Southwark tube station

Southwark
Entrance on The Cut
Southwark Location of Southwark in Central London
Location	Bankside
Local authority	London Borough of Southwark
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	1
OSI	Waterloo East [2] Blackfriars at Bankside entrance
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	11.07 million[3]
2012	11.98 million[3]
2013	13.46 million[3]
2014	14.15 million[3]
Railway companies
Original company	London Regional Transport
Key dates
20 November 1999	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portalCoordinates: 51°30′11″N 0°06′18″W / 51.503°N 0.105°W

Southwark is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark at the corner of Blackfriars Road and The Cut. It is between Waterloo and London Bridge stations on the Jubilee line and is in Travelcard Zone 1. It was opened on 20 November 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension. The station is somewhat west of historic Southwark, which is served by Borough tube station and London Bridge station. Its entrance is across the street from the disused Blackfriars Road railway station.

The original plan for the Extension did not include a station between those at Waterloo and London Bridge; Southwark station was added after lobbying by the local council, it is in fact sited right next to the borough's boundary with Lambeth at Joane Street. Although it is close to Waterloo, not near the Bankside attractions it was intended to serve, and its only National Rail interchange is to London Waterloo East main line station; the passenger usage matches those of other minor central stations. It does however get over double the traffic of nearby Borough station and around triple Lambeth North.

History

Southwark station was designed by Sir Richard MacCormac of MJP Architects. It is on a cramped site with the platforms underneath the Victorian main line viaduct between Waterloo East and London Bridge stations. The site presented significant technical and architectural difficulties which were resolved by constructing two concourses at different levels.

The two platforms have platform screen doors which are meant to prevent passengers or debris from falling onto the tracks. They are connected at each end to the lower concourse which is a simple tunnel between the platforms and is illuminated by glass and steel "beacons" at each end, and is faced with stainless steel panels, deliberately left unpolished. Stairs lead up to a section of high floor in the central area of the tunnel, from where narrow tube-like escalator shafts lead sideways (south) to the higher concourse.

The upper concourse is the centrepiece of the station. It is a space 16 metres (52 ft) high with a glass roof that allows daylight to enter deep into the station. It is faced with a spectacular glass wall, 40 metres (130 ft) long, consisting of 660 specially cut pieces of blue glass, which was designed by the artist Alexander Beleschenko. The wall is one of the extension's more celebrated architectural features, winning critical approval and a number of awards.

MacCormac said the design of this and the lower level concourse was inspired by the work of the 19th century Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

One end of the higher concourse connects to Waterloo East station and the other end to the station's modest low-rise entrance building which is intended as a base for a future commercial development.

Connections

London Buses routes 45, 63, 100, 381 and RV1 and night routes N63, N89, N343, N381 serve the station.

Gallery

• 

  Entrance

• 

  Intermediate concourse

• 

  Westbound platform

Additional images of Southwark Underground Station, and an architectural case study, are available on the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) web site.^[4]

Nearby sights

• Shakespeare's Globe
• Young Vic theatre
• Old Vic theatre
• Tate Modern

References

1. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015.
2. "Out of Station Interchanges" (XLS). Transport for London. May 2011. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012.
3. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
4. "Southwark Underground Station (photos)". Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). Archived from the original on 18 January 2011. Retrieved 2008-03-01.