Shoreditch Station Closes

Shoreditch underground station, which has been open since 1876, transported its last passengers on Friday 10 June 2006. Rail enthusiasts, councillors, London Underground Officials and station staff were all there to say goodbye and to welcome in the plans for a new, long-awaited Shoreditch High Street Station which will be one of the new stations along the East London Line Extension.

The station closure created an air of mixed emotions. For the 1,300 commuters who use the station on a daily basis it was one of disappointment. For the station staff and other staff working on the line, it was a very sad affair.

Over the past 8 years Harrington Hargreaves (otherwise known as Pat) and Jo Joseph have come to know many of the passengers and have grown to love them and the colleagues they work with. It will be hard for them to move on but move on they will. Both will be transferred to Aldegate Station.

Jo was certainly the celebrity of the evening, with everyone wanting to talk to her, to hear her experiences at Shoreditch Station over the years and, most importantly, to have her clip their specially commissioned ticket to make the last ever journey into the station.

Most of all the evening was filled with hopeful anticipation of a new underground station which will open up Shoreditch and Hackney to the rest of London, bring regeneration and more job opportunities through economic growth. The new Shoreditch Stations will include Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Kingsland.

The new East London line will take you as far as West Croydon via Canada Water, New Cross, Crystal Palace and Norwood. To the north, it will go to Highbury and Islington where you will be able to pick up the Victoria line.

That's a fond fairwell to Shoreditch Station and a welcome to a new era.