Finsbury Park

 

The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) (now London Underground's Piccadilly line) opened on 15 December 1906 between Finsbury Park and Hammersmith in west London. The tube railway originated as the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR) in 1897 and was initially supported by the GNR as a means of relieving congestion on its main line into King's Cross by constructing a tube line under the GNR's tracks from Alexandra Palace to King's Cross and then to the Strand. The GN&SR was taken over in 1901 by a consortium led by Charles Yerkes before any work had been carried out and the section north of Finsbury Park was cancelled. The GN&SR was merged with the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway to form the GNP&BR. It was constructed with the smaller-diameter tube tunnels common to other underground railways being constructed in London at that time. Its platforms were constructed by the GNR parallel with the GN&CR's platforms beneath the mainline station. With financial support from the government, the Underground began construction of an extension of the Piccadilly line northwards to Cockfosters and the first section, to Arnos Grove, opened on 19 September 1932. The route was opened fully on 31 July 1933

 

THIS IS NOT A GOOD STATION FOR ACCESS. Although thought of as a 'deep-level' tube station, Finsbury Park has neither lifts nor escalators as its lines are less than 20' (6.1 m) below street level, though there used to be lifts from the high-level platforms to the tube level. These were the last hydraulically-operated lifts on LT. Access to the Piccadilly and Victoria line platforms is by staircase only, reached via two narrow passages that physically prevent the installation of automatic ticket barriers. Manual ticket inspections by ticket inspectors and the British Transport Police do, however, regularly take place to combat fare evasion and ticketless travel. Stand-alone Oystercard validators are available by the station entrances for "pay as you go" customers to touch in and out. The station has cash machines, Euro cash machines, payphones, wi-fi and help points.

 

Connections: National Rail. Victoria Line. London Buses routes 4, 19, 29, 106, 153, 210, 236, 253, 254, 259, W3 and W7 and night routes N19, N29, N253 and N279 serve the station and bus station.

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