Wood Lane

Just a two minute tube ride from Latimer Road brings you to Wood Lane tube station . This is a new station which opened in 2008.The line has been in operation since 1864 but the old station which was situated near by, closed in 1959.

The railway line became part of the London Underground in 1933 becoming the Hammersmith and City Line in 1988. The station was close to the White City Stadium and was used for the 1908 Summer Olympics. It was also used by visitors to the Greyhound Racing at White City. However, it was decided to close the station following a fire in 1959. Not too much of a hardship for visitors as White City station on the Central Line was just a couple of minutes walk away. To pick up the Hammersmith and City Line you would have to walk a bit further to pick it up at Shepherd's Bush.






The new development of a large shopping mall at Shepherd's Bush meant an improvement to transport links and it was decided to open a new station on the Hammersmith and City Line. You can see part of the Westfield shopping mall through the windows of the station.

The station opened in October 2008 and in December 2009 it was added to the Circle line when that line was extended to Hammersmith. The original signage from the old station can be seen through one of the station's windows. I walked round to see the sign from the other side as it was impossible to get a decent photo through this window.


This was the view from the other side!

The station is very different from other tube stations on the line with its shiny steel and large windows

A large arched underpass takes travellers beneath the railway lines to/from the entrance.

The station is only 0.1 miles from White City station so I have photographed most of this area when l  was doing the Central Line. However, that was in the summer of 2016 and there was a lot of construction happening. I am interested in looking around parts of the area again to see how it has changed.

There is still construction work going on behind the station

The area has been landscaped.

That is the station above the arches.

Opposite the station is the old BBC centre. It was sold to developers in 2012.  Much of the original design is still in place and the BBC will retain a presence here as three of the studios will be retained. But the majority  of the inside of the building has been converted into residential apartments. With two different tube lines on your doorstep I imagine they had no trouble selling these apartments.
The purpose built television centre  opened in 1960 and was designed by Graham Dawbarn. There were a few problems to overcome as to how eight studios, production offices and the storage and removal of scenery could all happen in the same building. Looking at the question mark he had drawn in front of him he realised that its shape was the answer to his design issues. The circular main block housed all the technical equipment and administrative offices. The studios were grouped around this circular block commonly known as 'the doughnut'.



The centre now has 950 apartments as well as restaurants, a private members' club, hotel and  new working space.




Arthur Hayes was responsible for the lettering on the facade of Studio 1 which was later used throughout the building. The BBC also wanted a design to break up the large windowless brick wall. Hayes ran out of time to design something and used a foam model of the wall and some drawing pins and came up with this simple effective design. Known as the 'Atomic Dots', each of the 26 dots is backlit and can be clearly seen at night. It has since been given a Grade II listing and is one of the studios that is being retained by the BBC.

Prior to the redevelopment of the centre, the garden with the Helios fountain and sculpture was not accessible to the public, so this is the first time I have seen this circular courtyard (the doughnut) in the flesh. It is familiar from numerous broadcasts with perhaps the most famous being Roy Castle's tap dancing world record. 500 young tap dancers surrounded the garden and performed the same tap dance in 1977.













The sculpture in the centre of the garden is Helios, the Greek god of the sun, representing the radiation of television light around the world.

The two figures reclining in the garden are the statues sound and light, the two components of television.










Leaving the BBC centre I walked down Wood Lane and turned off left onto South Africa Road, which takes me into the White City housing estate.

In the early 1900s a grand exhibition site was built here at White City. Huge exhibition halls and other buildings were constructed in steel and concrete and were painted white, hence the name White City. The site was used in 1908 for the Franco British exhibition. A stadium was added for the 1908 Olympic Games which were also held here.


 In 1910 there was a Japan-British exhibition. Two gardens were constructed using materials from Japan and one became the 'Garden of Peace'. After World War 1 the garden was converted into a public park known as Hammersmith Park. Then in 1935 the land was acquired as the site for building the White City housing Estate.Then a further twelve acres was sold to the  BBC in 1950. Shortly afterwards  7.5 acres of the site was designated as an open space.  







When the land was sold in the 1950s, the original 'Garden of Peace' was partly demolished leaving the reconfiguration not true to a traditional Japanese style. The garden  is the oldest traditional Japanese garden in a public place in Britain and in 2010 it was renovated in accordance with the ancient principles and techniques that dictated its creation 100 years ago. The work included rebuilding the streams using Japanese expertise in the placing of rocks and the building of themed areas.

In 2018 new entrance gates and stone lanterns were purchased by Japanese and British companies and installed in the park.

The housing in the background is the back of the BBC centre development.

Walking back to the station I walked through Bridget Joyce Square, also known as rain square. The development of this square arose as the previous road and parking formed a hazard for children crossing the road to the school or playgrounds. It was particularly dangerous when the children were being dropped off or collected by car. The road was also susceptible to significant surface water flood risk.  This safe pedestrian walkway now provides much better access to the schools and playgrounds as well as reducing the area's contribution to flooding.

