Elephant & Castle tube station

Elephant & Castle tube station is a station on the London Underground system. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2. The station is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line between Kennington and Borough, and is the southern terminus of the Bakerloo Line, the next station being Lambeth North.

History
The station was built in two stages. The Northern Line station opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the first deep-level tube, the City & South London Railway (C&SLR). The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) station opened on 5 August 1906, five months after the rest of the line. Although belonging to separate companies, the platforms were connected below ground from 10 August 1906.

The C&SLR station was similar in design to the station at Kennington. It was partially rebuilt in the 1920s when the C&SLR tunnels were modernised, and was rebuilt during the construction of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre and roundabout in the 1960s and again at the start of the 21st century, reopening on 12 December 2003. The BS&WR station building remains much as originally constructed and is a typical Leslie Green structure. The main alteration is a modern glass-sided and glass-topped flat-roofed extension abutting the original western elevation, giving access to three of the six arches. These arches, in a classic deep-red faience style, formed the original perimeter: two are infilled with street-facing shops.

The first baby to be born on the underground was born at the station in 1924. Press reports claimed that she had been named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would have read T.U.B.E.) but this story later proved false, and she was named Marie Cordery.

The station today
The station has two surface buildings, widely separated by the northern of the two roundabouts. There are no escalators. At the more northerly (Bakerloo) one, entrance is through the original entrance and exit is through the new extension, adjoining Skipton House. To get from either ticket hall to the platforms it is necessary to use lifts or very narrow and steep spiral stairs.

The northern building provides the most direct access to the Bakerloo Line, while the southern one is linked more directly to the Northern Line. From inside the station, the northern exit is labelled as the London South Bank University exit and it is at the southern tip of the triangular campus. Visitors who turn right on leaving this exit will see signs to the university. (Some but not all exit signs also mention the Imperial War Museum.) The southern exit is labelled the Shopping Centre exit and the exit for interchange to National Rail.

The Castle Sandwich Bar is to the left of the Bakerloo line entrance. Between them is the entrance to South London House, an office block above the station. As Elephant & Castle also functions as a drivers' depot, London Underground uses the buildings over the station for administration and drivers' accommodation.

Transport links
London bus route 1, 12, 35, 40, 45, 53, 63, 68, 100, 133, 148, 155, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 196, 333, 343, 360, 415, 453, 468, C10, P5, Express route X68 and night bus route N1, N35, N63, N68, N89, N133, N155, N171 and N343.