Classically, the tube has always had upright advertising. On some escalators new digital screens mimic the old arrangement of printed advertising known as Escalator Panels which means each screen is in an upright format. The new ones are known as DEPs (Digital Escalator Panels).
With the advent of the new cross London route (also one or two escalator earlier redesigns of which Piccadilly Circus was the first, followed by King’s Cross and Tottenham Court Road) and these preceded the opening of the new Elizabeth line, the newer design of continuous screen is known as a Digital Ribbon. These, stretching from top to bottom of escalator means the advertising is inevitably skewered.
The subject is rarely discussed even though there’s no doubt people are somewhat affected by the mix of verticals and diagonals. Reddit has just had a thread on the subject.
One small theory I have is the older Digital Ribbons at Piccadilly Circus on the Bakerloo escalators are less problematic because its two escalators and the total width means a much smaller tunnel too. There’s no centre emergency stairs either. Hence the issue of disorientation does not seem to prevail – compared to the Elizabeth line where the escalator banks and tunnels take up a considerable width – and its that width plus the vast openness which evokes feelings of disorientation.
One of the earlier stations to feature Digital Ribbons was London Bridge. Londonist noted in its article Is It Just Us… Or Is There Something Not Right About These Tube Advert Screens? (written July 24th 2019) that these were disorientating and a cause of what is known as vection.
Brand new escalators at Liverpool Street. Closed for a few years due to replacement and opened earlier in 2025. New paper advertising panels replaced the old ones.
Digital advertising screens are used only at certain stations. TfL will continue to employ traditional advertising panels featuring printed posters. The northern bank of escalators at Liverpool Street which were shut a good while re-opened earlier this year – the brand new escalators are complemented by an entire set of new traditional advert panels.
Seventeen TfL tube stations currently have DEPs consisting of 23 inch high digital screens alongside their escalators, making a total of 966 digital panels.
Baker Street (42), Bond Street (56), Charing Cross (50), Embankment (32), Green Park (80), Knightsbridge (72), Leicester Square (60), Liverpool Street (64), Old Street (64), Oxford Circus (68), Paddington (58), Shepherd’s Bush (36), South Kensington (46), Tottenham Court Road (82), Waterloo (58), Victoria (58), Bank (40).
TfL Digital Screens at Green Park. These are taller than the traditional ones however the spacing is further apart.
Fourteen TfL stations (some combine tube and Elizabeth line) have Digital Ribbons:
Bank, Bond Street East, Bond Street West, Euston, Farringdon, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street East, Liverpool Street West (Moorgate), London Bridge, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Waterloo, Whitechapel.
Quite a number of the Elizabeth line’s escalators have no advertising anywhere alongside the escalators, such as the lower section of escalators at Canary Wharf, upper section of escalators at Liverpool Street West (Moorgate), and all the escalators at both Paddington and Tottenham Court Road West.
On other lines, the Jubilee has swathes of escalators with no advertising – such as those at Canada Water, Canary Wharf, North Greenwich and Westminster. The Northern Line’s extension to Battersea Power station features most of its escalators without advertising either.
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