Notting Hill Gate tube station

Notting Hill Gate tube station is a London Underground station in the street known as Notting Hill Gate. On the Central Line, it is between Holland Park to the west and Queensway to the east. On the District Line and Circle Line it is between High Street Kensington and Bayswater stations. It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and Zone 2.

History
The sub-surface Circle and District line platforms were opened on 1 October 1868 by the Metropolitan Railway (MR) as part of its extension from Paddington to Gloucester Road. The Central line platforms were opened on 30 July 1900 by the Central London Railway (CLR). Entrances to the two sets of platforms were originally via separate station buildings on opposite sides of the road and access to the CLR platforms was originally via lifts.

The station name Notting Hill Gate had potential for confusion with the MR station to the north in Ladbroke Grove which was known as "Notting Hill" when opened in 1864, and renamed "Notting Hill & Ladbroke Grove" in 1880. This latter station eventually, in 1919, dropped its reference to Notting Hill, becoming "Ladbroke Grove (North Kensington)" in 1919 and, simply, "Ladbroke Grove" in 1938 (see Ladbroke Grove tube station).

Redevelopment
The station entrance was rebuilt in the late 1950s and reopened on 1 March 1959 linking the two 'Notting Hill Gate stations' on the Circle and District and Central lines, which had previously been accessed on either side of the street, with a shared sub-surface ticket hall with escalators down to the Central lines. The escalators were the first on the Underground to have metal side panels rather than wooden. The new entrance also acts as a pedestrian subway under the widened Notting Hill Gate.

Modernisation
The station is currently, in 2010, under going modernisation that will see new ceramic tile finishes throughout the subway entrances, deep-level passageways and Central line tube platforms as well as a modified ticket hall layout.

During works a section of lift passageways, from the original 1900 CLR station and that was abandoned during the 1959 reconstruction, was rediscovered and found to contain a series of original posters. Images have been posted here Old posters at Notting Hill Gate station

Nearby places

 * Portobello Road, famous for Portobello Market
 * Kensington Palace Gardens

Media appearances
In the 1968 film 'Otley', one of the Central Line platforms at Notting Hill Gate (or a station pretending to be it) is where assassin and coach driver Johnston, played by Leonard Rossiter, blows himself up opening a booby-trapped suitcase full of money.

Layout
The westbound Central Line platform is located above the eastbound platform because when the CLR was built it did not want to tunnel under buildings, and the street above was not wide enough for the two platforms to be side-by-side.

Transport links
London bus routes 27, 28, 31, 52, 70, 94, 148, 328, 390, 452, night routes N28, N31, N52, N207 and Oxford tube coaches.