The Scoop

For sale: One disused Tube station, slightly soiled

Darryl Chamberlain | Saturday 5 February, 2011 15:58

Got a couple of hundred grand spare? Good at cleaning off graffiti? Want to own a special piece of London Undergound history?

Then get yourself over to Andrews & Robertson auctioneers, who are selling off the old Shoreditch station later this month.

Shoreditch saw its last train in 2006 when work began on extending the old East London Line up to Dalston. The revamped railway now rises up to a new station at Shoreditch High Street, leaving its 135-year-old predecessor isolated and surplus to requirements in its little side street off Brick Lane.

The old station has seen more spray cans than commuters over the past five years, and don’t expect to be able to wander down to the platforms looking out for ghost trains to New Cross – much of the old line has been filled in and grassed over, and the stairs removed.

But what you’ll get for your money is a cosy little building which has played a big role in London railway history, which once saw steam trains from Liverpool Street to the south coast as well as Tube trains.

You could even compare notes worth the owners of the other Old Shoreditch Station – a bar beneath another long-gone rail line.

Whether it becomes a bar, a curry house, an office or the ultimate Tube geek’s crash pad – or even gets redeveloped entirely – whoever buys it will have to find at least £180,000. A bargain, perhaps, but after being abandoned for nearly five years, restoring it to its former glory will cost a bit, too.

The sale takes place at the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden on 16 February.

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