The ‘lost’ London Underground stations that have changed names from Dover Street to Gillespie Road

London’s Underground rail network has been around for over 150 years so it will come as no surprise for most people to learn that a number of stations have undergone serious makeovers through the years. But even with the majority of stations getting updated and renovated over the last century and a half, it’s very unusual to see your local station’s name suddenly change.

As unusual as this is though, some of London’s busiest and most well-known stations have actually had their names completely re-worked, with other stations very nearly suffering the same fate. Had any of these proposed changes come off we could have seen a very different looking Tube map, and may even have described whole areas of London differently.

The first station to change its name was Gower Street, not a name anyone would recognise today. This station on the Circle, Hammersmith and City, and the Metropolitan lines was opened in 1863 before being renamed to the much more familiar Euston Square in 1909.

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Three decades later another station lost its name, with Arsenal station being christened on the Piccadilly line in 1932, replacing Gillespie Road with the name of the football club playing nearby in Highbury. Oddly enough the club itself had only moved from Woolwich in 1913, but clearly they had an impact on the local area.

In 1952 Fulham Broadway was the new name give to Walham Green Station on the District line. Walham Green had been running since 1880 but tradition was done away with for the more accessible sounding Fulham Broadway.

Even the now famous Green Park station, which sees millions pass through every year on their way to Buckingham Palace and the Ritz, was never originally named as such, being changed to its current moniker from Dover Street in 1933.

Not all name changes come off though luckily, with one infamous attempt falling short in 1909 when famous department store Selfridges campaigned to get Bond Street renamed after itself, thankfully failing to get much support.

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