Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 19:49:53 on Tue, 19
Sep 2017, Recliner remarked:
I wonder why covent garden was spared? Its a small cramped station
that can't really cope with evening crowds and its literally a 3-4
minute walk to leicester square. Its a bit of an anomoly IMO.


IMO the explanation is lots of tourists, who support lots of shops and
restaurants, who pay lots of business rates, add up to a good case not
to make it harder for tourists to find Covent Garden (on the tube map)
and get there.

I suspect the opera house is more likely to be the reason. Covent Garden
was still a fruit market when the other Picc stations closed.

Not to mention the LT Museum — wouldn't it be embarrassing to close the
nearest station to it?

The museum opened in 1980, when were the closures of York Rd, Brompton
Rd etc?

Almost fifty years earlier I think.

I was suggesting that it survived the 1990s closures partly for that
reason. I dare say that there were suggestions to close it rather than
replacing the lifts.

Apart from Aldwych that closed for very different reasons, what others
were shuttered up in the 90's?

The Ongar branch closed on the same day as Aldwych. They could well have
closed Covent Garden on the same day, had there been a desire to do so.