Sloane Square – The good, the bad and the…now

Hi all

On a passing District line train, some passengers peer out of the window, while others get off at Sloane Square station.

But few know how Sloane Square turned out to be a nicely built station before getting bombed in the Second World War. It permanently changed the image of the station. Here’s a little history…

The station opened on 24 December 1868 by the Metropolitan District Railway (now the present District and Circle lines). When London Transport took over in 1933, Sloane Square station received a rebuild in March 1940 with a modern ticket hall, platforms and installed escalators taking passengers up from the platforms to ticket office level. The station also housed a glass roof.

However on 12 November of the same year, Sloane Square was destroyed in the second World War causing major destruction. It destroyed everything including the escalators and glass roof.

When the station was rebuilt after the war, it suffered and although the escalators were replaced and still part of the station, the glass roof did not return. As a result of the loss of the glass roof, platform shelters were built instead removing the open air atmosphere that once stood. The station has even received the addition of an office development that rafts over the station itself. There’s even a bridge that crosses in front of the office block.