The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

Zone 1 Station / Streetmap Link / Journey Planner

London Bridge is one of the oldest stations in London. It's also rather complex, containing a tube station serving two lines (the Jubilee Line and the Northern Line Bank branch), a terminus for trains from the the ex-BR Southern Central region from Sussex, north Surrey and South London Suburban lines, and also platforms for trains from south-east London and Kent that continue on to Blackfriars Station, Cannon Street or Charing Cross, and Thameslink services between Brighton, central London and Luton and Bedford.

Tube Station

Station Information, and Journey Planner to and from London Bridge

Lines Served

Jubilee Line:	west		Southwark		London Bridge		Bermondsey		east
Northern Line:	north		Bank		London Bridge		Borough		south

The tube station was completely rebuilt when the Jubilee Line was extended through South London in 1999. There are now entrances to the station underneath the main line ticket hall (near the Vaults) and on Borough High Street.

This has exits on both sides of Borough High Street. The one with the steps brings you out in front of Natwest, and the one with the escalators and lift bring you out, well, opposite Natwest. Beware of tin-rattlers on the pavement on this side of the road around lunchtime.

If you are queueing for the ticket desk in the part of the station near the Vaults, note that there is another, smaller window directly behind you which sometimes has no queue!

Also, if you go down the escalators for the northern line and turn right down the sloping tunnel, then left, you get to the middle of the platforms and avoid lots of people taking the signed route.

The building of the Jubilee Line Extension involved major tunnelling and re-routing. This involved closure of one direction of the Northern Line bank branch during 1997 and 1998. One of the consequences of this work is that the Northern Line now has reverse tracks between London Bridge and Bank, i.e. the northbound platform is to the east of the southbound.

Mainline Station

The station, being part of a Victorian railway viaduct, rests on top of a set of arches (which also form the roof of the London Dungeon, further down the street). One section underneath it (home to some fine upwards-flaring brick pillars) is now called "The Vaults", and has several "gourmet" food outlets, including a shop with many interesting chocolates. Upstairs in the station itself, there are the usual station food outlets (Burger King, Upper Crust) and other shops.

Trains from London Bridge go to Brighton, Gatwick, Hastings, Dover and other Kent and Sussex suburban destinations.

Part of it has a fancy glass roof, consisting of lots of pyramids. Before it was built, the wise engineers said "it's very pretty, but how will you clean it?". The architect said "pretty! shiny!". It was built, got filthy, ended up with a small forest of moss and ferns and saplings growing on it, and still hasn't been cleaned after something like two decades.

If you are heading out of the station towards Guy's Hospital or the PwC offices, then head for the left-hand corner, behind all the people watching the timetable screens in the middle of the station. There is a hard-to-see door hiding back there, allowing you to avoid the main doors when they are crowded. If you feel particularly thin and confident, you can try and slip through the bike rack for an extra short cut.

{More from a regular user would be nice.}