Arsenal Station

Address: Highbury Hill, London
N5 1LP
Opened: 15th December 1906
Station Code: ASL
Fare Zone: 2

London Underground Line(s) Served:

Piccadilly Line

Service Pattern(s):

18 Trains Per Hour to Cockfosters
3 Trains Per Hour to Arnos Grove
6 Trains Per Hour to Heathrow Terminal 4
6 Trains Per Hour to Heathrow Terminal 5
3 Trains Per Hour to Rayners Lane
3 Trains Per Hour to Uxbridge
3 Trains Per Hour to Northfields

Interchange(s)

None

Station History

Gillespie Road Station was opened on their line from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 15th December 1906.

The original station building was designed in his unique style by Leslie Green with red terracotta-clad buildings, in the same way as both Caledonian and Holloway Road Stations.

Following the end of the 1912-13 football season, Woolwich Arsenal FC moved from South of the river to a new stadium constructed opposite the station. As a result of the club’s presence, and their renaming to Arsenal, the club, its manager and supporters mounted a campaign to get the station name changed, with this becoming successful on 31st October 1932 when it was renamed Arsenal (Highbury Hill).

Also during the 1930s, the original station building was deemed too small for the demands placed on it during matchdays, so the original Leslie Green buildings were demolished and replaced with a wider, more modern design.

Upon the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, the GNP&BR was amalgamated with other lines to form London Underground, with the station becoming part of the Piccadilly Line.

Early in 1960, the Highbury Hill suffix was dropped and the station became Arsenal, although the platform walls still bear the Gillespie Road name spelled out in tiles at either end.

Nothing of any note occurred at the station in the following decades until, in 2007, the station underwent a major restoration and upgrade. This work entailed the restoration of the station’s tilework, resurfacing of all the floors and platforms and the installation of improved CCTV and tannoy equipment.