I'm beginning to think that every mention of Yerkes in a Jago episode ought to be preceeded by the silent era cinema-style dramatic piano that accompanied the villain tying the girl to the tracks, preferably with a Yerkes lookalike twirling his moustache and heading off in the direction of 'away', in a hat and cape outfit not unlike Dick Dastardly. That's the mental image I get anyway. A snickering canine companion wouldn't go amiss, either 🙂
Perfect. I've drunk all the beer I had in the house this weekend, so my liver is safe if CTY is mentioned, for once. The failure of North End being completed is an early victory for the forces of NIMBY.
Back in the 1970s, a friend of mine worked for the LT Lifts & Escalators division. In idle moments, he would amuse himself by dialling random numbers on the LT auto phone network. One day, one of the numbers answered, "Bull & Bush" and added, very sharply, "How did you get this number?"
Back in 2008 I was the manager for a track lowering team, to accomodate the new trains coming to the Northern line. Our access was Bull & Bush (North End) station. Most of the station below ground was completed, ticket hall, lift shafts, stairwells. However the platforms were not there, when we accessed. Good memories of my days with Tubelines CAPEX team. Great info and video.
Ah but that's the back door. The front door was through the gates at the roundabout, opposite Jack Straws Castle, the original entrance to Heath House circa 1790. Many interesting vehicles were seen dropping people off at a military style cottage, of the type you see at many a cold war bunker, after getting past the security gates by the war memorial. Heath House is now accessed from North end way and a new flat complex is being built over the site of the cottage.
I did actually notice the Palace of Westminster/Houses of Parliament, however, the purpose of a government dormitory, for sleeping politicians, escapes me.
@@apb3251 exactly! The purpose of homeless people is to keep the rest of you under control - out of fear of ending up like them yourself. Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die! 🤣
There was a lift in the shaft which was maintained by the Lifts and Escalator Division of LT when I worked there in the '70s. The guys who worked on the Small Lift Dept. used to tell us that when they got to the bottom of the shaft a large steel door would open and a man dressed all in black carrying a large Webbley revolver would appear to check their bona-fides then dissappear behind the door.
Good timing for this North Carolina viewer. I'm currently reading What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, which mostly takes place on and around Hampstead Heath. Watching this video gave me a much stronger sense of the area.
All this talk of flood gates and disasters reminded me of a novel i read years ago called "Deluge" by Richard E. Doyle (published 1978). This tells the story of a massive storm surge in the North Sea which causes a disastrous flood to hit 1970s London and overwhelm the underground network. Cue lots of hand-wringing from government officials about the then under-construction flood barrier not being finished. Not to be confused with multiple other novels of the same name, all of which except Doyle's have a Wikipedia page. It's quite an exciting read in a pulpy page-turner sort of a way, and would perhaps be an interesting starting point for a Jago Hazzard video. The cover art alone would make quite the thumbnail with its depiction of Parliament being hit with an almost comically-oversized wall of water.
I remember reading Deluge when it was released while I was in my early teens, I think I still have it somewhere 😊. Funnily enough my first job was working for a maritime engineering company that was heavily involved with the design of the Thames Barrier.
I grew up on Canvey Island, where this sort of scenario (minus the underground) was not science fiction. It was real history and an ever-present threat.
Not sure if it was a dramatisation of Deluge, but I remember a BBC TV Play For Today about the flooding of London pre-Thames Barrier. That week's Radio Times cover was a single bowler hat floating on water...
@@acoustic_tourist By Graham Williams and called 'London Is Drama'. Took its premise from the GLC's caution ... ''Many areas of London might be under water for days. For example, the Isle of Dogs could be under eight feet of water for six days. River engineers believe that it is not a matter of if there is a flood, but when the flood comes.'
As a young "buck", long ago, an evening drink with a lovely lass in the Old Bull & Bush was always to be followed hopefully by some romance (mostly a forlorn hope, sad to tell) but had I known there was a never-to-be-used station nearby just think how it could have spiced up the evening. What woman could fail to be impressed by a visit to North End and my detailed explanation of its history?
One imagines a kinder, less sober world in which the underground exists primarily to connect pubs, with admission included in the price of a pint. Hm, on reflection, that might not be ideal either, but fervently imagine the good version of that vision.
I was literally watching a video earlier today about French Drains which are effectively what they were worried about. The ground water seeping into the tunnel.
Growing up in Hampstead Way, I cannot but concur with your description of it. Also, as a kid I loved looking out for the "ghost" station, and when I was recently in London, I pointed it out to my son as well.
A pity you didn't end with a last chorus and an invite to "the cast, the orchestra, all the Underground Electric Railways of London lines, and this time, chiefly, yourselves".
For a strange bit of transport nerd stuff, check out Whitestone Pond at the top of the hill. See the strange ramps at each end? North End was on an ancient stagecoach route, and the pond was designed (at the top of a steep hill) to allow horses to drink without stopping.
I think it is about time we revisited the idea of turning that location into an operational Underground Station. With a sensitive design team, we could borrow some heathland, dig down escallator shafts. Built bigger platforms that are future proofed against over crowding. And have a nice big station that is mostly underground, with step free access up to the surface. Given that escalators go down at an angle, we might even be able to have a couple of entrances on different sides of Hamstead Heath. This could radically lower car dependency in the area. And on those grounds, could be an improvement for local people.
In the United States entire cities were built up around the railroads. Atlanta is the 6th largest city in the US and it only exists because it made a nice stop for the railroad. The original name for the place was Terminus.
@@Eric_Hunt194 I really want a Jago Hazzard Music Hall Revue with Yerkes as the deliciously evil villain, accompanied by suitable villain music on the Old Joanna.
Those hideous inter-generic hybrid 'Leylandii' trees (xCupressocyparis leylandii), strike again at the extant North End station. These conifers were obviously planted to screen off views of a building, the subject of a D notice but someone forgot to put them on a schedule for regular maintenance and trimming, so that they would develop as a dense screen. So the outwardly unattractive substation type building is rendered a complete eyesore, in an highly desirable area with arts and crafts houses.
