The London Transport Museum holds Hidden London tours every so often, exploring the areas of the London Underground network that are normally closed off to members of the public. Over the Easter Weekend, I joined the guides of the London Transport Museum to explore the old Jubilee Line terminus at Charing Cross. Entering the Underground station via the Northern Line ticket hall, a set of unassuming grey doors set in a blue wall at the bottom of the first set of escalators is like a portal into another reality: from the bustle of those heading to the Northern Line to an eerily empty part of the Underground station.

Descending down the escalators on the other side of the grey doors, you reach the level of the old Jubilee Line platforms which were last used for passenger service on 19 November 1999. Although not used for passenger services anymore, the platforms are still connected to the Jubilee Line and can be used as a central London depot by Transport for London to store engineering trains or even spare passenger stock to be rolled out during surges in passenger numbers when there are events being held at the O2 or at Wembley, both of which are on the Jubilee Line (North Greenwich and Wembley Park stations respectively). Despite the platforms being closed to passenger services since 1999, a Jubilee Line train with passengers still on board did pull into the abandoned Charing Cross terminus in 2023.

As well as being maintained for operational purposes, the Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross have also been featured on the silver screen. For me, one of the most memorable cinematic appearances for the old Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross is in the James Bond film Skyfall. Annoyingly, the geeky side of me was cringing when I saw the old Jubilee Line platforms featured as it was said to have been Temple station. Temple is on the District and Circle Lines and do not feature the dinky deep level trains such as those that serve the Jubilee Line.

Whilst the platform and the decoration look quite normal, the advertising and station artwork are actually all generic fakes. This is in order to avoid licencing and copyright issues when they are featured on the silver screen.

The platforms have also been used to test new innovations on the Tube network. In the two photographs below you can see a wooden raised section of the platform which was used to test step-free access to trains for wheelchair users.

The tour also features other tunnels and storage areas, one of which brings you right under Trafalgar Square. Despite not being used for passenger trains themselves, the tunnel seen in the photograph below was dug and constructed in the same way as the tunnels through which trains run, giving a sense of how the tunnels for the deep level Tube lines were constructed. Again, another area of the station featured in Skyfall.

If you ever get the chance to go on one of these Hidden London tours, I cannot recommend it enough. The guides from the London Transport Museum give insight into the history of the London Underground network which was crucial to the development of London as we know it today. There is a certain magic in peeling back the layers of a city you thought you knew.