Golders Green tube station is a London Underground
station in Golders Green, north London. The station is on the Edgware branch
of the Northern Line between Hampstead and Brent Cross. It is in Travelcard
zone 3 and is the first surface station on the Edgware branch when heading
north.
The station is located at the crossroads of Finchley Road (A598) and Golders
Green Road/North End Road (A502). The station exit is adjacent to Golders
Green bus station; a former exit to Finchley Road is now closed. Adjacent to
the station is Golders Green Hippodrome - home to the BBC Concert Orchestra
for many years.
Golders Green station was opened by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead
Railway (CCE&HR, now part of the Northern Line) on 22 June 1907. It was one
of the railway's two northern terminals (the other being at Archway) and was
also the site of the railway's depot. At the beginning of the 20th century
Golders Green was a small rural hamlet with only a few houses, but the
opening of the railway stimulated a rapid building boom causing the number
of houses and the population to increase greatly.
To the south of the station in the tunnels beneath Hampstead Heath is the
partially built but uncompleted North End or Bull & Bush station.
Before the First World War plans were made to extend the CCE&HR north from
Golders Green to Hendon and Edgware to open up new areas of the Middlesex
countryside to development and to create a source of new passengers. The war
postponed the construction of the extension and work did not begin until 12
June 1922. The first section of the extension, as far as Hendon Central,
opened on 19 November 1923.
Golders Green was the last station on the Northern Line to retain semaphore
signals, replaced in 1950.
The station has three tracks running through it which serve a single-sided
platform and two double-sided island platforms. The platforms are numbered 1
to 5 with numbers 1 and 2 serving each side of one track and 3 and 4 serving
each side of another. Platform 1 northbound is not presently in public use.
Two new lifts were installed during 2008, one on platform 2/3 and one on
platform 4/5 to provide step-free access to the platforms. Ticket barriers
are in operation.
The maintenance of the station now falls under Tube Lines as part of the
Public-Private Partnership.