Starting next week, the main Central line ticket hall at Bank station will become exit-only in the mornings. There will also be a reduced down escalator service to the Central line during the evening peak.
This affects the ticket hall underneath Bank road junction, not the entrance at Lombard Street which gives quicker access to the Northern line and DLR.
The restrictions are part of the works being undertaken for the Bank station upgrade, as a plant room has had to be moved to enable the works to add a new travolator linking the Central and Northern lines.
Customers arriving at Bank via the Waterloo & City line from Monday 1st April will be directed to use the new Walbrook exit. Those interchanging on to the Central line will be directed via the Waterloo & City line subway.
It is human nature to follow paths we are familiar with, and a lot of people using the Waterloo & City line will still be unaware of the new exit that’s off to one side from their routine route out of the station — so it will be interesting to see if when the Central line entrance is reopened, how many people stick to using the Walbrook exit as it turns out to be more convenient.
Customers entering Bank station for the Central line in the mornings should follow the signs to the Northern line ticket hall, use the lifts down to the subway level and follow the signs from there.
The restrictions will be in place until the middle of July.
Incidentally, the Central line ticket hall is known as the “bullring” in TfL’s internal documents.
“Customers entering Bank station for the Central line in the mornings should follow the signs to the Northern line ticket hall, use the lifts down to the subway level”
Then TfL had better switch all of them on. When I use them, most are turned off and the portals gated…