The station was opened in 1867 as part of the Great Northern Railway's line between Finsbury Park and Edgware stations. As part of London Underground's partially completed Northern Heights plan, main line passenger services ended in 1939 and Northern line trains started serving the station in 1941.
The line was built as a double track formation, but only a single track was laid, with the intention of doubling the track when traffic developed. When the GNR opened a branch from Finchley Central to High Barnet in April 1872, traffic on that section was greater and the second track between Finchley Central and Edgware was never laid. For most of its history the service between those two stations was operated as a shuttle.
In 1935, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) announced a proposal, which became known as the Northern Heights project, to take over the LNER lines from Finsbury Park to Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace, and link them to both the Northern line at East Finchley and to the Northern City Line at Finsbury Park.[n 1] Reconstruction of the line from Finchley Central to Edgware with double tracks began in 1938.[14] The line and Mill Hill East station were closed for electrification on 11 September 1939.[15]
Following the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, completion of the works on the line was slowed. In order to provide a service to the nearby Inglis Barracks, works continued between Finchley Central and Mill Hill East.[14] The station re-opened with electric Northern line services on 18 May 1941.[16] The planned second platform at Mill Hill East was not built and the service continued to operate over the single track line as before.[14][17][n 2]
Post-war
After the war, plans to complete the Northern Heights project were reviewed but no work was carried out. Maintenance works and reconstruction of war damage on the existing network had the greatest call on London Underground funds. Funds for new works were severely limited and priority was given to the completion of the western and eastern extensions of the Central line to West Ruislip, Ongar and Hainault.[18] Despite being shown as under construction on underground maps as late as 1950,[n 3] work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights project.[23][n 4]
British Railways (the successor to the LNER) freight trains continued to serve the station's goods yard until 1 October 1962, when it was closed.[26][n 5] The site of the yard is now a business park.
As one of two EH&LR stations retaining their original buildings (with Finchley Central), it is one of the oldest parts of the Underground system, pre-dating the first tunnelled section of the Northern line (the City and South London Railway) by more than twenty years.[n 6]
Refurbishment of the station was carried out and completed in 2007.[27] The works included structural repairs to the station and platforms, the re-decoration and re-tiling of walls and floors, a new public address system,[27] as well as CCTV cameras and Help Points.[27]
The station was made accessible in 2020 by means of a new lift and link bridge, which was prefabricated off site, and craned into position in August 2019. The lift finally opened in February 2020, becoming the Underground's 79th step-free station.[2]
The station is in Travelcard Zone 4.[3]
With 1.60 million passengers in 2023, it is the 237th busiest station on the network.[6]
As of October 2006[update] the Northern line service was a shuttle on the single track between Finchley Central and Mill Hill East, with the exception of peak-hour services.
Direct weekend trains were discontinued on 20 May 2007.
As of 2014[update] direct peak time trains operated to either Kennington (via Charing Cross) or Morden (via Bank).[29]
However, in 2021, direct trains were reintroduced, with trains now running either to Battersea Power Station via Charing Cross, or to Morden via Bank, each approximately every 30 minutes, giving a train around every 15 minutes on the branch line to Finchley Central.
Mill Hill East also serves Saracens F.C. on match-days when shuttle buses run from the station to a short walking distance from their stadium, Allianz Park.[32]
Notes and references
Notes
^At Edgware, the LNER's station was to be closed with the end of the line diverted into the Northern line's own Edgware station with an extension from there taking the line to Bushey Heath.[13]
^The second track was laid as far as Mill Hill (The Hale), but was lifted when the work was halted in 1941.[14]
^Shown as "under construction", the Northern Heights extensions appeared for the first time on Underground poster maps in 1937 and pocket maps in 1938.[19][20] After the opening of the line to Mill Hill East, the uncompleted remainder of the works were removed from the map between 1943 and 1945.[20] The Mill Hill East to Edgware and Edgware to Bushey Heath sections appeared on the map again from 1946 to 1949 and the Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace section appeared from 1946 to 1950.[21][22]
^The section of the extension between Brockley Hill and Bushey Heath was cancelled in October 1950,[24] leaving the section between Edgware and Brockley Hill and the conversion of the line from Mill Hill East to Edgware to be decided. The announcement of its cancellation was finally made in February 1954.[25]
^Freight services continued to Edgware until 1 June 1964.[26]
Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN1-85260-508-1.
Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN978-1-85414-341-9.
Harris, Cyril M. (2001) [1977]. What's in a name? (4th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN978-1-85414-241-2.
Rose, Douglas (1999) [1980]. The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History (7th ed.). Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN978-1-85414-219-1.
Wolmar, Christian (2005) [2004]. The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. Atlantic Books. ISBN978-1-84354-023-6.
