Angel Tube station will be exit-only at weekends and bank holidays from 2 January 2027 to spare its ageing escalators. Where to board instead, and why.
From Saturday 2 January, anyone heading home from Angel at a weekend will have to walk or take a bus to another station first. Transport for London says Angel Tube station will be exit-only on weekends and bank holidays until further notice, to stretch the life of escalators that are nearly 35 years old.
For Richmond readers who travel into Islington on a Saturday or Sunday, the change cuts one way: you can still arrive at Angel, but you cannot start your journey back from it. On weekdays the station runs normally, and passengers can travel to and exit it at all times, TfL says.
TfL announced the change in a press release on 27 October.
Where to start your journey instead
TfL lists three alternatives for passengers who want to begin a trip from Angel when the station is exit-only:
- King’s Cross St Pancras Tube station, around 1km away, linked to Angel by bus routes 30, 73, 205, 214 and 476
- Old Street Tube station, around 1.5km away, reached by bus routes 43, 205 and 214
- Highbury & Islington station, reached by bus routes 4, 19, 30 and 43
Why the escalators are the problem
Angel has two banks of escalators: one from the ticket hall down to a mid-concourse level, and a second from there to the platforms. The upper bank is the longest on the Tube network, at over 60 metres long with more than 27 metres of vertical rise, TfL says, and repairing the escalators when they fail “is becoming increasingly challenging”.
One of the three escalators in that upper bank has been out of service since April 2026 because of its condition, leaving two running. If both of those were out at the same time, TfL says, the station would have to close to everyone, because there would be no other safe way to clear it: the escalators are too long to be used safely as a fixed staircase.
The escalators run 19 hours a day in normal service. Making the station exit-only at weekends saves 38 hours of running a week, or 152 hours over four weeks, a reduction of 28.6 per cent over that period, according to TfL’s figures.
TfL blames “the legacy of historic shortfalls in Government funding for essential TfL asset renewals” for the fact that it has not been able to invest in new escalators at the station. It says it will keep looking at options for renewal, repair and replacement within its funding constraints.
What TfL says
Richard Jones, Director of Asset Performance Delivery for London Underground, said:
“The escalators at Angel have been in service for almost 35 years and are becoming less reliable and increasingly difficult to maintain. Their size means renewal or replacement is a challenging, expensive project and we are currently exploring all options possible to extend their working life.
“Making the station exit-only during specific periods will allow us to extend the working life of the escalators and give us more time to plan our next steps, with design work on replacing the escalators to begin this autumn.
“I understand that any disruption to the station will have an impact on customers, businesses and the local community and we will do all we can to work closely with local stakeholders to ensure that we mitigate the disruption as much as possible.”
TfL says its analysis shows more people leave Angel than enter it at weekends and on bank holidays, and that weekend use is generally lower than in the week. It has met local businesses, stakeholders and elected representatives, says it has done what it can to limit the effect on businesses over Christmas, and will run a customer information campaign about the change in the new year.
What it means for you
- Weekdays: nothing changes. Angel stays open in both directions.
- Weekends and bank holidays from 2 January: you can get off at Angel, but plan to board somewhere else on the way back. King’s Cross St Pancras is the nearest alternative TfL names, about 1km away.
- No end date yet: TfL says the arrangement runs until further notice, while design work on replacing the escalators begins this autumn.
For other travel changes closer to home, see our Christmas and New Year travel guide.
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