Arsenal tube station

Arsenal is a London Underground station located in Highbury, London. It is on the Piccadilly line, between Holloway Road and Finsbury Park stations, in Travelcard Zone 2. Originally known as Gillespie Road, it was renamed in 1932 after Arsenal Football Club, who at the time played at the nearby Arsenal Stadium. It is the only tube station named directly after a football club. Although Arsenal's Highbury Stadium closed in 2006, the station retains its name and is still used by spectators attending matches at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium, but it is otherwise quieter than other stations on the same stretch of line.

Location

The station is located on a narrow Victorian residential street, away from any main roads. It is also unusual in not having any bus routes pass its entrance, though routes 4, 19, 106 and 236 serve nearby Blackstock Road.

History

Arsenal tube station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) as Gillespie Road on 15 December 1906. The GNP&BR was later renamed the Piccadilly line after the consolidation and nationalisation of the Tube network as London Underground. The original station building and ticket hall were red terracotta-clad buildings designed by Leslie Green, similar to neighbouring stations such as Holloway Road and Caledonian Road.

London Underground

The London Underground (or simply the Underground or the Tube) is a public rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. The network is considered the oldest rapid transit system, incorporating the world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 and is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines; and the first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2014/15 carried 1.305 billion passengers, making the Underground the world's 11th busiest metro system.