Many of London’s tube stations act as a focal point for the community they serve, and some times even give end up giving the area it’s name (Angel and Northwood Hills being two examples – one named after a pub/tea-house and one the winning entry in a competition). But some are just wrong and need to be renamed!
Here’s my list of offenders – I’ve looked at the Tube network itself, so this list includes a few tube stations that are beyond the London boundary:
- Watford – should be West Watford to reflect it only serves the suburb in the west part of this large town and in no way is near the centre (try Watford High Street for that).
- Harrow & Wealdstone – is very definitely in, and so should be, Wealdstone, and it’s quite far from Harrow itself. Speaking of Harrow:
- Harrow-on-the-Hill is very definitely at the bottom of the hill, which is its own distinct area. So, Harrow would be a much better name.
- Turnham Green is far from Turnham Green (which is closer to Chiswick Park station). Ideally it would be called Chiswick but you’d maybe have to change the National Rail station of the same name too – maybe that could be Chiswick South?
- Euston Square needs to get changed back to Gower Street. It’s on Gower Street and Warren Street is much closer to Euston Square.
- Mansion House is nowhere near Mansion House and would better be called Bow Lane.
- Hillingdon should be North Hillingdon. Hillingdon village is a long way to the south.
Honorary mentions (not a tube station but on the tube map):
- West Drayton is actually in the urban centre of Yiewsley with West Drayton itself being some way to the south.
- Hayes & Harlington should be Hayes as Harlington is some distance away, and on the other side of the M4 too.
- Carpenter’s Park should be South Oxhey as this is much larger than the (older) development on the other side.
- Bushey should be Oxhey – it did used to be called Bushey & Oxhey, but Bushey, while being much bigger, is a long way up the hill, while Oxhey village is adjacent.
Any more?
10 replies on “London’s Misnamed Tube Stations”
Well, Bayswater station is on Queensway and Queensway station is on Bayswater Road
How about Caledonian Road and Barnsbury? Why not just Barnsbury which is where it is? It’s not near Caledonian Road and the name confuses it with the Piccadilly line station.
There is a Hayes station near Bromley so calling it Hayes & Harlington avoids confusion.
Euston Square itself is immediately in front of Euston main line station, so using its name for a station 300 metres or more away was always wrong. But, should the tragedy of HS2 ever be concluded, the two will be connected below street level, and Euston Square might gain an entrance at the Square end, so maybe best left unchanged.
While UCH is a fine (and very visible) place, using the name of one institution in an area disregards all the others, in this case, the University itself and UCL.
Tottenham Court Road hosts three stations, that one, Goodge Street and Warren Street, so the name isn’t a good indication for the one at its bottom end. Better for the that to revive the name of the circus, long overshadowed by Centre Point, near which it stands, St Giles.
Edgware Road gives its name to two separate stations, 200 metres apart, which must have led to many missed rendezvous.
I believe Hayes & Harlington is so called to distinguish it from Hayes in SE London (London Borough of Bromley).
Carpenter’s Park? Where’s that? Did you mean Carpender’s Park?
There was a Watford West on the Croxley branch which closed in the 90’s. I see your point. Perhaps they could call it Watford Cassiobury?
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Hillingdon used to be called Hillingdon (Swakeleys), and so Swakeleys would be a great name change and add a new suburb name to the map
Euston Square station is closer to Euston Square than Warren Street is! Although Euston is the closest station to Euston Square. I think Euston Square should be named University College Hospital station as it’s right there and would be great to have a hospital on the map
If you walk from Warren Street to Euston Square, you walk past Euston Square station – which is much closer. There’s not much left of it under the bus station and taxi rank, but such as it is, it is in front of Euston station.