The Unbuilt Tube Station at Mount Pleasant

The plans for a Metropolitan Line station in Clerkenwell.
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jago...
Patreon: / jagohazzard

[@frankupton5821]

I always enjoy your tubular tales, that make the tremendously trivial terrifically tractable.

[@TheMusicalElitist]

Absolute amazing alliteration

[@thomasm1964]

Thoroughly titillating; terrifyingly taut, terse terminology throughout!

[@xiuyi]

Train

[@RichardFelstead1949]

You have that down to a tee.

[@مرحبابك-ض1ن]

Thanks, the title tries to tell things, though that trivialises the tunnel-travelling tempo.

[@EonityLuna]

Funny that you Londoners have an unbuilt Mount Pleasant station; here in Singapore we will soon have our own Mount Pleasant station, but it would be mothballed when the line it sits on opens and be opened for service later, due to lack of developments in the area right now. So basically we will soon have an unbuilt Mount Pleasant in London, and an unopened Mount Pleasant here in Singapore. lol

[@chrissaltmarsh6777]

That'll be the Post Office underground. You can visit bits of that, You can ride on one, but I believe you have to get in an envelope to do so.

[@longbranchmike488]

Yes, a big padded envelope. You need to book said envelope ahead of time.

[@GreenJimll]

Do you need to be called Frank as well?

[@63sgjunior]

@@GreenJimll no but you will need a stamp of approval.

[@henrybest4057]

HM QEII rode on it and didn't need a stamp. Her head was sufficient proof of 1st class postage paid.

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

And you have to be able to speak Parcelmouth. I'll get me coat.

[@ShedTV]

3:03 I wonder how many of those once ubiquitous underground lavatories still exist under the pavements, capped off and forgotten about.

[@PopeLando]

"One of those developments that has a historically significant name but just looks like every other development." This gets a big 👍 from me.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

Me too. Here in Toronto the phrase is "A much-needed condo" that looks like every other glass box.

[@hx0d]

In this case it used to be a big polluting hole, so I welcome the development.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

@@hx0d In Toronto, a building that was built 50 years ago is considered to be old. Old buildings have little value here. The oldest pub here dates from the 1850s- It's sure not the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. Toronto is not London, New York or Chicago which all have many fine buildings but having said that, any run-down single-storey strip plaza built in the 60s can be considered a development site.

[@420greatestqueen]

We’re expanding one of our Skytrain lines underground in Vancouver, and Mt Pleasant station is currently being built.

[@andyyu5957]

I always wondered why there is such a large distance between King's Cross and Farringdon, while Farringdon, Barbican and Moorgate are very close to each other. Your explanation (big hill, steam locomotives, ventilation problems, escalators and lifts yet to be invented) makes perfect sense to me now. Thank you.

[@iankemp1131]

Ditto from me!

[@seananlinjunxi868]

funny how here in SIngapore, we also have a station called mount pleasant that isnt built yet

[@flippop101]

After living and working in London, and then living and working in Germany for 30 years, I‘ve suddenly found myself becoming addicted to your channel and your good work. Thank you for another lovely video, for which it was well worth the agonising wait ;-)

[@georgeadams2555]

the mail rail you can get at mount pleasant is awesome, highly recommended

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

On the topic of steam powered underground railways, the Mersey Railway in Liverpool / Merseyside was just that ... because of the steam locomotives the section below the River Mersey (which included Hamilton Square station) was reputed to offer such a horrible travelling experience that it was shunned by many passengers. Eventually the railway became bankrupt. But it was bought from the liquidators and after conversion to electric traction using the same 4 rail system as in London it reopened. Nowadays that route is part of the Merseyrail Wirral line.

[@markellis6413]

Nice Rev W Awdry touch with "but that's another story" there. Bravo!

[@forecast_hinderer]

Lovely sunny intro shots and a perfectly timed, romantic outro shot. It’s gonna be a good day.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Fantastic, as ever Sir. Lovely to see a What If on my favourite line.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Clerkenwell is my favourite area of central London, and thoroughly deserves an Underground station.

