Today marks an anniversary that may make many commuters feel just a little bit older – it is 25 years since North Greenwich Tube station opened as the first trains ran on the Jubilee Line extension.

Transport for London is marking the anniversary with posters at stops along the route detailing the history of the extension. 

North Greenwich was the only brand new station to open on May 14, 1999, with a weekday-only shuttle service stopping at new platforms at Canning Town, West Ham and Stratford while the rest of the line was finished.

Canary Wharf would be added the following September, with all stations and track finally opening three days before Christmas – just in time for the Millennium Dome’s opening date. The route was linked to the original Jubilee Line, which opened twenty years before. All the new stations were step-free – unusual at the time, but now a third of Tube stations are fully accessible.

Just as would happen decades later with Woolwich and Crossrail, it was by no means certain that the Greenwich Peninsula would actually be given a stop. The Conservative government at Westminster, which controlled London Transport at the time, was not keen on footing the bill. 

North Greenwich roundel
The station was only built because of a financial contribution from British Gas. Image: The Greenwich Wire

It took millions of pounds from British Gas – which was planning to regenerate the peninsula itself as “Port Greenwich” – to rescue the station plans in the summer of 1994. 

Without that decision, it is unlikely that Greenwich would have won its bid to stage the Millennium Exhibition – so no Dome, no O2 Arena, and a very different future for the peninsula and the wider area would have followed. The trick was repeated a few years later when Stratford helped London win the Olympics. 

Tube train in North Greenwich platform
The new Tube was a world away from other local rail services. Image: The Greenwich Wire

For many, their first trip to North Greenwich’s striking, deep blue platforms was the first time they would have visited the once derelict and gated-off old gasworks land.

Only four years earlier, slam-door trains were still running on south-east London’s infrequent  mainline services. Anyone who wanted a Tube to central London needed to take a 108 bus through the Blackwall Tunnel to Bromley-by-Bow. 

The opening of North Greenwich station – placed in both zones 2 and 3 from the start – provided an alternative commuting route, not just for long-suffering users of the Greenwich line, but further afield too. This accelerated after 2004 when fare zones were abolished on buses, meaning it was cheaper to head to North Greenwich by bus than take a mainline train from zones 3 or 4.

Now Gallery and Peninsula Square with view of North Greenwich station
It took until the 2010s, but the area between North Greenwich station and the O2 has been transformed. Image: The Greenwich Wire

While the Dome was on its way, work had only just started on Greenwich Millennium Village and nobody quite knew what would happen once the year 2000 was over. Indeed, provision was made in the station for a possible extension to the Royal Docks and Thamesmead, which was quickly ruled out when developers’ attention turned to Stratford.

Broadsheet journalists lined up to mock the “ghost town” once the Dome closed, but few of them were around to see the packed buses making their way up to the Jubilee Line each rush hour. It took until the O2’s opening in 2007 for the station to start to reach its potential, but even then it would take a few years for the area to take off in its own right.

North Greenwich bus station
North Greenwich bus station is showing its age and awaiting redevelopment. Image: The Greenwich Wire

Today, Peninsula Square, between the station and the O2, attracts more visitors than Cutty Sark Gardens while the bus station above is showing its age and its limitations. 

Eventually, it will be torn down with tower blocks around a new bus terminal, but the deep blue Tube station below will remain. 

The Station Square development is due to replace the existing bus terminal at North Greenwich. Image: Knight Dragon

With no work on new rail projects taking place, TfL is using the anniversary – coming in the lead-up to a general election – to remind decision-makers just how investment in public transport can transform the capital at a time when its own finances are constrained.

Projects such as the Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham and DLR to Thamesmead still lack funding with TfL unable to raise the cash on its own.

Dale Smith, the head of customer operations on the Jubilee Line, said: “The Jubilee Line extension was a remarkable feat that changed the geography of our city as we saw in the new millennium. 

“Creating a fast, reliable connection between the West End and the thriving Docklands area brought significant economic rewards for the city and more homes for thousands of Londoners. The extension also helped to lay the foundation for our ongoing accessibility work to ensure all Londoners can make the most of what our city has to offer.”

Got any memories of North Greenwich station’s early days? Share them below.