I’ve been there once before on a rainy evening, three days before last New Year’s Eve. ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’ became a nostalgic song from that day.
related fact - the Muppet Show was filmed in the UK at the Elstree studios for a large proportion of it's existence, and because US ad breaks were longer than UK ones they always had a "UK Spot" which filled in the extra program time that the US never got to see. These often consisted of British music hall songs, including "Down at the old Bull and Bush".
I saw it for the first time 2 weeks ago. It’s very eerie, and quite disconcerting when a train goes by and you hear the air being pushed up through the shaft!
I imagine it would amuse you to know that the top of the cutting on the other side of the road at 1:28 was the back garden of William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham. Interesting place, Hampstead North End...
Could you do a video on transit-oriented-development around existing stations? Especially Kidbrooke. But you could look at Southall, Hayes & Harlington, Croydon, Sutton, Nine Elms, Elephant & Castle, Lewisham, Deptford Bridge, Woolwich, Plumsted, Beckton Riverside, Barking Riverside, Rainham (Beam Park), Barking, llford, Stratford, Wembley Park, Walthamstow Central, Tottenham Hale, Meridian Water, Brent Cross Town, All the Actons, Cheshunt, Luton Airport Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, Carpenders Park, Chelmsford, Queens Park/Kilburn High Road, Canada Water, Tolworth, Wandsworth (Gasworks), Neasden, and more.
You seem to have missed off Elm Park and the Dagenhams from the District line as it now is. Although it was part of the LMS when the line first opened. Odd how the Fenchurch St to Southend via Tilbury line ended up being LMS at a the grouping.
There is a London Underground feature hiding in plain sight in Greenwich: the seemingly disused power plant. Again, some Johnston lettering gives a hint. Another hint was when I saw one of the chimneys smoking for a brief period. Maybe I have missed that video, but if not then perhaps this could be a subject.
Greenwich Power Station. Originally a power supply for electric trams. Surplus power used by the underground. Now the underground's only backup power supply if the national grid fails.
Golders Green and the Old Bull and Bush pub got onto my list of memorable places as it was Golders Green Crematorium where I (and many others) said my final, very tearful goodbye to a dear old friend in October 2023. The suitably boozy wake (he would approve) was held at The Old Bull and Bush. RIP Henry :(
Oh, I'm glad you mentioned that. My brother passed away in 2014 and we followed the same plan with him roasted at the Crem and then toasted at the Old Bull & Bush. Yes, we toasted him very well that day.
@@t.p.mckenna We got very toasted as we toasted him. One thing I requested was a G&T made with Bombay Sapphire. As I explained to the bartender, one of my earliest (hazy) memories was us staggering back to Henry's parent's house in Highgate, drinking all the beer in the fridge and then he made me a pint of Bombay Sapphire G&T. Sorry to hear of your brother's passing but I'm glad you at least got to give him a decent send-off!
I almost wonder if it is lingering resentment for the original plans being thwarted that is the reason for the surface building being maintained as an absolute eyesore in what otherwise appears to be a nice area?
so I work in Cold War Heritage (over at the Former RAF Hack Green/RGHQ 10:2 in Cheshire) and you have no idea, most of the cold war sites left (i.e not demolished or on still active military bases) have been been left to fall into disrepair, sold off for wine storage/document storage/Cheese storage etc or been converted into other things, in 15-25 years the government is going to turn round and ask where all our cold war heritage assets have gone whilst they ignore requests by interest groups, trusts and enthusiasts to buy them and restore them for the benefit of the public.
The structural remnant of Britain's cold war legacy is so vast. And much of it is below ground, obviously! Luckily, in documenting these abandoned artefacts, an organisation called Subbrit, starting in the eighties, offers a tremendous effort - and then what they did not manage to get to, the sharper end of the urban exploring community (which I am a part of) has managed to get to the rest, keeping the discoveries mostly offline and non-public. Hopefully between this and the more formal Cold War Heritage work (e.g. above commenter), it's all on record.
@@ollie5399 this is partly what I was talking about, there's a massive disconnect between public interest, which is active and growing, I do Civil Defence Corps Re-enactment/living history as a hobby and the Cold War has exploded (no pun intended) as an area of interest since even I got started 10 (ish) years ago now, but the "big" heritage organizations still won't touch the history with a ten foot pole, the National Trust has no cold war sites under it's care (at all) even the ROC Post they have on their land in Veryan Cornwall is run by a small enthusiasts group and English Heritage only has the 20 Group HQ Royal Observer Corps bunker in York, the other "big" public sites (Hack Green, Scotland's Secret Bunker/Barnton Quarry, the Former RAF Holmpton and Kelvedon Hatch) are all owned by private individuals or trusts. Sad state of affairs really.
@@rothberg107 yes there is a lot of walking from Gospel Oak to Highgate , Kenwood to Hampstead Heath there is an Overground Station in the area near the Royal Free Hospital , then behind the White Stone Pond West Heath and a nice Hill Park in that part and then Golders Hill Park which leads down to Golders Green not to mention the Heath Extension featured in the video behind Hampstead Way . Such a lot of green space ! and quite a few ponds too .
Interesting video to watch as always, however, it would be very helpful if you made a link in the description to google maps of the location for those of us who are not familiar with the area.
I'm an astronomer. Until I started watching Jago's excellent videos, Yerkes was the name of an astronomical observatory in the United States, not the Chicago businessman, public transport mogul and all-round scoundrel. The two are related, of course. Charles Tyson Yerkes provided the money to found the observatory that has borne his name since 1897. It was the observatory of the University of Chicago, and in the early decades of the 20th century, a lot of pioneering work in modern astrophysics was done there. So much so that in 1921, Albert Einstein paid a visit to the observatory. In the decades following World War 2, its focus shifted towards planetary science. Carl Sagan was a research student there. Today, it is no longer an active research observatory. The University of Chicago closed it in 2018, and there was concern that it might be torn down. Happily, a non-profit organisation was founded to keep it going as a science outreach and education facility, and it is open to visitors.
As a carpenter for most of my life, the amount of tales of several story's of underground bunkers, troop shelters, bomb proof storage, deep under London and the surrounding areas are amazing, lovely video thanks for sharing, we wont go into how many times the boys have broken through into the London underground network whoops
Hampstead looks great on a sunny day. Pint of Yerkes in The Old Bull & Bush? Nice day for it. I note the appropriate use of the rainy shot :) Is that the pub Florrie Ford sang about? Many of us know it well as the end song to The Good Old Days, compared by Leonard Sachs. The philanthropic Barnets seem restrained, measured and certainly not fooled unlike the one on the head in that pic of the younger Yerkes which looks like it would wander off and try to mate with the floor mop given half a chance.