[@highpath4776]

Rosebery Avenue , some nice little kebab shops just opp Mt Plesant Post Office, (always a good place for the midnight mail when youre behind in sending the cheque to the inland revenue). Dont suppose they will last the gentrification. Add in the 38 bus, clerkenwell town hall and the walk to Sadlers Wells / New River Company and the back walk to Smithfield for a jolly saturday out in London. Thanks for the info on the station , and putting the Met into the context of rail and station operations

[@hx0d]

Oh they will, I'm local and always use them 😅

[@Apollo_Mint]

Nice one Jago. The keen eye should have spotted the clues you gave as to what purpose the mystery station serves. Looking forward to the upcoming video.

[@neville132bbk]

"....to view his collection of stamps..all perforated..."

[@gerardmorvan2232]

In 1995, me and a few colleagues visited the sorting station in Mount Pleasant. And we would have very much appreciated it if there had been a Tube station nearby, because, from the station we ended in, we had to walk to reach our destination, through some strange streets. For the return trip to our hotel, we took a double-decker bus at the nearest bus stop. BTW, that underground station you're talking about, I surmise that it's the (alas defunct) postal subway, right ? We saw that one during our visit.

[@PabloBD]

You are wrong, 60 feet is the equivalent to a 15 stories building, according to TfL

[@peterjansen7929]

Transport for leprechauns?

[@jackiespeel6343]

@@peterjansen7929 Or involving 'Escher Stairs.'

[@barrysharp9792]

That makes each floor only 4 ft. That's not right.

[@PabloBD]

@@barrysharp9792 TfL numbers not mine xD

[@barrysharp9792]

​@@PabloBD Don't matter who's numbers, still wrong.

[@ronalddevine9587]

Very interesting. You always manage to find and research interesting subjects.

[@andrewrevans8496]

I’d always wondered why there was such a long gap between stations there. A hill makes perfect sense now

[@timeast6412]

Yes please for the ‘other’ tube network at Mount Pleasant.

[@timeast6412]

@@xr6lad hi,I stumbled across it by chance and did ride on it,great fun.I’m hoping Jago can explain the history of the whole system.

[@Hollandstation]

always great to see that jago posted a new video!

[@andeegreen]

Bravo Jago mate! 👏👏👏 Of your recent triumphs, this is a standout favourite! I’m in awe of just how you plan and gather the relevant information necessary to ‘churn out’ these videos at such a rate. How many others are working with you? This simply cannot be a solo effort. There’s just way too much involved. Hmm, is this perhaps why you don’t star other than audibly? Total respect and genuine confused interest. 😊

[@brick6347]

Seeing as my body type is best described as "Hagrid" I've wondered if they'd let me on that little post office tube! Doubt I'd fit!

[@andrijbebko8435]

Mail Rail! I did the walking tour last year - brilliant!

[@mattjackson9859]

I thought the depth of all Underground stations was around 15 storeys regardless of actual depth 😉

[@ktipuss]

Speaking of steam on the Underground, it was former London Transport CEO Howard Collins who got steam running through the Underground for its 150th birthday. I also think it was likely Mr Collins, in his latest position as Chief Operations Officer of Transport for NSW, who authorised the running of a steam train through Sydney's underground from Central onto the Harbour Bridge and North Sydney. He obviously overcame the long-standing opposition by Transport Dept cardiganmen to a steam train running on Sydney's underground, usually citing all sorts of arcane reasons. Yet they never objected to diesel-electric locos hauling freight and coal trains through the underground when the Main North line was undergoing weekend track-work. Diesel exhaust may be less obvious but is more toxic.

[@dennistay9980]

I've just been thinking about how convenient a station at mount pleasant would have been!

[@LancashireLass]

I hadn't noticed before, but looking at my A-Z (Ask your dad), I now see there is rather a gaping lump of the metropolis around Mount Pleasant with no tube stations. Fancy that.

