Bull and Bush
|
|
The Bull and Bush is a public house near Hampstead Heath in London which gave its name to the music hall song "Down at the old Bull and Bush".
Adjacent to the pub was the site of the proposed North End (aka Bull and Bush) tube station on the Northern Line of the London Underground but only the platforms were excavated, with the station construction being cancelled. The nearest station now is Golders Green.
During the Cold War a shaft to the platform was dug, and the abandoned station became part of the London Underground's civil defence peparations. At 67 metres, the tunnel was the deepest in the network, so was the ideal site for it. The role of the control centre was to manage the emergency flood gates placed throughout the tube network at the start of World War II. During this period, the building at the top was disguised as an electricity substation through the appropriate signage.
The tunnel exit is now marked as an exit route from the underground system, and its role publicly acknowledged.