Covent Garden tube station
Piccadilly line · Zone 1 · City of Westminster
About Covent Garden station
Covent Garden opened on 11 April 1907, four months after the rest of the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway began running on 15 December 1906. That company was itself a merger, approved in November 1902, of the Great Northern and Strand Railway and the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway, both controlled by Charles Yerkes’s Underground Electric Railways Company of London. In 1929 the station was suggested for closure, so that dropping less-busy central stations would speed up long-distance journeys on the extended Piccadilly line, but the closure did not go ahead.
Leslie Green designed it in his Modern Style: an oxblood-red building with two elevations facing James Street and Long Acre, Grade II listed in 2011, and platforms tiled in two shades of yellow with white in geometric shapes, renewed like-for-like in 2010. The platforms are reached only by four lifts or an emergency spiral staircase of 193 steps, and a final flight of stairs between the lifts and the platforms means the station is not wheelchair-accessible. Posters at the foot of the staircase warn passengers of the long climb.
First and last trains from Covent Garden
| 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 | 05:44 to Heathrow Terminal 5 – 00:29 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 | 05:44 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:35 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 |
| Piccadilly towards Cockfosters, Arnos Grove or Oakwood | 05:52 – 00:36 | 05:52 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 00:19 |
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 Covent Garden, counting both directions separately.
Next stations from Covent Garden
Running times between Covent Garden and the adjoining stations, from TfL’s timetable.
| Line | Next station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Piccadilly | Holborn | 1.8 min |
| Piccadilly | Leicester Square | 1.2 min |
Connections
Covent Garden is served by the Piccadilly line only; there is no interchange with other rail lines here.
Station facilities
What is near Covent Garden station
Theatres crowd the streets around this West End station at the corner of Long Acre and James Street. The Cambridge Theatre is about 160 m away, St Paul’s Church about 180 m and St Martin’s about 220 m. Jubilee Market Hall is about 230 m off, and Earlham Street Market, the Ambassadors, the Agatha Christie Memorial, the London Transport Museum and the Fortune Theatre all lie within about 250 m. Slightly further are the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the Noël Coward Theatre, the Vaudeville and Wyndham’s, all within about 330 m. Leicester Square is the next stop west.
| Place | Walk from the station |
|---|---|
| Cambridge Theatre | 160 m |
| St Paul's Church | 180 m |
| St Martin's | 220 m |
| Jubilee Market Hall | 230 m |
| Ambassadors | 240 m |
| Earlham Street Market | 240 m |
| Agatha Christie Memorial | 250 m |
| London Transport Museum | 250 m |