What fills the massive undercroft at Waterloo?

[fandroid]

I'm intrigued as to what there is beneath the platforms and concourse at Waterloo. If you've ever used the mid-platform subway, you'd know that there are at least two levels down there. I know about the commercial development under the old international platforms. There's obviously the Bakerloo/Northern/Waterloo and City Ticket halls plus the Jubilee one by Waterloo Bridge Road, but what else?

 

[matt_world2004]

The vaults nightclub and arts space

 

[Gloster]

Back in 1978 there were a mass of Divisional stores in the undercroft: I remember in 1978 going up there to collect my first uniform. When I say ‘uniform‘, I mean ill-fitting two-part overalls: why I had to go there to collect them I do not know. All later bits of uniform were sent directly to me, but they often didn’t fit either.

 

[KeithMcC]

There is (or was) a small theatre in one of the arches, I once went to a performance of something there, but I can't remember what and who was doing it!

 

[Mikey C]

The passageways directly linking the platforms to the Underground must "block" a fair bit of the space?

 

[DelW]

When I did my PTS training there around about the year 2000, there was a large staff canteen that we used which seemed to offer very good value. I don't remember whether any checks were made on whether customers were actually railway staff, or indeed with privatisation having happened, how widely that would have been interpreted. IIRC it was reached down a staircase from the middle of the concourse.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

There is (or was) a small theatre in one of the arches, I once went to a performance of something there, but I can't remember what and who was doing it!

I think it is the Vaults, I saw Hair there a few years ago.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

There is (or was) a small theatre in one of the arches

Home to the SR Amateur Dramatic Society for many years, and a very pleasant little theatre it was too. Slightly biased as knew one or two of the regular 'players' back in the day. Also various stores, the old Red Star parcels office, the Plan Arch (archive stuff), but as Mikey C says, the under platform passageways must take up a good deal of the space, although I don't have any actual plans of same. Part of the under-croft suffered badly as a result of a direct hit on the station above during the war, care of Herr Goering.

 

[fandroid]

Being of a certain age, I wish there were toilets down there at the low platform number end! I remember a pub beneath the shops there. I don't know if that survived. There's quite a sweep of concourse and inner end of platforms that don't have passages for the Underground. The Jubilee takes space under the shops too and then connects to the Bakerloo/Northern Lines at much deeper level. There is one Underground passage directly below the concourse which is entered from the middle of the concourse towards the low number platforms end. IIRC correctly that connects to the mid-platform subway and the Jubilee ticket hall.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

There is one Underground passage directly below the concourse which is entered from the middle of the concourse towards the low number platforms end

Back in the day that stairway off the main concourse, opposite platforms 8/9 gates approximately, was for some of us the preferred (and quickest) way down to the staff canteen that DelW mentions, after arriving on the blocks. The entrance to the canteen being another set of stairs down, which were in the wall (now blanked off) directly opposite the bottom of the first flight of steps from the main concourse, if that makes sense. Another often used facility sadly missed when it closed. Quite a few of the guys who worked at Waterloo would sit there on their breaks playing rounds of Domino's ISTR....happy days!

Being of a certain age, I wish there were toilets down there at the low platform number end

Use to be many years ago. Opposite platforms 3/4 gates, underground, entrance in the main building at concourse level and down a flight of steps. But they were closed and given over to a pub/wine bar many, many years ago. Can't now remember the name though...

 

[fandroid]

Thanks guys, nice stories about the canteen and the theatre. Perhaps we can get Geoff Marshall to do a video report of everything that's under there now.

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

The LSWR Rifle Club (and its SR and BR successors) had a rifle range down there somewhere, I believe.
Pat

 

[swt_passenger]

Thanks guys, nice stories about the canteen and the theatre. Perhaps we can get Geoff Marshall to do a video report of everything that's under there now.

I think he has touched on it already in this video:

It obviously doesn’t go everywhere, but I think the private areas under the concourse level that are included are fairly representative of the condition of the rest.

 

[birchesgreen]

Is it where the Strategic Reserve fleet are kept?

 

[SynthD]

There are urban explorer videos going into the areas not yet named, probably not legal. The next best source is various 70-90s staff photos on old blogs. I don’t remember any by name.

 

[Wychwood93]

I also picked up a uniform there at some time - a strange world, staff who rarely, if ever, saw daylight! Was the former BRSA club down there somewhere? I visited it once due to a bomb scare at London Bridge (there for some sort of course) and decided a couple of beers a better option than heading directly towards Christchurch.