It is. The song is an adaptation of an advertising jingle for Budweiser, "Down at the Anhauser Bush", for a British audience, who did _not_ drink American beer in 1904.
I used to go to the Bull and Bush a lot in the late 1990s when I lived in north London and this video has made me want to return to see what it's like today. Even back then I knew little bits of info regarding the station (it was obviously talked about in the pub) but I am very grateful for your video filling in the blanks!
Hidden London Hangouts visited North End, which is the Everest of disused stations as far as I am concerned. Not the double-glazing company, the mountain.
Excellent video Jago! I've been fascinated by this abandoned unfinished station for some years now. Been waiting for your video on this station! I've seen various videos on RUclips of down in the north end station but your 10 minutes masterpiece had just as much if not more interesting information.
Dear Mr Hazzard, you bring very disturbing news about the tubes flood defences are in such a terrible state that the flood gates a have become siezed up. This must be remedied immediately by TfL and a suitably large quantity of WD40 and such tools ordered to free these gates ready for action as intended. Yours sincerely on behalf of C T Yerkes. Best wishes from a flood plain in Oxfordshire.
Knowing British Government incompetency, in the event of the 4 minute warning had happened. They would have still have misplaced the front door key. Or found the wrong key in the first place, when the balloon went up.....
Great video. How interesting! I've lived in HGS for all my life and always thought the tube was so people could visit the Heath Extension. Turns out that's completely false! So much to thank Henrietta for I guess- including the house I sit in at this very moment!
Great video Jago, I love the intriguing/secrets of parts of the underground. One of the curiosities I have come across from the London Transport museum web-page is that ALL distances on the underground are apparently measured from Ongar even thought it was closed nearly 30 years ago? And why Ongar I ask, surely it should be somewhere central like Oxford Circus or somwhere in a similar way to how road mileages are on sign posts measured to Nelson's column in Trafalga Square. My theory is that this is a Cold war relic too because Ongar is the nearest station to Kelveden Hatch nuclear bunker which from 1952 to 1994 was the Government command headquarters should the bomb drop. On the LT museum web page it shows the enamel sign from Ongar station which scarily, if I am right reads "0.0", kind of ground zero? Love to see a video on it???
Ongar was chosen because then all mileposts (well, km-posts) have postive numbers. If you were to start at Oxford Circus you either have two Mileposts with the same number, or have to use negative numbers. So numbers count up from Ongar to Ealing Broadway, and then down to, for example, Upminster - but as Upminster is closer to EWaling than Ongar is you don't go negative.
As you travel a minute or so out of Hampstead to Golders Green, there is a short moment when the tunnel wall disappears into a deeper darkness - the nascent platform for North End Station.
Nearet Underground station to me was Golders Green, 1942 - 1967. Now living in W Sussex. Only in recent years have I learnt about the "North End" station. Don't remember it being visible on my many Tube trips up to central London.
I once got delayed in the tunnel between Hampstead and Golders Green for about 30 mins. I remember there being a platform down there and it looked like disused sidings too. This was in the 1990s with the previous rolling stock.
In the 1970s, Hampstead garden suburb, where this "station" is, was used by LT for an interesting trail, of a Dial a Bus service, to get round opposition to plans by LT, to introduce a regular bus service into the area. It's what we call "Demand responsive transport" today. The LT scheme failed, but apparently, bus services go into the suburb today!
I see you've been working on your sketching perspective - well done (although I'm not sure it's quite up to your perspective on many other things - which is always excellent).
Question for Jago and fans: Any guesses how long you would need to stay in London, and not having transit as hobby it might take to hare ridden every underground line in the course just being in greater London? I get that will very greatly based on where you call home for the duration. OH and I do not want to count the times you might misread a connection and change to the wrong platform (did that a few times during my week plus stay basing out of one of the student hotels near Gower Street and the school all; the schools with in a very short walk). I forgot the name but we were very near Gower Muse and across the street form a combination, bookstore, killer cafe, and live music venue bar. It was row of houses converted into offices or hotels for students and visiting family. Oh and yeah we arrived the day before Liz Truss took office and well that other 'little thing'. A tip of the hat from this retired union officer to rail workers union(s) and their choice to put actions on hold and to the government for NOT going back the tradition of shutting everything and everyone down for official mourning for weeks.
I don't think I have done the entire network but pretty much all in about 55 years for work shopping visiting relatives shows lectures and the odd travel for the hell of it inc aldwych shuttle cravens unit , steam on the met, and epping on Charles and di wedding on the special ticket that day, i did battersea power station opening day and working in East London most of the dlr and overground too. Its a useful network along with rail too as again more work and realitves in areas close to those stations plus Chessington zoo. I tend to use buses more as though slower they are cheaper
@@highpath4776 So not unlike the old American advert for tootsie pop's(how many licks does it take to get to the center of Tootsie Popp?),the answer tends to be "nobody knows".
A few things come to mind. With the depth of the station 22_' odd feet and no escalator when it was first to be built I can think of some possible things: - If you were tempted (assuming they had been built) to buy a house in the area, on that first ascent to ground level I would think many thoughts would be along the line of "Are you daft?! Doing this everyday?" After all this is roughly the height of a 18 - 20 storey building, depending on how many feet to a floor. - Following that this station would likely have set the Undergrounds record for number of fatal heart attacks, just because of inaccessibility. - For those that did purchase and survived, they would likely have extremely good leg conditioning. - If you were part of the Underground cleaning staff, you would know right quick when you were in your Supervisor's bad books when you were assigned to stair cleaning at this station.