An aerial channel carries water from the roof of the school. Previously this water went straight down the drain and contributed to flooding.

Rain water collected from the roof runs down the wire rope feature.

I walked the short distance back to the station through the White City estate. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I have already featured much of this area when I wrote about White City station so this visit was quite a short one. I decided I would have a look at the next station along the line, Shepherd's Bush Market. More about that in my next post.

Latimer Road

This is the 31st station on the Circle Line but, of far more significance for me, it is the 100th station that I have visited on my 'Above the Underground ' challenge. When I first began this challenge  in the summer of 2014 I had no idea it would take me so long to complete and with another 170 stations to visit, I am beginning to have doubts that I will manage to complete it. Nevertheless, here I am with another new area to explore.

 At the end of the platform you can see the large Westfield shopping mall.

 What I hadn't realised before visiting this station was just how close it is to the fire damaged Grenfell Tower, which I mentioned in my previous post. As I walked through the ticket barriers I noticed a large poster which was asking people not to photograph the area. I then realised that this was going to be one station with very few photos. In all conscience I couldn't take out my camera. I took a couple of images on my phone, out of sight of the tower but I felt very uncomfortable. Whilst the tower still stands I cannot see the situation changing for years to come. My 100th station will be the one I remember for not photographing.



The station opened in December 1868 at a junction formed between two existing railway lines - the Hammersmith and City railway and the West London railway. Only trains on the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines now use the station. The Circle line being extended onto this line in 2009. much work has been carried out to modernise this station within the last ten years resulting in its closure for a few months at a time. The station does not have a manned ticket office but fare machines and customer help points where you can communicate with the control room at Ladbroke station. Although the station is named Latimer Road it is no longer on that road. With the construction of new roads in the 1960s, Latimer Road's southernmost section, where the station is situated was renamed Freston Road. There has been a request that the station be renamed as a tribute to Grenfell Tower.


In the mid 19th century this area was known for its piggeries and shed housing. The station was given the nickname of 'piggery junction'. A Poor Law Commissioners' report of 1838 reads 'houses are built on top of pools of stagnant water, whose floors had sunk and rested at one end of the room in the stagnant pool, while at the other end, being still dry, contains the bed or straw mattress on which the family sleeps. Not much changed over the next 50 years as The Daily News claimed that it was the most 'hopelessly degraded place' in London. Even after the bombing of World War 2 the terraced victorian houses became slums and in 1958 was a focus of the Notting Hill race riots.

The Bramley Arms closed as a pub in the late 1980s and is now used as offices. It has been used as a location for the films Quadrophenia (1979) and The Lavendar Hill Mob (1951). It has also been used during the filming of the TV series the Sweeney

In the mid 70s, the Greater London Council planned to demolish much of the area and replace it with high rise flats and an industrial estate. The plans were delayed and squatters took up residence in the run down properties that had been left derelict for almost ten years. In 1977 the squatters found out that the demolition of the houses would be taking place within the next six months, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Inspired by the film 'Passport to Pimlico', Nicholas Albery called a meeting of the squatters and suggested they declare the street an Independent Free State. And so the Free Independent Republic of Frestonia seceded from the UK on the 31st October 1977. The area consisted of two main streets Freston Road and Bramley Road.

Using a legal loophole about 120 of the squatters took on the surname Bramley so if the council evicted them, they would have to be rehoused as one family.
The media loved the story and it was covered by news teams from around the world. The furore forced the council to liaise with the squatters who had formed the Bramley Housing co-operative. Eventually the area was redeveloped and the first new houses were built in the early 80s.
 
  There are not many buildings still standing from that period. This is The People's Hall, built in 1901. Today it houses the Frestonian Gallery, the only evidence I could find of the name Frestonian.

The Phoenix Brewery on Bramley Road was built as a Victorian warehouse which then became a brewery and then the headquarters of Chrysalis Music publishing company before being renovated and converted into upmarket office space.

This is the Harrow Club on Frenston Road. The Harrow Club was started in 1883 by Dr Butler, the Headmaster of Harrow School. It began as a School Mission in Latimer Road with the aim of improving the lives of young people in the area.
The Harrow Club provides many opportunities for the young such as sailing, football, camping, and many other sports. Being so close to the Grenfell Tower it provided much needed support and continues to offer support to the many traumatised youngsters.  Extra finance has been raised by the Harrow School community.

It took just a few minutes walk for me to return to the station.

As the tube left the station I noticed this sculpture on top of a new housing development. Researching it when I got home I discovered the sculpture  was by Nathan Coley. The building of this  development of 112 flats began in 2015. One third of the properties were for sale, one third for rent and the remaining third to be managed by the Housing Association. Nathan Coley was commissioned to produce a sculpture. His design is based on an apple tree, a Bramley apple from the name of the road which was part of the Frestonian Republic. Coley made not only the steel and gold leaf sculpture but also 112 smaller trees which were given as a house warming present to the new residents. His idea was to connect new residents with the local history.