Golders Green tube station

Golders Green tube station is a London Underground station in Golders Green, north London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line between Hampstead and Brent Cross. It is in Travelcard zone 3 and is the first surface station on the Edgware branch when heading north.

The station is located at the crossroads of Finchley Road (A598) and Golders Green Road/North End Road (A502). The station exit is adjacent to Golders Green bus station; a former exit to Finchley Road is now closed. Adjacent to the station is Golders Green Hippodrome - home to the BBC Concert Orchestra for many years.

History
Golders Green station was opened by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR, now part of the Northern Line) on 22 June 1907. It was one of the railway's two northern terminals (the other being at Archway) and was also the site of the railway's depot. At the beginning of the 20th century Golders Green was a small rural hamlet with only a few houses, but the opening of the railway stimulated a rapid building boom causing the number of houses and the population to increase greatly.

To the south of the station in the tunnels beneath Hampstead Heath is the partially built but uncompleted North End or Bull & Bush station.

Before World War I plans were made to extend the CCE&HR north from Golders Green to Hendon and Edgware to open up new areas of the Middlesex countryside to development and to create a source of new passengers. The war postponed the construction of the extension and work did not begin until 12 June 1922. The first section of the extension, as far as Hendon Central opened on 19 November 1923.

Station today
The station has three tracks running through it which serve a single-sided platform and two double-sided island platforms. The platforms are numbered 1 to 5 with numbers 1 and 2 serving each side of one track and 3 and 4 serving each side of another. Platform 1 northbound is not presently in public use. Two new lifts were installed during 2008, one on platform 2/3 and one on platform 4/5 to provide step-free access to the platforms.

The maintenance of the station now falls under Tube Lines as part of the Public-Private Partnership.

Trivia

 * Golders Green was the last station on the Northern Line to retain Semaphore signals, being replaced in 1950.