[@hx0d]

Maps are often deceiving, it’s only a 5 to 10 min walk to Farringdon

[@LancashireLass]

@@hx0d When I say gaping lump, I mean compared to the surrounding areas. 😁😉

[@robertfletcher3421]

It's amazing the Underground is here at all with all this hotchpotch development.

[@channelsixtysix066]

Interesting video. A confluence of events and conditions applying to Mt. Pleasant, that resulted in ... nothing. Jago tantalising us at the end, with the Not Quite Finished Mt. Pleasant Station for a future video. Look forward to that one.

[@mr51406]

I’ve often wondered about that strange long gap, and I do believe I asked about it once. So thanks for the interesting illumination and analysis. 🌟✅ The answer also could be why York Rd closed, Mornington Crescent almost closed, and the long gaps before Highbury and Bethnal Green: the lines have to go way, way out into the suburbs, so might as well skip the (formerly) “dodgy” areas where people are more likely to use the bus anyway. The other mystery I’d still like you to solve: why did the Embankment end at Blackfriars?

[@eattherich9215]

'... why did the Embankment end at Blackfriars?' To stop it going into the river. 😂 Really, I don't know.

[@lunes-1]

Great video, keep it up 🕊️🇬🇧

[@Foebane72]

I really like your channel! The London Underground is something I'm interested in, having travelled in much of it myself!

[@DadgeCity]

Coincidentally, I'd just been looking at the Victorian OS map of Mount Pleasant just before I saw your video. On the map, the site of the sorting office is shown as white space - I'm not sure if there really was nothing there or if it was a barracks (the OS often didn't include military locations on the map). Also unclear to me is whether the Metropolitan Line demolished houses along its route or the houses on the map were built after the railway was completed.

[@jon13whale59]

It was a prison,called Coldbath house of correction I think.

[@davidthorne7712]

In 2013 my wife & I stayed at the hotel shown at 0:55 (it was a Holiday Inn then). As we were on an extended trip from NZ we had large wheeled suitcases but dragging them from Farringdon was a chore, so the proposed Mt Pleasant station would have been most useful in that situation. It helped that we were quite fit & active at the time but when we left a week later we took a taxi to Kings Cross to get the Piccadilly line to Heathrow.

[@tremensdelirious]

Fascinating anecdote, David 😂😂😂*sorry not sorry

[@neville132bbk]

We joined AirNZ there on our return in Aug 2006... horrendously $$ travel from Gillingham,Kent with one change.

[@RUOKH]

Fascinating presentation, thank you. After all the years of walking from Farringdon to Mount Pleasant it would have been great to have continued on the Met' to the undeveloped station, and saved a lot of shoe leather.

[@RichardFelstead1949]

Thanks for sharing.

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

The foreshadowing is heavy here, and it is the very best kind of foreshadowing too.

[@cyberwomble7524]

I thought it was because Knockturn Alley ran round the back.

[@neilbain8736]

A very nice video. Pleasant stories and Pleasant histories. I wonder if the Depression had anything to do with the station not getting built.

[@articeddie5494]

The new development at MP is being built on unused vehicle parking spaces which was moved underground in order to sell the land, building itself remains the same size

[@johnmurray8428]

Thank you.

[@teen-at-heart]

What a cliffhanger! 😮

[@AndreiTupolev]

I love the grandiosity of calling that barely discernible rise at0:54 'Mount' Pleasant.

[@srpacific]

Well we are about to get an underground metro station in Vancouver when construction on an extension is finished. And it’ll be named Mount Pleasant!

[@bodgiesteve8849]

I remember, in the early 1980s (I think), one of these historic wooden escalators, at one of London's deep stations caught fire and killed many people. Caused by a cigarette butt, which had fallen through the steps. In Sydney Australia, we had similar long escalators at Winyard station, which were all replaced, after the London tragedy.

[@tonys1636]

I wondered if the Post Office Railway was going to be mentioned.

[@michaelocyoung]

Happily there is a little shop just down from the site of the proposed station called "Faringdon Metro"

[@thisisjmx]

Hey Jago. Always enjoy watching your videos. I'm not a Londoner, I'm in Wales! But love a bit of history.

