Online ‘Hidden London Hangouts’ reveal secrets of the Underground

Living Magazines Hidden London Hangouts

London Transport Museum’s Covent Garden doors may be closed, but the Museum is finding new ways to bring its exhibitions and events to life online to be enjoyed by the public from home.

The Museum’s latest virtual offering is a brand-new online video series called ‘Hidden London Hangouts’.

Hosted by self-confessed ‘Tube geek’ and broadcaster Alex Grundon, each episode is a light-hearted, informal discussion with members of the Museum’s Hidden London team. Viewers can tune in to hear about their work creating tours of secret sites across the Capital, and the intriguing tales and historical facts they have to share about these fascinating places.

Hidden London is the Museum’s programme of exclusive tours and events at locations rarely seen by, and usually off limits to, the public. Venturing beyond secret entrances and unassuming doorways, visitors are led on atmospheric journeys into disused ‘ghost’ stations and concealed spaces on the Tube network, and to places steeped in history hidden in plain sight around the city.

Each episode of ‘Hidden London Hangouts’ focuses on a different site in the Hidden London tour catalogue, giving viewers a taste of some of the historical tales and titbits that are revealed on the tours, and a chance to get to know the team who create them.

From Clapham South’s eerie passageways, once a subterranean shelter for those seeking refuge during World War II and a temporary home to Caribbean migrants arriving on the Empire Windrush, to the wilderness of Highgate station, a railway now reclaimed by nature, or Piccadilly Circus – an iconic station whose tunnels were once used for the top-secret storage of priceless artefacts – the series will bring these ‘abandoned’ places into the limelight to reveal the incredible stories they tell about London’s past.

The first two episodes of the Hidden London Hangouts series are now available on the Museum’s YouTube channel, and explore the history of Aldwych and the disused spaces of Charing Cross Underground station.

Viewers can tune in at 6pm this Saturday (18 April) to catch the third episode on Clapham South’s intriguing deep-level shelter. Search Hidden London Hangouts on YouTube to watch.

For those looking for more ways to enjoy the Museum from home, new content will be shared regularly on the Museum’s website and across its social media channels:

For a weekly dose of transport trivia, fascinating facts, competitions and online retail offers straight to your inbox, sign-up to the Museum’s enewsletter.

People wanting to bring the mystery of Hidden London to their home can head to London Transport Museum’s online shop for exclusive artworks, posters, homeware and the recently published Hidden London book. Lavishly illustrated with previously unseen archives, architectural drawings and photographs, this is a must-have for any London aficionado’s coffee-table:  www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/gifts/hidden-london