Knightsbridge tube station

Knightsbridge
Sloane Street entrance, 2004.
Knightsbridge Location of Knightsbridge in Central London
Location	Knightsbridge
Local authority	Kensington & Chelsea
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	21.57 million
2013	21.47 million
2014	21.47 million
2015	20.30 million
Railway companies
Original company	Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
Key dates
15 December 1906	Station opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
WGS84	51°30′06″N 0°09′39″W / 51.5017°N 0.1608°W / 51.5017; -0.1608Coordinates: 51°30′06″N 0°09′39″W / 51.5017°N 0.1608°W / 51.5017; -0.1608

Knightsbridge is a London Underground station in Knightsbridge, London. It is on the Piccadilly line between South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.

The station was opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now the Piccadilly line). When opened, the platforms were accessed in the standard manner by four lifts and an emergency staircase connecting to parallel passageways and bridges to midway along the platforms. The original station building designed by Leslie Green was located on Brompton Road a short distance west of its junction with Knightsbridge and Sloane Street. A rear entrance was located on Basil Street.

The location of the station in a busy and fashionable shopping district meant that patronage at the station was high from the beginning, particularly due to the presence locally of the Harrods and Harvey Nichols emporiums. This contrasted with the next station on the line westward — Brompton Road — where passenger numbers were so low that from soon after its opening many trains were timetabled not to stop there.

In the early 1930s, the availability of government grants to stimulate the depressed economy enabled the Underground Group to carry out a major modernisation programme, during which many central London stations were brought up to date with escalators to replace the original lifts. Knightsbridge was one of the Piccadilly line stations to benefit from the installation of escalators.