Alperton station – no escalator, but a rather fine shopping arcade

A couple of months ago I went to investigate Alperton station, a Piccadilly Line stop along the Uxbridge branch. The outer reaches of this line, westwards from Acton Town and northeastwards from Finsbury Park, are all part of Frank Pick's 1930's 'Metroland' expansion, with most of the stations designed by Charles Holden in a variety of Art Deco styles. It's the boxy style that we see at Alpertont. 

I arrived from the North via the eastbound line and, as I glanced across the platform I couldn't help but think that the three electricity doodahs opposite, looked like little medieval metal soldiers standing guard!

I'd made a special journey to Alperton because I had read that there's no escalators or lift access in place here, even though an up-only service had been installed in 1955 on this eastbound side, relocated from the 1951 Festival of Britain on the Southbank. But, by the late 1980s due to lack of use, it was bricked up/enclosed behind a wall. Eh? really? This all sounded a bit strange to me. I mean, why/how etc? Is there a secret panel? Is it still accessible (to some)?  

Perhaps the people of Alperton had no need to travel and the cost of the maintenance outweighed the money that punters/passengers/clients spent on Travelcards, or whatever they were called back then. Perhaps enclosing the thing was the cheapest option?

Hearing that there are now plans to reinstate an escalator service here, I decided to go and investigate and see for myself how this thing had been bricked up.

The escalator surely must have been parallel to the stairs. I examined the walls adjacent to the platform and could see no obvious patches where an arch/access might have led from the top of the escalator to the trains. I dunno, perhaps brickies in the 1980s were better at patching-in than they they are these days as per the mess at the corner of Little Russell Street, here.

I also scanned the walls at the rear of the concourse at the bottom of the stairs and also found not a hint of repair work. The whole thing looks silky smooth to me.

Ah here's a thought...  Being as the 1950's escalator was not installed within the 1930's station building, but around the outside to the rear – as seen via Google's globe view where the lower additions might be hiding our moving stairway. 

Wherever the old machinery is, the modern replacement will surely have be sited in more or less the same space. The dusty old one will have to be removed and replaced as it will be completely out of date, probably sporting those dangerous, albeit evocative, slatted wooden treads.

There's also the problem of installing a service for the other side of the tracks, something that I understand is problematical vis the lack of space at that side, the railway bridge itself and the interior foot tunnel (shown in the second pair of pics, above). I'd heard that installing a moving staircase on the westbound side might necessitate the loss of the shops around the exterior so I went to look at it.

Here's the outside of the station, with curved glass kiosk windows in the foreground:

Here's a wider view. I love it, although I'm not convinced that these small shops that back onto the railway bridge were part of Holden's original station. The design, shape and style of these kiosks does not tally or line up with elements on the main station building, and the colour of the bricks is different.

Looking forward, the idea is to create a new/secondary entrance to the westbound side within these kiosks that allows access to an escalator, or perhaps a lift service. This would mean the barbershop, which has been there since 2019, is for the chop (see what I did there?!).

There's nothing much to see on the other side of the tracks, so I made my way back to the station and, as I turned back (always check the opposite view because you might have missed something), I happened to notice a strange little lantern that looks out of place and, behind it, a metal ventilation strip running around the curve of the shop with some brass letters at the top right corner, so took a closer look...

I love the way the o of Co sits within the C. 

This is the sort of thing that gets me excited!  E. Pollard & Co Ltd is a company I am a little bit obsessed and impressed by. Founded in 1895, the company at first offered window fittings and other items for shop display, and swiftly became one of London's most prestigious and well-respected shop-fitting and building companies, transforming not just shops and stations, but also libraries, banks and hotels, with their own impressive showrooms in Clerkenwell and at 299 Oxford Street (now Uniqlo). I have also written about the company's curved glass windows here.

Buoyed by this find, I then scanned the exterior and exterior of Alperton station to see if if I could find any other similar marks, but no. I shall henceforth, yes, henceforth, be searching for the same or similar at other stations and on any façade that looks like it might be a Pollard's build. Please do let me know if you spot any yourself.