London Underground: Explore the ‘forgotten’ parts of the Tube network in TfL’s hidden tours

The London Underground celebrates its 160 year anniversary this year, making it the oldest underground network in the world.

Transport enthusiasts can experience its history by exploring the secret and “forgotten” locations with London Transport Museum’s Hidden Underground tours.

Hidden London guided tours offer guests access to unseen parts of the capital’s vast transport network.

Visitors can explore the original 19th century passageways and features at Shepherd’s Bush or the bomb-proof wartime corridors concealed at the now disused Down Street station on the Piccadilly line.

They can also enjoy Euston’s secret 1960s gallery of advertising posters; and the labyrinth of underground passages hidden deep beneath Clapham South built to shelter Londoners during the Second World War.

A brand-new virtual tour, Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground, has been launched to celebrate the Tube’s 160 year anniversary.

The online tour is led by an expert guide to allow people from all over the world to discover how the London Underground network evolved over the years since its beginning on January 10 1863.

And for those who want to stay above ground you can choose the Secrets of Central London walking tour of Covent Garden, Kingsway, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Victoria Embankment.

On this tour, expert Hidden London guides reveal fascinating and little-known historical tales and titbits about the area and its transformation over the last 200 years.

Clapham South: Subterranean Shelter

Wednesday to Sunday, March 22-26 Tickets: Adult £37, Concessions £32

Step back in time to the dark days of the Second World War and discover how south Londoners found refuge in this deep-level shelter during the blitz.

This secret labyrinth of underground passages was built to accommodate over 8,000 people, and came complete with several canteens, medical stations and sleeping quarters.

The tour explores how the space was repurposed after the war and shares the stories of the first Caribbean migrants who temporarily lived there, having arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush, making it their first home in Britain.

Shepherd’s Bush: Suburbs to the City

Wednesday to Sunday, February 22 to March 26 Tickets: Adult £44, Concessions £39

Relive the days when this west London station was one of the busiest on the network, providing an essential commuter link from London’s western suburbs to the City of London as the original western terminus of the Central London Railway (today’s Central line).

You’ll learn how the station has transformed over the years since its opening in 1900, how a then new ticketing system became an ancestor to our present-day Oyster card; and see original Central line design features that remain frozen in time, just out of sight of modern-day commuters.

Down Street: Churchill’s Secret Station

Wednesday to Sunday, February 22 to March 19 Tickets: Adult tickets £90 / Concession £85

Enjoy rare access into one of London’s most intriguing spaces, hidden between the Piccadilly line tracks in Mayfair.

Located between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park, Down Street had a short life as a working station from 1907 to 1932 but became critical to winning the Second World War when covertly transformed into the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters.

You can experience the warren of narrow tunnels where the nation’s railways were coordinated, and where Prime Minister Winston Churchill secretly took refuge at the height of the Blitz.

Euston: The Lost Tunnels

Wednesday to Sunday, February 22 to March 26 Tickets: Adult £44, Concessions £39

Explore a century of the station’s history, from its humble beginnings on the corner of Melton and Drummond Street, to its future as the London terminus for the High Speed 2 (HS2) line up to the Midlands and beyond.

Discover a labyrinth of dark and dusty passageways once used by the travelling public, marvel at a gallery of preserved vintage advertising poster fragments that have been concealed for over 50 years, and see Leslie Green station.

Full details of all the tours are here.