We used to walk past it in the 70's and speculate wildly as to it's 'true' purpose. Thanks for the history and that it's now used as an emergency exit. At least it has some continued use :)
Well the idea of a "lift" has been around since the medieval period - you just wouldn't use them for going too high because they took ages to move anywhere and there was no safety involved at all. They were mainly operated by treadmills with people walking in them and were used to move heavy objects around like stone blocks for making castle walls. The modern "safety" elevator (not it's official term, nicked it from the "safety" bicycle) was an Otis invention in the 1880s (IIRC) which coupled with a steam engine would allow them to safely traverse the highest of buildings, why some of them were even 12 stories tall! Real sky scrapers! Escalators came later, in the 1890s after the electric motor became popular and powerful enough to move a floor - they were first demonstrated at the Columbian exposition in horizontal form as moving sidewalks
@@lloydcollins6337 Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator in 1852, originally to move machinery from street level to the upper floors of his warehouse. Tim Hunkin has an excellent video on the subject.
The City and South London Railway was using hydraulic powered lifts when it opened in 1890, electric motors were not thought reliable enough at the time.
Speaking of London and nuclear attack, I know you don't do gaming, but would you consider doing a review of the recent 'Fallout: London' mod for 'Fallout 4'? Even if limited to the transport and other (real and fictional) infrastructure portrayed in it rather than the fighting, story, and gameplay.
@@samuelfellows6923 Of course ! ! .... but just think how much of that you breath in , for the folk that use the tube twice a day to go to work .............. DAVE™🛑
Wouldn't you just know it, I happened to watch the Secrets Of The London Underground episode about North End earlier this afternoon. Apparently, rumours still abound whether this scheme was originated down at the Old Bull And Bush (la la la la la...)
there is a very good episode shown on dave for secret underground where they walk through north end station and show the various aspects that still exist.
Nice to see you in my local area! The tracks would have gone past Hampstead to the Golders Green area anyway, as they needed open space to build the train depot, so it made sense to build Golders Green station as well. A station there would have been a "nice to have" station, but in reality the distance to Golders Green station isn't very long anyway, and it's well connected by buses, so it would have largely just spread the passengers between the stations, rather than creating new traffic for the Underground.
When I worked in Greensboro (spelling!!!) in North Carolina, theres a towm to the South West called "HighPoint". This is, so I was told, the highest point on the railway between New York and New Orleans. Its now quite a sizeable town.
The Old Bull & Bush was the rendezvous for Londoners after a High Day spent on Hampstead Heath where they could escape the city's fetid air. Presumably how it became known as the lungs of London. It then got its own song, as popularised by Florrie Forde, though that was originally a German folk song commissioned by a brewery ... Come, come, come and make eyes with me Under the Anheuser Bush Come, come drink some "Budwise" with me Under the Anheuser Bush Hear the old German band... [followed by a bar of "Oh du lieber Augustin"] Just let me hold your hand - Yah! Do, do come and have a stein or two Under the Anheuser Bush
I'm beginning to think that every mention of Yerkes in a Jago episode ought to be preceeded by the silent era cinema-style dramatic piano that accompanied the villain tying the girl to the tracks, preferably with a Yerkes lookalike twirling his moustache and heading off in the direction of 'away', in a hat and cape outfit not unlike Dick Dastardly. That's the mental image I get anyway. A snickering canine companion wouldn't go amiss, either 🙂
Or use the Doofenshmirtz jingle
A Hazardous / Foreman production?
Perfect. I've drunk all the beer I had in the house this weekend, so my liver is safe if CTY is mentioned, for once.
The failure of North End being completed is an early victory for the forces of NIMBY.
@@brianartilleryThe evil thwarters of progress! 😂😂
"Russen fussen
Chas Yerkes. He he he he"
Back in the 1970s, a friend of mine worked for the LT Lifts & Escalators division. In idle moments, he would amuse himself by dialling random numbers on the LT auto phone network. One day, one of the numbers answered, "Bull & Bush" and added, very sharply, "How did you get this number?"
London Underground still refer to that as the Bull & Bush evacuation shaft.
It's to incentivize people escaping, as they think they're heading for the pub.
@@davidjames579😂
@@davidjames579 singing "Up at the old Bull and Bush" as they climb the stairs? 🤣
Back in 2008 I was the manager for a track lowering team, to accomodate the new trains coming to the Northern line. Our access was Bull & Bush (North End) station.
Most of the station below ground was completed, ticket hall, lift shafts, stairwells. However the platforms were not there, when we accessed.
Good memories of my days with Tubelines CAPEX team. Great info and video.
Ah but that's the back door.
The front door was through the gates at the roundabout, opposite Jack Straws Castle, the original entrance to Heath House circa 1790.
Many interesting vehicles were seen dropping people off at a military style cottage, of the type you see at many a cold war bunker, after getting past the security gates by the war memorial.
Heath House is now accessed from North end way and a new flat complex is being built over the site of the cottage.
In London there must be many things that you walk past that you don't really notice that have a purpose that you will not be told about
Shhh!
Homeless people?
I did actually notice the Palace of Westminster/Houses of Parliament, however, the purpose of a government dormitory, for sleeping politicians, escapes me.
@@apb3251 exactly! The purpose of homeless people is to keep the rest of you under control - out of fear of ending up like them yourself. Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die! 🤣
This was the first unfinished station I knew in London and it was the reason why I dug into the tube history a bit more.
Good pun!
1:05 He’s our chum at this point 😂
He is the anchor to this channel.
There was a lift in the shaft which was maintained by the Lifts and Escalator Division of LT when I worked there in the '70s. The guys who worked on the Small Lift Dept. used to tell us that when they got to the bottom of the shaft a large steel door would open and a man dressed all in black carrying a large Webbley revolver would appear to check their bona-fides then dissappear behind the door.
Good timing for this North Carolina viewer. I'm currently reading What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, which mostly takes place on and around Hampstead Heath. Watching this video gave me a much stronger sense of the area.
Good books, Not read that one is it recent ?
All this talk of flood gates and disasters reminded me of a novel i read years ago called "Deluge" by Richard E. Doyle (published 1978). This tells the story of a massive storm surge in the North Sea which causes a disastrous flood to hit 1970s London and overwhelm the underground network. Cue lots of hand-wringing from government officials about the then under-construction flood barrier not being finished. Not to be confused with multiple other novels of the same name, all of which except Doyle's have a Wikipedia page. It's quite an exciting read in a pulpy page-turner sort of a way, and would perhaps be an interesting starting point for a Jago Hazzard video. The cover art alone would make quite the thumbnail with its depiction of Parliament being hit with an almost comically-oversized wall of water.
