! Is this documented anywhere?

[@randomidiot24563]

Jago can you do video on the abandoned chiltern track from old oak common to west ruislip that runs alongside the central line through hanger lane and north acton?

[@highpath4776]

Isnt Lancaster Gate a handy walk for Paddington if you want to avoid annoying line changes ?

[@amyhergest]

I'm told the pavement next to Elizabeth Tower is also a good place to pass some time, if not as pleasant - unless rocks are got off by contemplating the administrative zoo to which it appends x

[@seanbonella]

Great JH

[@jakedhale]

That's me

[@seanbonella]

@@jakedhale no its not, copyright

[@TalesOfWar]

"It all goes back to the 1960's". If often does in cases of bulldozing things and replacing them with mediocre concrete slabs that need replacing or massive refurbishment 40 years later.

[@yellowflowerorangeflower5706]

cool

[@PokhrajRoy.]

2:23 Correction: What do you get someone with places named after her and gives Alexander the Great a run for his money?

[@slidefirst694]

Have any wars been fought over naming rights to the English Channel?

[@MichaelCampin]

Wooden platforms back in the early 1900s no lessons learnt viz The Kings Cross disaster

[@TheManFrayBentos]

What do you give to the woman who has everything? A Prince Albert, of course.

[@watchmakersp9935]

Shame on TFL and London Transport before it etc; they could have at least madse the frontage nice and welcoming. Something that can resemble Kensington Gardens etc.

[@chrissaltmarsh6777]

Deeply dull, for all the time I have seen it (mostly coming out from the fountains. Well, not coming out of the fountains, I mean visiting the fountains. ) I lived on Queensway for years and never went into Lancaster Gate.I suppose I went through, on a train, but never noticed.

[@PaulSmith-pl7fo]

Hi Jago. 1960s architects have an awful lot to answer for! 😠

[@paulharvey9149]

Thank-you for the confirmation that it was raining, when you filmed the fountains at Lancaster Gate. Only, I'm not sure I'd have believed you had you claimed you'd gone to all the expense of simulating it, had it not in fact, been raining!

[@gwenever7286]

second not first well done Sean

[@andrewrevans8496]

The brutalist entrance looked quite stylish when I first encountered it in the ‘70s, but it got very shabby later on. Its bland recladding is utterly dreadful. It’s too flat for a start.

[@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe]

Whato Jago, I think you were far too kind about Lancaster Gate's architecture.

[@slidefirst694]

I wear lifts in my shoes.

[@scottc1589]

"Or if you just like subscribing to things." Just because this video focused on one of your least favorite stations, don't cheapen yourself Jago!

[@AIDANBC]

5 mins ago?

[@Abdulrahman.F-q9y]

First one here lol ❤

[@caw25sha]

10:07 Is that a Thai flag? If so, why?

[@fredoralive]

The Wikipedia article for the station shows a wider view of the station at the time, and there are lots of national flags in a row at that level. I guess it's a thing to do with the hotel, as a way to say to everyone how international they are.

[@drzander3378]

@caw25sha, Yes. In an effort to appeal to international visitors, the hotel above the station, the Royal Lancaster, flies the flag of many different countries. You just can't see them in the video.

[@richardekers3025]

All 60s (and 70s) architecture is terrible and proof that time travel will never be invented because a terminator would have been sent back to destroy all the architects and save humanity.

[@M3WDD]

Our 60s office tower - sweltering in summer, freezing in the winter, window mechanisms faulty, spalling concrete, leaking flat roof, total nightmare to cable up for modern networking, so... We abandoned it and moved back into the 19th century brick built block vacated by manufacturing (automation meaning less space needed).

[@eduardvaniersel7535]

I think I've walked past it... enroute to something else.

[@Keithbarber]

........

[@seanbonella]

First

[@Keithbarber]

First *VIEWERS* but second

[@seanbonella]

@@Keithbarber ill take that

[@ricolasroc5890]

Jolly ugly station. Here's a thought. When I was young, the stations in the early eighties had the original lifts. Big, wooden, trapezoidal in shape. They lasted - what? - seventy or eighty years? Their replacements barely a fraction of that without being replaced/ rebuilt. What is that all about, as comedy fellows tend to say...

[@damedavidfrith55]

❤ it but yep it has no style or passion in its architecture shame