London in the upper twenties is fairly horrible, but nobody forced me to come so I shan’t complain.

One of the things I decided to do while I am here was take a Hidden London tour of Piccadilly Circus. It wasn’t quite what I expected: I wanted more about the architects and the design and less about the Underground being used as a wartime bomb shelter. However the guides were very good and informative and it gave me the push to find out more. Basically, Piccadilly Circus tube station was designed by Leslie Green – he of the oxblood-red glazed tiles – and opened in 1906. It was served by 8 lifts, but it was quickly discovered they could not cope with the increasing number of people using the station so it was redesigned to accommodate escalators. Charles Holden was commissioned by Frank Pick; the new station opened in 1928. The circular booking hall was below a vast steel roof that took the weight of all the traffic above. No expense had been spared: Travertine marble and scagliola columns. Despite the closure of so many of the little shops in the hall and modern changes, it’s still impressive.

We were taken through disused tunnels serving the defunct lift shafts – authentic and dirty, with traces of Green’s original tiles and signs. The gentle shades made the modern tiling look horribly garish. The thought of crowded humanity sheltering in the tunnels during wartime nights was chastening. Artworks were also stored in the tunnels: one of the paintings in the photograph of artworks being taken out of storage was by Edward Burra; I was thinking of going to see the current exhibition of his work.

On my way back, I stopped at another of Green’s stations: Russell Square.