I remember reading Deluge when it was released while I was in my early teens, I think I still have it somewhere 😊. Funnily enough my first job was working for a maritime engineering company that was heavily involved with the design of the Thames Barrier.
I grew up on Canvey Island, where this sort of scenario (minus the underground) was not science fiction. It was real history and an ever-present threat.
Not sure if it was a dramatisation of Deluge, but I remember a BBC TV Play For Today about the flooding of London pre-Thames Barrier. That week's Radio Times cover was a single bowler hat floating on water...
@@acoustic_tourist By Graham Williams and called 'London Is Drama'. Took its premise from the GLC's caution ... ''Many areas of London might be under water for days. For example, the Isle of Dogs could be under eight feet of water for six days. River engineers believe that it is not a matter of if there is a flood, but when the flood comes.'
As a young "buck", long ago, an evening drink with a lovely lass in the Old Bull & Bush was always to be followed hopefully by some romance (mostly a forlorn hope, sad to tell) but had I known there was a never-to-be-used station nearby just think how it could have spiced up the evening. What woman could fail to be impressed by a visit to North End and my detailed explanation of its history?
"What woman could fail to be impressed...?" Quite a few, I suspect.
If you look really closely when going between golders green and hampstead, you can still kind of see where the platforms were
It’s still an active intervention point. Station managers at Hendon arrange familiarisation visits for the LFB.
this nearly station was featured on the series Secrets of the Underground on UKtv
One imagines a kinder, less sober world in which the underground exists primarily to connect pubs, with admission included in the price of a pint.
Hm, on reflection, that might not be ideal either, but fervently imagine the good version of that vision.
one wonders how much drinking was required to come up with this
Most interesting, Jago! 5:09 that actually happened here a couple of years ago when a tunnel for an airport transit line drained a marsh above...
I was literally watching a video earlier today about French Drains which are effectively what they were worried about. The ground water seeping into the tunnel.
Really interesting to learn about the origin of the Heath extension, I had no idea. NB, do you think the portrait of Yerkes is your most used still ?
Growing up in Hampstead Way, I cannot but concur with your description of it.
Also, as a kid I loved looking out for the "ghost" station, and when I was recently in London, I pointed it out to my son as well.
A pity you didn't end with a last chorus and an invite to "the cast, the orchestra, all the Underground Electric Railways of London lines, and this time, chiefly, yourselves".
Jago's probably too young to get the reference!
I used to hate that programme.
For a strange bit of transport nerd stuff, check out Whitestone Pond at the top of the hill. See the strange ramps at each end? North End was on an ancient stagecoach route, and the pond was designed (at the top of a steep hill) to allow horses to drink without stopping.
possibly also to wet the wheels, which would have shrunk and got a bit wobbly if the wood got too dry
Yes, seeing those “soot” streaks on the sides of the door and the bottom of the vent = where the trains are pushing the air out
I think it is about time we revisited the idea of turning that location into an operational Underground Station.
With a sensitive design team, we could borrow some heathland, dig down escallator shafts. Built bigger platforms that are future proofed against over crowding. And have a nice big station that is mostly underground, with step free access up to the surface. Given that escalators go down at an angle, we might even be able to have a couple of entrances on different sides of Hamstead Heath.
This could radically lower car dependency in the area. And on those grounds, could be an improvement for local people.
It's not needed. Only a short walk or bus ride to Golders Green station, and the people who don't use the tube would continue to not use the tube.
One of the wealthiest corners of London and not many tube users among them.
In the United States entire cities were built up around the railroads. Atlanta is the 6th largest city in the US and it only exists because it made a nice stop for the railroad. The original name for the place was Terminus.
You stay away from that Hampstead Heath Jago, my Mum told me that thats where naughty boys go.
no its not
Don't worry it has it's own police.
Not the Heath Extension, but I am not letting on where. Suffice it to say that it is quite a way from the Extension, nearer where I went to school 😂😂😂
"Viewer Discretion: Video Contains Yerkes" 😋
Smelling Salts advised
I'm triggered!
Ach, we’re all usually in disarray if CTY does not make his way in 😂
Well, after all these years of RUclips, it's about time that Jago Hazzard gave a mention of Charles Yerkes!
'e's a right dodgy geezer, 'e is 🤣
@@MelanieRuck-dq5uo Yerkes? Why, he's a bounder and a cad!
@@Eric_Hunt194 My type of man lol!
@@Eric_Hunt194 I really want a Jago Hazzard Music Hall Revue with Yerkes as the deliciously evil villain, accompanied by suitable villain music on the Old Joanna.
Those hideous inter-generic hybrid 'Leylandii' trees (xCupressocyparis leylandii), strike again at the extant North End station. These conifers were obviously planted to screen off views of a building, the subject of a D notice but someone forgot to put them on a schedule for regular maintenance and trimming, so that they would develop as a dense screen. So the outwardly unattractive substation type building is rendered a complete eyesore, in an highly desirable area with arts and crafts houses.
Yay! Yerkes is back!
The mere mention of his name freezes the soul.
I’ve been there once before on a rainy evening, three days before last New Year’s Eve. ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’ became a nostalgic song from that day.
The Bull and Bush pub IS the one the song is about
related fact - the Muppet Show was filmed in the UK at the Elstree studios for a large proportion of it's existence, and because US ad breaks were longer than UK ones they always had a "UK Spot" which filled in the extra program time that the US never got to see. These often consisted of British music hall songs, including "Down at the old Bull and Bush".
@@lloydcollins6337 That song was adapted from an American promotional song called "Under the Anheuser Bush"
I saw it for the first time 2 weeks ago. It’s very eerie, and quite disconcerting when a train goes by and you hear the air being pushed up through the shaft!
8:41 “for the time being…” ☠️ ☢️
Finally another Yerkes episode.
Also, damn interesting in general.
I imagine it would amuse you to know that the top of the cutting on the other side of the road at 1:28 was the back garden of William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham. Interesting place, Hampstead North End...
The Hill Garden or the other side?
@@rothberg107 The other side from the Hill, and nearer North End
at the top of the embankment. You can access the garden from North End Avenue .
LOOOOOORD PALMERSTON
I seem to recall that Alan Amos MP had an extension on the Heath back in 1992. 8:44
Was he the one that claimed to be "watching badgers"?
