Leicester Square (ZLS)

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Northern & Piccadilly Lines)
Station code:	ZLS
Opened:	1906
Platforms:	4

Leicester Square was opened in 1906 by the Great Northern, Brompton & Piccadily Line followed the next year by platforms for the Charing Cross, Hamstead & Euston Railway. Originally Leicester Square was to be called Cranbourn Street which is where one of the entrances is [1].

The two lines were renamed the Piccadilly and Northern Lines as time went on and got busier especially as the Northern Line was extended. The station was rebuilt in the 1930s to cope with greatly increased numbers. A sub-surface ticket hall was added and escalators were installed to replace the lifts. The escalators were claimed at the time to be some of the longest in the world [2].

Film sprockets have been painted on the walls along each platform (see photo below) as Leicester Square (the place above) has a number of cinemas and often hosts film premieres. Leicester Square is a typical very busy Zone 1 tube station with nearly 45 million entries and exits a year.

One of the Northern Line platforms 

Cranbourn Street entrance

[1] Desmond F. Coombe, The Piccadilly Line (Capital Transport, 1998) p. 15
[2] Ibid p. 49