Holborn tube station
Central line and Piccadilly line · Zone 1 · Camden
About Holborn station
Holborn opened on 15 December 1906 on the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, at the junction of two earlier tube schemes, with its branch to Aldwych following on 30 November 1907. Leslie Green designed it, but London County Council rules for Kingsway required stone façades, so uniquely among his stations it has a stone front rather than red glazed terracotta. Trapezium-shaped Otis lifts served the platforms. The Central London Railway ran beneath High Holborn, yet its nearest station, British Museum, was 250 metres away, so passengers changed at street level.
That changed in the early 1930s. Charles Holden remodelled the frontages, a new ticket hall led to four escalators down to the Central line concourse and three more to the Piccadilly line, and new Central line platforms, dug by hand around running tunnels, opened on 25 September 1933, replacing British Museum. The station was renamed Holborn (Kingsway) that May, a suffix that gradually fell out of use. Until 1994 Holborn was the terminus of the little-frequented Aldwych branch, whose two disused platforms are used for filming and on Hidden London tours; Patrick Blackett once planned a cosmic ray detector on one of them.
First and last trains from Holborn
| Line and direction | Mon–Thu first – last | Friday first – last | Saturday first – last | Sunday first – last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central towards West Ruislip, Ealing Broadway or White City | 05:53 – 00:30 | 05:53 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:45 to Ealing Broadway |
| Central towards Hainault, Epping or Loughton | 05:51 to Epping – 00:33 to Epping | 05:51 to Epping – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:45 |
| Piccadilly towards Northfields, Heathrow Terminal 5 or Heathrow Terminal 4 | 05:42 to Heathrow Terminal 5 – 00:27 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 | 05:42 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:34 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 |
| Piccadilly towards Cockfosters, Arnos Grove or Oakwood | 05:54 – 00:38 | 05:54 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 00:21 |
Times are TfL’s published timetable departures from this station; on Saturday the list follows TfL’s “Saturdays and public holidays” timetable.
At the busiest hour on a weekday there are up to 29 Central trains an hour per direction and 24 Piccadilly trains an hour per direction from Holborn, counting both directions separately.
Next stations from Holborn
Running times between Holborn and the adjoining stations, from TfL’s timetable.
| Line | Next station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Central | Chancery Lane | 1.3 min |
| Central | Tottenham Court Road | 1.8 min |
| Piccadilly | Covent Garden | 1.8 min |
| Piccadilly | Russell Square | 1.8 min |
Connections
- Tube: change here between the Central line and Piccadilly line.
Station facilities
What is near Holborn station
Holborn stands at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway, close to the British Museum and the London School of Economics. Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design is about 140 m away, the Cochrane Theatre about 170 m, Red Lion Square Gardens about 210 m, and Bloomsbury Square Gardens and Sir John Soane’s Museum about 220 m. A little further are St George’s Bloomsbury and the Gillian Lynne Theatre (about 290 m), Lincoln’s Inn Fields (about 310 m) and The Old Curiosity Shop (about 360 m). Neighbouring stops include Covent Garden and Chancery Lane.
| Place | Walk from the station |
|---|---|
| Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design | 140 m |
| The Cochrane Theatre | 170 m |
| Pushkin House | 200 m |
| Red Lion Square Gardens | 210 m |
| Bloomsbury Square Gardens | 220 m |
| Sir John Soane's Museum | 220 m |
| Kensington College of Business | 240 m |
| St George's Bloomsbury | 290 m |