@@Tevildo that was Welsh Secretary Ron Davies, several years later
More than a few mentions of Charles Tyson Yerkes, so my Sunday is complete.
Cheers Jago
Dick Dastardly and Mutley whenever JH says Yerkes 😂
On a Pump trolley
Could you do a video on transit-oriented-development around existing stations? Especially Kidbrooke. But you could look at Southall, Hayes & Harlington, Croydon, Sutton, Nine Elms, Elephant & Castle, Lewisham, Deptford Bridge, Woolwich, Plumsted, Beckton Riverside, Barking Riverside, Rainham (Beam Park), Barking, llford, Stratford, Wembley Park, Walthamstow Central, Tottenham Hale, Meridian Water, Brent Cross Town, All the Actons, Cheshunt, Luton Airport Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, Carpenders Park, Chelmsford, Queens Park/Kilburn High Road, Canada Water, Tolworth, Wandsworth (Gasworks), Neasden, and more.
You forgot Northolt Park.
You seem to have missed off Elm Park and the Dagenhams from the District line as it now is. Although it was part of the LMS when the line first opened. Odd how the Fenchurch St to Southend via Tilbury line ended up being LMS at a the grouping.
@@johnm2012 where in Northolt Park? I can't see any large scale developments or plans
@@AlanEvans789 Re-development? Or the current layout from when it was first built?
There is a London Underground feature hiding in plain sight in Greenwich: the seemingly disused power plant. Again, some Johnston lettering gives a hint. Another hint was when I saw one of the chimneys smoking for a brief period. Maybe I have missed that video, but if not then perhaps this could be a subject.
Greenwich Power Station. Originally a power supply for electric trams. Surplus power used by the underground. Now the underground's only backup power supply if the national grid fails.
Golders Green and the Old Bull and Bush pub got onto my list of memorable places as it was Golders Green Crematorium where I (and many others) said my final, very tearful goodbye to a dear old friend in October 2023. The suitably boozy wake (he would approve) was held at The Old Bull and Bush.
RIP Henry :(
Oh, I'm glad you mentioned that. My brother passed away in 2014 and we followed the same plan with him roasted at the Crem and then toasted at the Old Bull & Bush. Yes, we toasted him very well that day.
@@t.p.mckenna We got very toasted as we toasted him.
One thing I requested was a G&T made with Bombay Sapphire. As I explained to the bartender, one of my earliest (hazy) memories was us staggering back to Henry's parent's house in Highgate, drinking all the beer in the fridge and then he made me a pint of Bombay Sapphire G&T.
Sorry to hear of your brother's passing but I'm glad you at least got to give him a decent send-off!
London transport museum hav uploaded a video from this place.
North End (Bull and Bush) | Hidden London Hangouts (S06E02)
Yerkes trying to get a monopoly on bomb shelters too!
I almost wonder if it is lingering resentment for the original plans being thwarted that is the reason for the surface building being maintained as an absolute eyesore in what otherwise appears to be a nice area?
Cold War archaeology is so overlooked
so I work in Cold War Heritage (over at the Former RAF Hack Green/RGHQ 10:2 in Cheshire) and you have no idea, most of the cold war sites left (i.e not demolished or on still active military bases) have been been left to fall into disrepair, sold off for wine storage/document storage/Cheese storage etc or been converted into other things, in 15-25 years the government is going to turn round and ask where all our cold war heritage assets have gone whilst they ignore requests by interest groups, trusts and enthusiasts to buy them and restore them for the benefit of the public.
as was intended if they designed it tight 😉
And that Waterloo still has an air-raid/civil-defence siren/alarm on top of a bridge pillar as a war-relic,
The structural remnant of Britain's cold war legacy is so vast. And much of it is below ground, obviously! Luckily, in documenting these abandoned artefacts, an organisation called Subbrit, starting in the eighties, offers a tremendous effort - and then what they did not manage to get to, the sharper end of the urban exploring community (which I am a part of) has managed to get to the rest, keeping the discoveries mostly offline and non-public. Hopefully between this and the more formal Cold War Heritage work (e.g. above commenter), it's all on record.
@@ollie5399 this is partly what I was talking about, there's a massive disconnect between public interest, which is active and growing, I do Civil Defence Corps Re-enactment/living history as a hobby and the Cold War has exploded (no pun intended) as an area of interest since even I got started 10 (ish) years ago now, but the "big" heritage organizations still won't touch the history with a ten foot pole, the National Trust has no cold war sites under it's care (at all) even the ROC Post they have on their land in Veryan Cornwall is run by a small enthusiasts group and English Heritage only has the 20 Group HQ Royal Observer Corps bunker in York, the other "big" public sites (Hack Green, Scotland's Secret Bunker/Barnton Quarry, the Former RAF Holmpton and Kelvedon Hatch) are all owned by private individuals or trusts. Sad state of affairs really.
I guess Hampstead is nice having all that green land I can walk there from my house ; it's along way between Hampstead and Golders Green .
Also done the walk from Hampstead Way to Spaniards Lane over the Heath.
@@rothberg107 yes there is a lot of walking from Gospel Oak to Highgate , Kenwood to Hampstead Heath there is an Overground Station in the area near the Royal Free Hospital , then behind the White Stone Pond West Heath and a nice Hill Park in that part and then Golders Hill Park which leads down to Golders Green not to mention the Heath Extension featured in the video behind Hampstead Way . Such a lot of green space ! and quite a few ponds too .
Interesting video to watch as always, however, it would be very helpful if you made a link in the description to google maps of the location for those of us who are not familiar with the area.
There's a Wikipedia page for "North End tube station" which has the coordinates: 51.56899°N 0.18232°W
Just go slightly down from the pointer to the corner.
maps.app.goo.gl/ZRh9AsHkGDuEXcJb7
Every pub should have a tube station.
Angel?
Yerkes Strikes again!!
I'm an astronomer. Until I started watching Jago's excellent videos, Yerkes was the name of an astronomical observatory in the United States, not the Chicago businessman, public transport mogul and all-round scoundrel. The two are related, of course. Charles Tyson Yerkes provided the money to found the observatory that has borne his name since 1897. It was the observatory of the University of Chicago, and in the early decades of the 20th century, a lot of pioneering work in modern astrophysics was done there. So much so that in 1921, Albert Einstein paid a visit to the observatory. In the decades following World War 2, its focus shifted towards planetary science. Carl Sagan was a research student there. Today, it is no longer an active research observatory. The University of Chicago closed it in 2018, and there was concern that it might be torn down. Happily, a non-profit organisation was founded to keep it going as a science outreach and education facility, and it is open to visitors.
