Ghost of a flea

Aldwych

Today's Underground Week at the Flea™ station is in the Strand, one of my favourite parts of London. I recommend champagne with friends at the American Bar at the Savoy and nearby Christopher's American Grill is the only place in London I could find a decent cup of coffee. Lots of theatre and so forth as well of course.

Most of my trips to the Strand by night were by taxi as the most convenient tube station is the not quite convenient Covent Garden. It is shame they closed Aldwych. This is one of London's "most 'used' of the disused stations" as it features frequently in films and videos. It was shut down in 1994 as its 600 average daily users did not justify an estimated cost for repairs to its lift machinery.

Today, the station is being maintained by London Underground mainly as a museum piece, film set and the ticket hall is frequently rented out for art exhibitions, book launches and other private parties. The underground section will slowly deteriorate over time since little maintenance is now performed (apart from redecoration for filming!), however if you go to the surface entrance, you can peer through the gates and see that the ticket area has been restored almost to the same condition as when it was built. Even the external facade has been cleaned and painted, with the original Strand sign now prominently on display.

The Strand sign is there as this was the original name of the station when it opened in 1907. Hilarity ensued as there was already a Strand station at what is now Charring Cross... Aldwych is one of many stations with a resident ghost. Some say there is a colony of German dwarves whose secret tunnels access the lifts at Russell Square station. An Underground Survival Guide website gives this story a low plausibility rating.

Whoever made up this story must be having a laugh. (After all, everyone knows they’re Swiss dwarfs not German.)

And then... I kept taking this quiz until I got my favourite line. This website links the Northern Line to a group of troglodytes who may be linked in turn to the Russell Square dwarf rumours. I gather something like them also make an appearance in Michael Moorcock's Mother London though I have yet to read it.

Going Underground - which London Underground tube line are you?

I'm the NORTHERN LINE!

"The Subterraneans seems a deceptively playful kind of London legend: the sort which narrators repeat with disparaging amusement, but which cries out to be believed. It is fairly consistent, as such legends go. The underground race evolved from a small group of humans who fled below out of desperation - outcasts from society, perhaps, who had nowhere else to go. Feeding on unspeakable pabulum, they adapted and survived down there, the adaptations including a reversion to near-bestial form and a gradual loss of English speech. They prowl the sewers and railway tunnels showing themselves as little as possible. They might be pitied, except that (tacitly or explicitly) the legends make them ferociously antagonistic towards us. They probably eat the sandwiches and burgers we discard and it is "widely believed" that they also eat tramps, drunks and other isolated late-night commuters. Now you have another good reason for avoiding the Northern Line after rush hour."

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 8, 2003 11:21 AM

Comments

Posted by: David Strain at October 8, 2003 07:15 PM