Tottenham Court Road tube station

Tottenham Court Road station stands at St Giles Circus, where five major streets meet in the West End. It is an interchange for London Underground’s Central and Northern lines and the Elizabeth line. The Underground station sits below Oxford Street, while the Elizabeth line platforms stretch under Soho Square. A second entrance opens on Dean Street, linking the station to the heart of Soho. The station belongs to London fare zone 1, making it easy to reach from most parts of the city. The station opened in 1900 as part of the Central London Railway, with the Northern line arriving seven years later. Early lifts were replaced by escalators in the 1920s, improving passenger flow. In the 1980s, artist Eduardo Paolozzi created bold mosaics that still decorate platforms and corridors. A major upgrade for the Elizabeth line took eight years and cost £500 million, finishing in 2017. The work added a much larger ticket hall, step-free access and new artworks, including a piece by Daniel Buren. Visitors now find a spacious ticket hall beneath St Giles Circus, with wide passageways and new escalators. The mosaics by Paolozzi remain in place, though some sections were restored or moved during rebuilding. A public plaza outside Centre Point marks one of the station’s entrances, designed by Hawkins\Brown. The Elizabeth line platforms run for 230 metres below ground, linking the two ticket halls. Above ground, a new theatre called @sohoplace opened in 2022, the first West End theatre in over fifty years.