[@processr]

Worked 2 years or so in Clerkenwell, Exmouth Market right by the Mount Pleasant sorting office was the best spot for lunch. If you can handle some spice, get yourself some groundnut chicken at Spinach & Agushi, delicious.

[@hx0d]

Recommend exmouth as a local. Great restaurants!!

[@isashax]

Ohhh is that a stop on the mail rail? I seem to remember that one!

[@ChoobChoob]

The distance between Farringdon and King's Cross is 1.78KM / 1.1mi. A Mount Pleasant Station would be about 800m away from Farringdon, which is still longer than the distance between Aldgate to Liverpool Street to Moorgate to Barbican to Farringdon (all 600m-ish). It probably was the tram that made Mount Pleasant Station redundant, since workers could get the tram from Farringdon anyway. Which tram you ask? *All of them.* edit- there were trolley buses too, probably. edit 2 - It was the number 17 tram.

[@david103857]

I'm sorry you are mistaken. The stairs would climb about 15 floors. (Very interesting as always)

[@NickyMitchell85]

The Fully Built KZbin Channel of Jago Hazzard!

[@Andrewjg_89]

That Royal Mail car park is one thing that I like. Even though Royal Mail workers are on postal strike. I do think that Mount Pleasant should still have its own tube station even though it’s in Holborn. I do like how you explained about how Mount Pleasant was really called Mount Pleasant.

[@wickiezulu]

A stop at Mount Pleasant or Clerkenwell would have potentially provided a useful less cluttered alternative to King's Cross St Pancras for the various Chelney later Crossrail 2 schemes heading from Holborn or Tottenham Court Road towards Angel, Old Street or Highbury & Islington onwards, if not also an eastward sub-branch of what became the Victoria based on the Victora-meets-Thameslink-esque 1946 Route 6 proposal from Herne Hill to King's Cross St Pancras via Waterloo and Ludgate Circus that was also allegedly to have a stop at Mount Pleasant.

[@Moggster23]

I was wondering if you were going to mention the "other" Mount Pleasant underground station. 😁

[@timsully8958]

Fantastic gratuitous shot of Didcot. Always lovely to be reminded of that place 😉 Interesting one this. In truth I’d not really thought about there being a major reason for the longer gap between Farringdon and Kings X. My base reasoning was essentially “Cos it is” 🤷🏻‍♂️ I think also in my mind there was as you hinted, no specific urgency to build it (stations aside there wasn’t much to report home about as you said yourself in the previous edition) and in the absence of some great throng for it, why build it? I did wonder if perhaps the lapse had anything to do with that proposal for the Super Farringdon you have mentioned in a couple of previous editions, i.e they didn’t bother buildings a new station as the new Farringdon would change that whole area 🤔 Then again of course, that could be pure cobblers 🙄 😅 I also wondered if maybe the older Kings X station was substantially nearer to Farringdon but I realise it isn’t really 😒 Maybe the coming of the relatively proximate Angel up the Pentonville Road made them think “Meh the plebs round here can get the trams, sod the expense” or something along those lines 😅 One thing I am certainly looking forward to is the promise of something about a certain lesser known narrow gauge network you hinted at. Now that really WILL be worth watching 🤓 Cheers for another thought provoking episode 👍🍻🍀

[@stevewatts1260]

Great video as always. Any chance of a video on the backless houses found along some tube lines?

[@TheFrogfather1]

I visited the "other" Mount Pleasant station on my last visit to London. Trains were a little cramped mind.

[@henrybest4057]

With only one working station you arrived at your departure point. Didn't get you very far!

[@PavlosPapageorgiou]

Huh, I thought Mount Pleasant was somewhere in North America. There's certainly many of them there. I'm vaguely familiar with that part of London but didn't notice it being called that.

[@RogersRamblings]

At the time of building the Met this would not have been a pleasant place to mount a train. A letter development would have put the underground's stamp on the area.

