York Road tube station

York Road tube station is a disused station on the London Underground. It opened on 15 December 1906 and was one of the original stations on the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), now the Piccadilly line.

It is located between King's Cross St Pancras and Caledonian Road, and had its entrance at the corner of York Road (now York Way) and Bingfield Street; the surface buildings are still clearly visible, on the left heading south down York Way towards King's Cross. The former platform area below is also visible from passing trains in both directions, although part of the eastbound platform is bricked off. As with most other disused underground stations, the platform itself has been removed. As the site is currently used as an emergency exit from the tunnels, one of the passageways between the platforms is permanently lit by a series of lamps.

Unlike most other GNP&BR stations, the lifts descended directly to platform level. The platform layout is almost identical to Caledonian Road (the next station to the north), but the two tracks form very gentle convex curves with respect to bases of the lift shafts between the tracks.

Being in a poor industrial area, the station saw little use, and Sunday services were withdrawn from 5 May 1918. The station remained open for weekday traffic until 19 September 1932 when it closed permanently.

The platform tiling was carried out by G. Woolliscroft & Sons of Hanley in Staffordshire, and was made up of white with maroon and brick red patterning. Most of the tiling has since been painted over in grey, but a small section remains untouched and can be seen at the Finsbury Park end of the former eastbound platform.

A small signalling cabin stands near this section of tiling, and was used to operate a crossover immediately to the northeast of the station. This signal box remained operational until 25 April 1964, although by this time the crossover was little used, having been largely superseded by a new crossover built at King's Cross eight years previously. However the disused cabin still stands and can be seen by observant passengers on passing trains.

Reopening proposal
One of London's largest redevelopment projects, King's Cross Central, began construction in 2008 across the road from the station. Islington Council and Transport for London commissioned a study in 2005 to consider the possible reopening of the station. At the same time, however, it was recognised that other transport priorities reduced the likelihood of such a project moving forward in the near future. The site will need extensive overhauls to bring to station up to modern day standards which was estimated to be £21 million in 2005. Local political groups have been keen to see the station reopened in order to reduce passenger congestion at King's Cross St Pancras and to encourage development in the surrounding community. The Islington Liberal Democrats advocated the reopening of the station in their 2006 local election manifesto, and at least one candidate for the Islington Conservative Party has similarly campaigned for the station to be reopened.

In 2005 a business case was prepared to reopen the station, to serve the Kings Cross Central development and help relieve congestion at King's Cross St Pancras. However, this scheme has not so far been taken forward.