Last ever bar on a Tube platform which cost 2p to get into

We’re used to finding loads of bars and pubs to quench our thirst when we spill out of above-ground London stations, but wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to get a pint on the platform after stepping off a sweltering underground train? You actually used to be able to do exactly that, with numerous underground stations equipped with platform bars just waiting to serve the thirsty commuter.

Back in 1985 you could still get a pint at Sloane Square station at platform level. The Hole in the Wall pub was open to Tube passengers and also non-passengers if they purchased a platform pass for just 2p. In the late 1930s it even had it’s own lovingly-looked-after cat named Kim.

The legendary bar is celebrated in a classic 1970s novel by Iris Murdoch called A Word Child. Unfortunately the bar closed in 1985 and was the last to serve alcohol directly onto a London Underground platform. These days it’s been turned into a small shop. In it, the main character Hilary Burde visits the bar numerous times as he attempts to overcome the troubles of his past and find redemption.

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He says: “After leaving the office I would travel to either Sloane Square or Liverpool Street to have a drink in the station buffet….The concept of the Tube station platform bar excited me. These two bars were not just a cosy after-the-office treat. They were a source of dark excitement, places of profound communication with London, with the sources of life.

“Drinking there between 6pm and 7pm in the shifting crowd of rush-hour travellers, one could feel on one’s shoulders…the weariness of toiling London, the blank released tiredness after work which can sometimes console even the bored.”

Platform bars and buying a pint on a Tube train

Going back a bit further in time there were licensed buffets and bars on platforms all over the underground. Many of these lasted well into the 1960s and 70s. They included Baker Street, Mansion House and Liverpool Street.

At the latter, the bar was brilliantly called Pat-Mac’s Drinking Den and had a serving hatch straight onto the platform. At the time of the First World War there were around 30 of these establishments. A bar at South Kensington station was called the Snake Pit, though nobody seems to know why.

A company called Spiers and Pond had refreshment rooms at many of the stations and some were right on the platforms. You could even get a pint on some London Underground trains.

The end of the platform bar

Between 1910 and 1939, you could ride in a Pullman car on some Metropolitan line services and enjoy alcoholic drinks as well as tea and coffee, lunch and snacks and even a light supper. So why did it all come to an end? It’s a bit of a mystery but it seems the Tube companies started tightening up on safety and as commuter services got busier, it just wasn’t as desirable to stop in the stations for a drink.

In the old days, journeys and waiting times were longer and arguably there was more time in and around the working day to take enjoying the pleasures of a pint. Still, if you visit Kew Gardens station to this day, there is still one London Underground pub left.

It doesn’t quite count, because at the The Tap on the Line you have to go outside the station to get into it and it has windows overlooking the platforms not onto them, but it’s as close as you’ll get these days.

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