[@tramcrazy]

Would be very interested to hear about that station at mount pleasant that you said actually exists 😀

[@tramcrazy]

A-ha! Mail Rail!

[@K1W1fly]

I thought 60 ft was the equivalent of a 15 story building - standard underground spec... :)

[@StevensPaul]

Now THAT really was rather pleasant....... just not the Smoke in the Tunnels....... 👀🇬🇧🇫🇴

[@teecefamilykent]

Sir, I owe ye a pint!

[@andyalder7910]

Clerkenwell's a nice name, not so Mount Pleasant named after a rubbish dump.

[@sevenowls7776]

"...Mount Pleasant - Domain Of The... Unbuilt..." When you were in Edinburgh did you see the similar row of cranes redeveloping the former Morrison Street goods yard? Cheers!

[@kevinmitchell4026]

Perhaps the post office redevelopment should be painted manila?

[@eugenemurray2940]

Escalator Or Elevator.. To a platform How pleasant!

[@rynabuns]

Would it ever be possible to build one there or is it prohibitively expensive? Are there any challenges to building a new station while its tracks are currently being used?

[@hx0d]

Too expensive now. Plus Farringdon really isn’t far away (5-10 mins walk) so it doesn’t justify the cost. Us locals would also rather keep the crowds and hustle flowing further down the street please!!

[@nigelgunn322]

The Post Office railway has a station there.

[@juliansadler6263]

Back in the 1970s piling out of the Pakenham Arms down to the Bedford Head you passed a stretch of vacant ground behind the sorting office. If the station had been built that would not have been vacant. Unless it was a bomb site. There were still some around 30 years later.

[@nomadMik]

Tease!

[@cujoyyc4453]

Perhaps they were concerned than an underground station would exposed the centuries of excreta of Laystall.

[@GeorgeChoy]

Can't beat the tram.

[@ianpatterson6552]

If there was a Mount in Mount Pleasant, how high was it compared to other parts of the line?

[@katbryce]

Equivalent to a 15 story building 🤪

[@frankupton5821]

Sixty feet, I suppose, from the fact that the putative station would have been sixty feet under ground.

[@caw25sha]

@@frankupton5821 I'm surprised there haven't been any comments from people in other parts of the country ridiculing the fact that in London a tiny hill is dubbed Mount something.

[@cyberwomble7524]

@@caw25sha I don't know if it ever really was a "mount" in the classic sense, as it got its name from the human waste that was dumped (mounded) there before the 18th century. Should say my recall is not 100%, so I will pop off and try to doublecheck. Edit: Yep, I remembered well enough! There was also a Whitechapel Mount (and I guess a few others).

[@caw25sha]

@@cyberwomble7524 That doesn't explain the Pleasant part of the name!

[@johnmurray8428]

There was/is a long stretch on the Central Line between Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street. Was a planned station skipped there? Shoreditch High Street perhaps? Great videos. Happy Canadian thanksgiving.

[@iankemp1131]

I think by that stage they were extending distances between stops to allow trains to reach the suburbs quicker, and the Central Line extension was built to take over the Epping line and Hainault loop, so going a long way out. Also a long stretch Mile End to Stratford. The Victoria Line carried this to its logical conclusion (KX-H&Is, FP-SevSis) and maybe one could say the Elizabeth Line has taken it a stage further.

[@paulramon3353]

Jago Please do video on the train they built inside Westminster Cathedral for QE2 coronation.

[@Eddyspeeder]

The station should have been called "Post Office" to complete the quartet of "generic city places". The others being Bank, Monument, and (British) Museum.

[@edwardoleyba3075]

This would have been handy for me when I lived in Exmouth Market 😞

[@eattherich9215]

I used to work in a building that exited onto Farringdon Street with a bus stop just outside. I went to Exmouth Market a few times, but getting there and back in an hour's lunch break was tight.

[@timelordtardis]

Clerkenwell is where the best anti-triffid gear was made. 😁

[@SamSitar]

could they build it now?

[@johntyjp]

How and when did someone have the opportunity to do that grafity on the station wall??!!!🥴

[@AndreiTupolev]

1:54No no, all tube stations have fifteen storeys!