 

[James H]

This planning application (relating to a feasibility study for the re-use of the Milk Passage at Waterloo) has lots of PDFs and relevant detail likely to interest readers of this thread:

https://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/onl...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=R34NIZBO0KL00

Home to the SR Amateur Dramatic Society for many years, and a very pleasant little theatre it was too

Still there - it's the Network Theatre: https://www.networktheatre.org/

The Vaults (mentioned above) is a more recent arrival on the scene.

 

[edwin_m]

I visited the Telephone Enquiry Bureau somewhere down there in 1987.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Back in the day that stairway off the main concourse, opposite platforms 8/9 gates approximately, was for some of us the preferred (and quickest) way down to the staff canteen that DelW mentions, after arriving on the blocks. The entrance to the canteen being another set of stairs down, which were in the wall (now blanked off) directly opposite the bottom of the first flight of steps from the main concourse, if that makes sense. Another often used facility sadly missed when it closed. Quite a few of the guys who worked at Waterloo would sit there on their breaks playing rounds of Domino's ISTR....happy days!

Use to be many years ago. Opposite platforms 3/4 gates, underground, entrance in the main building at concourse level and down a flight of steps. But they were closed and given over to a pub/wine bar many, many years ago. Can't now remember the name though...

Yes Loos at that end were useful, they were converted to a small pub/wine bar with a French name, possibly Piaf ?

 

[Tio Terry]

In 1988 we had to get cables to the location of the soon to be installed Mercury Payphones on the platforms at Waterloo. To do that we had to get into some of the arches under the station. That was easy for some of them but others were locked and nobody would own up to them being theirs. We asked all departments - this was BR of course - but we still had no idea who "owned" some of them. This was a Must Do job, Thatcher was coming to launch the new service so no excuses for not getting it done. In the end we had to resort to cutting locks off to get in some. They had, it seems, been used for storage of things either just before or during the the second world war which had been long forgotten. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find something similar is still the case, we didn't try to get anywhere we didn't need to go.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

In 1988 we had to get cables to the location of the soon to be installed Mercury Payphones on the platforms at Waterloo. To do that we had to get into some of the arches under the station. That was easy for some of them but others were locked and nobody would own up to them being theirs. We asked all departments - this was BR of course - but we still had no idea who "owned" some of them. This was a Must Do job, Thatcher was coming to launch the new service so no excuses for not getting it done. In the end we had to resort to cutting locks off to get in some. They had, it seems, been used for storage of things either just before or during the the second world war which had been long forgotten. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find something similar is still the case, we didn't try to get anywhere we didn't need to go.

Yes, there are, no doubt some real "Treasures" down there.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

They had, it seems, been used for storage of things either just before or during the the second world war which had been long forgotten.

Surprised that no-one would have received a 40+ year demand for back rent?!

 

[Robert Ambler]

As others have mentioned the staff canteen was down there. If I recall correctly a large part was used as storage for the deeds to railway property and other records. I assume with the fragmentation of the railway estate they have all moved elsewhere.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Is it where the Strategic Reserve fleet are kept?

A secret stash of VEPs?

If the Class 701 debacle continues, we may need to dig them out!

 

[WestAnglian]

I think it is the Vaults, I saw Hair there a few years ago.

Appropriately, I saw Up the Junction, David Hare's takedown of British Rail privatisation and its contribution to crashes, including the Ladbroke Grove disaster.

 

[Tio Terry]

Yes, there are, no doubt some real "Treasures" down there.

The contents of the arches towards the buffer stops is pretty well known. It's the arches further out, towards the platform ends and the throat that less is known about. Some have soil in them, apparently that was put there whilst they were building the other end of the station because there was nowhere else to put it.

There are many stories of ghosts of those who died building the station, but I have no evidence at all of any sightings and have no idea if anyone died during the stations construction.

 

[Ashley Hill]

When I got promoted to a guard I was sent to Waterloo stores for my uniform.
On the BBC documentary A Day In The Life a kitchen is shown down there where BR sandwiches are being made.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I took a number of photos showing the lower depths around the site when the old station, upwards of platform 11, was rebuilt to add two new platforms in place of the old cab road. These new platforms became the present platforms 12 & 13, the original p12 on the Windsor side of the cab road becoming the new p14 etc, and so on upwards, eventually allowing the required space for the new International platforms in their full extent.
The images attached I took from the old loco dock, the EDL (101) standing in No 1 Dock in 1985 and the same view as it was in 1989, platform 11 being behind the hoardings to the right. In the latter view the old cab road ramp leading down through the narrow tunnel to Westminster Bridge Road can be seen on left. In the earlier view the ramp is hidden behind the black railings just to the right of the car.