Bounds Green tube station
Piccadilly line · Zones 3 and 4 · Haringey
About Bounds Green station
Opened on 19 September 1932 as part of the Piccadilly line’s Cockfosters extension, Bounds Green was nearly given another name: Wood Green North and Brownlow Road were both considered and dropped during planning. C. H. James designed it in the box style of his colleague Charles Holden, and it survives as a well-preserved piece of 1930s London Transport modernism. An eight-sided frontage stands beside a ventilation tower, and the ticket hall is lit by four large windows under a lattice of concrete beams, with original bronze signs, grilles and panel frames. Below, the walls are finished in biscuit-coloured tiles with red friezes. The station was listed Grade II in January 2010.
The darkest night in its history came on 13 October 1940, when a single bomb from a lone German aircraft hit houses north of the station while people were sheltering inside. The north end of the westbound platform tunnel collapsed. Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show sixteen people died at the scene, three of them Belgian refugees, and a seventeenth died in hospital next day; the 1994 memorial plaque at that end of the platform gives different figures. Trains were disrupted for two months. The platform tunnels, like those at Southgate, are 21 feet across, narrower than the 23-foot tunnels at busier Wood Green.
First and last trains from Bounds Green
| Line and direction | Mon–Thu first – last | Friday first – last | Saturday first – last | Sunday first – last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piccadilly towards Northfields, Heathrow Terminal 5 or Heathrow Terminal 4 | 05:21 to Heathrow Terminal 5 – 00:06 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 | 05:21 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:13 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 |
| Piccadilly towards Cockfosters, Arnos Grove or Oakwood | 06:15 – 01:01 | 06:15 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 00:42 |
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 24 Piccadilly trains an hour per direction from Bounds Green, counting both directions separately.
Next stations from Bounds Green
Running times between Bounds Green and the adjoining stations, from TfL’s timetable.
| Line | Next station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Piccadilly | Arnos Grove | 3.1 min |
| Piccadilly | Wood Green | 2.7 min |
Connections
Bounds Green is served by the Piccadilly line only; there is no interchange with other rail lines here.
Station facilities
What is near Bounds Green station
The station stands at the junction of Bounds Green Road and Brownlow Road in Haringey, north London, and serves the surrounding Bounds Green neighbourhood, with day and night buses calling outside. Its passengers ride the Piccadilly line towards central London or out towards Arnos Grove and Cockfosters. The building itself, with its octagonal frontage and ventilation tower, is the main point of interest at the junction.
Frequently asked questions
On the night of 13 October 1940 a bomb fell on houses just north of the station, bringing down the north end of the westbound platform tunnel where people were sheltering. Sixteen died at the scene, three of them Belgian refugees, another died in hospital the following day, and around twenty were injured.
It was designed by C. H. James in the typical box style of Charles Holden. The octagonal frontage, ventilation tower, concrete-beamed ticket hall and biscuit-and-red tiling are all well preserved, and the station was listed Grade II in January 2010 after an application made in August 2008.