[@rachelcollinson5021]

My husband and I, while watching this excellent video, and commenting on your quip about escalators, were shocked to discover there are no KZbin videos that tell the story of William "bumper" Harris. Would you be so kind as to rectify this glaring omission?

[@NeilBlenkiron]

So when are we going to get the story of the London Post Office Railway?

[@JagoHazzard]

Very, very soon.

[@fredericksaxton3991]

Hi Jago, another excellent video. Thank you. I am intrigued at 3:03 , the junction of Rosebury Avenue. What is actually enclosed by the "Private Property" signage? What is under that spot?

[@Tevildo]

This is a former public lavatory, built in 1912 along with the fire station, and closed at some point in the 1980's.

[@thisisjmx]

Please tell us the story of the underground station at mount pleasant. That would be great.

[@AndyG73]

Here's a question for the factoid buffs (I don't know the answer BTW but will make an educated guess): what stretch of tube line between one station and the next is the longest? My guess is from Canada Water to Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line. Apparently (I was told this when working in the area and using that line a few years after it opened) the trains there get up to 70mph, so watch out for any 'emergency' stops!

[@MasterZaphod]

For deep level tube lines I think it might be Finsbury Park to Seven Sisters on the Victoria line. Stratford to Mile End on the Central line is quite a long way also but since Stratford is above street level I guess I can't include it? Edit: Heathrow terminal 4 to terminals 1 2 and 3 on the Piccadilly line.

[@pras12100]

Canada Water to Canary Wharf is only 2.41km. Some services do not stop at all stations but I suggest: Finchley Road to Wembley Park (Metropolitan) 7.24km Chalfont & Latimer to Chesham (Metropolitan) 6.19km Acton Town to Hammersmith (Piccadilly) 4.42km (not calling at Turnham Green) My source is a rather old TFL spreadsheet but the stations do not move around much :-) I do not have any data on the Elizabeth line but some of the outer stations are much further apart.

[@pras12100]

@@MasterZaphod Good point about deep level tubes. Finsbury Park to Seven Sisters 3.15km Stratford to Mile End 2.85km Heathrow T4 to T1,2&3 4.31km

[@MasterZaphod]

@@pras12100 thanks for that. I actually didn't know what the actual distances were.

[@hx0d]

That would be the Metropolitan between Chalfont and Amersham

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

There has always been more than a prison at Mount Pleasant. There's been a Sadler's Wells Theatre since 1683, and that was built on the site of a well which was a place for healing and holidays for centuries. The area is described in 'Oliver Twist', which is a 'must read' for anyone interested in Clerkenwell. I walked from Kings Cross to Farringdon less than 3 weeks since, and have being doing so, a few times a year, for decades. The Pakenham Arms opposite the old sorting office was one of those that stayed open almost all day and night, because of posties on shift work. I'd go in and there'd be posties spread evenly around the bar, all with thousand yard stares and no conversation. I'm sad the old office is finished as a place of work and is being turned into another place for parasitical 'investors'.

[@crispoman]

Interesting that escalators got the stamp of approval a year before Bumper Harris's demonstration of their safety at Earl's Court. Really pushing the envelope there.

[@vincentng2392]

Toronto will have Mount Pleasant Station in 2023. (?) Singapore will have Mount Pleasant Station in 2024. (?) Vancouver will have Mount Pleasant Station in 2025. (?)

[@richardmellish2371]

Cyclists caught from about 5:0s blithely going past a red traffic light. It's common enough in London, but I wonder what they would think of appearing on KZbin.

[@IIVQ]

One could never build a station without lifts that is about four stories deep. All "deep" stations should have stairs equivalent to 15 floors.

[@Humulator]

i thought this was about toronto because mount pleasant road is here too

[@dom1310df]

Did you make this video just for that play on words at the end?

[@alanbudgen2672]

Fascinating, I wonder if it was considered that it would have interfered with the running of that section? If a station was not going to generate too much revenue, why slow things on that area of line?