Barbican tube station

Barbican station stands in a deep east–west cutting in the City of London, between Farringdon and Moorgate. The brick-lined walls rise steeply on either side, and the platforms lie below street level. To the north are the backs of buildings along Charterhouse Street and Charterhouse Square. To the south the view is of Long Lane and the rooftops behind. The station is served by the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, all sharing the same pair of tracks. A single lift links the westbound platform to the nearby Elizabeth line ticket hall on Long Lane. The station has carried several names since it opened in 1865. It began as Aldersgate Street, then became Aldersgate, Aldersgate & Barbican, and finally Barbican in 1968. During the Blitz in December 1940 the building suffered bomb damage and its upper floors were removed. The glass roof was replaced by awnings, a change that inspired John Betjeman’s poem Monody on the Death of Aldersgate Station. A plaque on one wall remembers the station’s cat Pebbles, who once lived there. Visitors enter from Aldersgate Street through a 1990s entrance building. A footbridge of older design leads to the eastern end of the platforms. The remains of the 19th-century glass canopy still show above the tracks. Platform 1 serves eastbound trains, while platforms 2 and 3 form an island platform for westbound services. Platform 2 has the lift to the Elizabeth line. A small display near the ticket barriers shows photographs and text about the station’s history.