The new Brompton Road entrance to Knightsbridge station was opened on 10th October 2022 without fanfare – the same week as a further opening at Bank (new escalators between DLR and Northern Line) at which outgoing TfL boss Andy Byford officiated. However Knightsbridge wasn’t even announced on TfL’s social media nor its Internet pages.
One aspect of this soft opening of the new entrance and interconnecting subway at Knightsbridge is its hours of operation are limited (at least for the first week.) It seems its due to staff rosters not being fully available for the new arrangement. What this means is the new entrance has been open throughout the day until around 4.30pm – this being the time when tube staff duties change over.
The new Brompton Road entrance.
One intriguing aspect of the new subway from the station is it has signs for Harvey Nichols. It might seem confusing especially when there is already a subway exit directly outside Harvey Nichols store itself!
The other station entrance/exit that’s directly outside Harvey Nichols.
However its clear the signs for Harvey Nichols are there in case anyone misses the signs inside the ticket hall for the correct exit.
The entrance and its new stairs.
The stairs as they come down from Bromton Road and then turns to reach the new subway running beneath Brompton Road itself.
The new subway as it heads towards the station’s ticket hall.
The new entrance a couple of weeks before opening.
Below is a tweet announcing the completed installation of the new canopy.
There’s a page at Road Plate Hire consisting of several photographs showing the sequence of the new canopy’s installation which took place at night time during July 2022.
Perhaps the one defining thing about the new Knightsbridge station is its right next door to Apple’s new store! Even Apple’s own website features the new tube station (in its as yet unopened state.) Its without doubt a boon for both Apple and TfL in terms of customers!
Apple’s website has the new Knightsbridge station next door as part of its main store image. Source: Apple UK.
Despite the opening of the new entrance in Brompton Road, the upgrade to Knightsbridge station is by no means finished. The other new tube entrance in nearby Hoopers Court is clearly behind in terms of progress. It’ll possibly be early 2023 before Knightsbridge tube station becomes fully accessible for the first time.
Here’s some pictures which show the new station environs prior to opening as well as a bit of history behind the new entrance and its connecting subway. This new bit is in fact a repurposing of part of the former access from Sloane Street – in order to see what’s actually happened here we need to look at some scenes from Hidden London Hangouts. The team covered a fair bit of the Knightsbridge station upgrade including the new entrance in Brompton Road.
The new station entrance plan as shown on Hidden London Hangouts.
Also of interest in that programme was the new connecting subway from the new Brompton Road entrance. In its unfinished state as shown on the film, one could see how this new subway reused the old access from Sloane Street as the next image shows.
The new corridor meets the existing ticket hall area as shown on Hidden London Hangouts. The space is actually utilised from the former Sloane Street entrance – the remains of the stairs from that now demolished entrance can be easily seen.
The above view is where the new corridor turns to meet the old stairwell from Sloane Street. Compare with the view below where the same turn in the corridor is now fully tiled and in use.
The same section as shown in the Hidden London Hangouts video.
Late September 2022 view of the same corridor looking in the other direction. The breeze block wall seen in the Hidden London Hangouts video was sited where the yellow barrier is seen.
The yet to be opened corridor connection (at right) from the Brompton Road entrance. Even though its new, its actually the old corridor from the now closed Sloane Street entrance that’s been repurposed as part of a new connection to Brompton Road.
All pictures by London Rail Bog except where credited elsewhere.