As a carpenter for most of my life, the amount of tales of several story's of underground bunkers, troop shelters, bomb proof storage, deep under London and the surrounding areas are amazing, lovely video thanks for sharing, we wont go into how many times the boys have broken through into the London underground network whoops
CTY!! Yes!
Always appreciate hearing about Yerkes.
Hampstead looks great on a sunny day.
Pint of Yerkes in The Old Bull & Bush? Nice day for it.
I note the appropriate use of the rainy shot :)
Is that the pub Florrie Ford sang about? Many of us know it well as the end song to The Good Old Days, compared by Leonard Sachs.
The philanthropic Barnets seem restrained, measured and certainly not fooled unlike the one on the head in that pic of the younger Yerkes which looks like it would wander off and try to mate with the floor mop given half a chance.
It is. The song is an adaptation of an advertising jingle for Budweiser, "Down at the Anhauser Bush", for a British audience, who did _not_ drink American beer in 1904.
This station has such a fascinating story! It would be so spooky visiting it too!
The Hidden London video on it was very interesting.
@@Ghauster yes, I've watched that one. And the episode Of Secrets of the London Underground.
Why do I always picture Charles Tyson Yerkes shaking his fist shouting "I'll ruin you Hazzard" every time you describe him?
I used to go to the Bull and Bush a lot in the late 1990s when I lived in north London and this video has made me want to return to see what it's like today. Even back then I knew little bits of info regarding the station (it was obviously talked about in the pub) but I am very grateful for your video filling in the blanks!
Hasn't changed that much . most of the land is probably dedicated green space and pretty much exclusive , price wise for properties .
these videos just keep getting better and better :)
I think I remember Geoff Marshall talking about this in one of his videos and always wanted more information. Love your videos by the way.
Hidden London Hangouts visited North End, which is the Everest of disused stations as far as I am concerned. Not the double-glazing company, the mountain.
@@TheTimGowen- ‘Fit the best!’
Excellent video Jago! I've been fascinated by this abandoned unfinished station for some years now. Been waiting for your video on this station! I've seen various videos on RUclips of down in the north end station but your 10 minutes masterpiece had just as much if not more interesting information.
So the Barnetts read our favourite con artist for just what he was..! 🤣
Dear Mr Hazzard, you bring very disturbing news about the tubes flood defences are in such a terrible state that the flood gates a have become siezed up. This must be remedied immediately by TfL and a suitably large quantity of WD40 and such tools ordered to free these gates ready for action as intended. Yours sincerely on behalf of C T Yerkes. Best wishes from a flood plain in Oxfordshire.
They can probably find lots of lube on Hampstead Heath that can be used
Awesome. Great video. Good to have a video mention CTY too. It feels like it has been a while.
Bull and Bush! Like Haxo on the French Metro
Oddly disconcerting to see Jago exactly in my neck of the woods...!
If you are in the Suburb you might have seen an article about this in a recent suburb times.
Knowing British Government incompetency, in the event of the 4 minute warning had happened. They would have still have misplaced the front door key. Or found the wrong key in the first place, when the balloon went up.....
Maybe that is why they always have police outside No. 10, because the key has been lost!
Great video. How interesting! I've lived in HGS for all my life and always thought the tube was so people could visit the Heath Extension. Turns out that's completely false! So much to thank Henrietta for I guess- including the house I sit in at this very moment!
Which streets have you lived on? I grew up in Hampstead Way ❤
Great video Jago, I love the intriguing/secrets of parts of the underground. One of the curiosities I have come across from the London Transport museum web-page is that ALL distances on the underground are apparently measured from Ongar even thought it was closed nearly 30 years ago? And why Ongar I ask, surely it should be somewhere central like Oxford Circus or somwhere in a similar way to how road mileages are on sign posts measured to Nelson's column in Trafalga Square. My theory is that this is a Cold war relic too because Ongar is the nearest station to Kelveden Hatch nuclear bunker which from 1952 to 1994 was the Government command headquarters should the bomb drop. On the LT museum web page it shows the enamel sign from Ongar station which scarily, if I am right reads "0.0", kind of ground zero? Love to see a video on it???
Ongar was chosen because then all mileposts (well, km-posts) have postive numbers. If you were to start at Oxford Circus you either have two Mileposts with the same number, or have to use negative numbers.
So numbers count up from Ongar to Ealing Broadway, and then down to, for example, Upminster - but as Upminster is closer to EWaling than Ongar is you don't go negative.
As you travel a minute or so out of Hampstead to Golders Green, there is a short moment when the tunnel wall disappears into a deeper darkness - the nascent platform for North End Station.
Jago of the Yard investigates the mysterious affair of the missing station.
Nearet Underground station to me was Golders Green, 1942 - 1967. Now living in W Sussex. Only in recent years have I learnt about the "North End" station. Don't remember it being visible on my many Tube trips up to central London.
I once got delayed in the tunnel between Hampstead and Golders Green for about 30 mins. I remember there being a platform down there and it looked like disused sidings too. This was in the 1990s with the previous rolling stock.
I love the story about Henrietta. What a smart and thoughtful person she was.
In the 1970s, Hampstead garden suburb, where this "station" is, was used by LT for an interesting trail, of a Dial a Bus service, to get round opposition to plans by LT, to introduce a regular bus service into the area. It's what we call "Demand responsive transport" today. The LT scheme failed, but apparently, bus services go into the suburb today!
I see you've been working on your sketching perspective - well done (although I'm not sure it's quite up to your perspective on many other things - which is always excellent).
Question for Jago and fans: Any guesses how long you would need to stay in London, and not having transit as hobby it might take to hare ridden every underground line in the course just being in greater London? I get that will very greatly based on where you call home for the duration. OH and I do not want to count the times you might misread a connection and change to the wrong platform (did that a few times during my week plus stay basing out of one of the student hotels near Gower Street and the school all; the schools with in a very short walk). I forgot the name but we were very near Gower Muse and across the street form a combination, bookstore, killer cafe, and live music venue bar. It was row of houses converted into offices or hotels for students and visiting family. Oh and yeah we arrived the day before Liz Truss took office and well that other 'little thing'. A tip of the hat from this retired union officer to rail workers union(s) and their choice to put actions on hold and to the government for NOT going back the tradition of shutting everything and everyone down for official mourning for weeks.
I don't think I have done the entire network but pretty much all in about 55 years for work shopping visiting relatives shows lectures and the odd travel for the hell of it inc aldwych shuttle cravens unit , steam on the met, and epping on Charles and di wedding on the special ticket that day, i did battersea power station opening day and working in East London most of the dlr and overground too. Its a useful network along with rail too as again more work and realitves in areas close to those stations plus Chessington zoo. I tend to use buses more as though slower they are cheaper
@@highpath4776 So not unlike the old American advert for tootsie pop's(how many licks does it take to get to the center of Tootsie Popp?),the answer tends to be "nobody knows".
A few things come to mind. With the depth of the station 22_' odd feet and no escalator when it was first to be built I can think of some possible things:
- If you were tempted (assuming they had been built) to buy a house in the area, on that first ascent to ground level I would think many thoughts would be along the line of "Are you daft?! Doing this everyday?" After all this is roughly the height of a 18 - 20 storey building, depending on how many feet to a floor.
- Following that this station would likely have set the Undergrounds record for number of fatal heart attacks, just because of inaccessibility.
- For those that did purchase and survived, they would likely have extremely good leg conditioning.
- If you were part of the Underground cleaning staff, you would know right quick when you were in your Supervisor's bad books when you were assigned to stair cleaning at this station.
No escalator - but there woiuld have been lifts, just as at all other Tube stations of that era.
We used to walk past it in the 70's and speculate wildly as to it's 'true' purpose. Thanks for the history and that it's now used as an emergency exit. At least it has some continued use :)
Singapore do that a lot as well, back in 2011 there was a whole LRT line finished but not opened, because it was made for a future development
One interesting takeaway from this video is the fact that lifts/elevators came before the escalators.
Well the idea of a "lift" has been around since the medieval period - you just wouldn't use them for going too high because they took ages to move anywhere and there was no safety involved at all. They were mainly operated by treadmills with people walking in them and were used to move heavy objects around like stone blocks for making castle walls.
The modern "safety" elevator (not it's official term, nicked it from the "safety" bicycle) was an Otis invention in the 1880s (IIRC) which coupled with a steam engine would allow them to safely traverse the highest of buildings, why some of them were even 12 stories tall! Real sky scrapers!
Escalators came later, in the 1890s after the electric motor became popular and powerful enough to move a floor - they were first demonstrated at the Columbian exposition in horizontal form as moving sidewalks
@@lloydcollins6337 Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator in 1852, originally to move machinery from street level to the upper floors of his warehouse. Tim Hunkin has an excellent video on the subject.
The City and South London Railway was using hydraulic powered lifts when it opened in 1890, electric motors were not thought reliable enough at the time.
Definitely not a load of “Old Bull & Bush”. 👏👏
I always wondered where the ‘Old Bull and Bush’ was! Excellent video as always.
Speaking of London and nuclear attack, I know you don't do gaming, but would you consider doing a review of the recent 'Fallout: London' mod for 'Fallout 4'?
Even if limited to the transport and other (real and fictional) infrastructure portrayed in it rather than the fighting, story, and gameplay.
I'm a gamer but never played fallout, although I am interested in this mod. I'll check it out. Thank you! 😊
Great video sir!
I worked at Temple Fortune end of Hampstead Way for about 12 years and lived nearby from early '79 to late '90. As you say there isn't much to see.
Yerkes! That's another stamp on my Jago Bingo Card. I'm off down the Old Bull And Bush to celebrate.
The black smoke stain around the green door ( at 8:54 ) looks ominous ( ? ) ..... DAVE™🛑
✅ - that would be break-pad soot made by the tube trains and pushed out by them
@@samuelfellows6923 Of course ! ! .... but just think how much of that you breath in , for the folk that use the tube twice a day to go to work .............. DAVE™🛑
@@davidfalconer8913 - ⚠️🌫😷
Wouldn't you just know it, I happened to watch the Secrets Of The London Underground episode about North End earlier this afternoon. Apparently, rumours still abound whether this scheme was originated down at the Old Bull And Bush (la la la la la...)
Who doesn't love UERL nostalgia
there is a very good episode shown on dave for secret underground where they walk through north end station and show the various aspects that still exist.
We need a episode of your splendid your tube channel referencing cockney London songs / slang and the chuffers please.
Great video JH
Thanks for the Hampstead Heath Extension Yerkes!
Yerkes again.....a famous personality on this channel. Love this video though.
Nice to see you in my local area! The tracks would have gone past Hampstead to the Golders Green area anyway, as they needed open space to build the train depot, so it made sense to build Golders Green station as well.
A station there would have been a "nice to have" station, but in reality the distance to Golders Green station isn't very long anyway, and it's well connected by buses, so it would have largely just spread the passengers between the stations, rather than creating new traffic for the Underground.
Fascinating!
Jago Hazzard, Tale from the Tube, Charles Tyson Yerkes with accompanying image. Day = complete. Thanks for a very fascinating video.
Interesting video, I went down the Old Bull and Bush once.
WOW! Charles Yerkes and Threads all in the same video. Cheersing with a pint whilst I duck and cover.
When I worked in Greensboro (spelling!!!) in North Carolina, theres a towm to the South West called "HighPoint". This is, so I was told, the highest point on the railway between New York and New Orleans. Its now quite a sizeable town.
The Old Bull & Bush was the rendezvous for Londoners after a High Day spent on Hampstead Heath where they could escape the city's fetid air. Presumably how it became known as the lungs of London. It then got its own song, as popularised by Florrie Forde, though that was originally a German folk song commissioned by a brewery ...
Come, come, come and make eyes with me
Under the Anheuser Bush
Come, come drink some "Budwise" with me
Under the Anheuser Bush
Hear the old German band... [followed by a bar of "Oh du lieber Augustin"]
Just let me hold your hand - Yah!
Do, do come and have a stein or two
Under the Anheuser Bush