Westminster's Jubilee line platforms opened 25 years ago today on 22nd December 1999.
It's a lot of people's favourite station, architecturally.
Let's try to escape from it.
Westminster station - a clickable choose-your-own adventure (it is genuinely clickable - give it a go!)
(1) You have arrived on the westbound Jubilee line platform at the very bottom of the station. How futuristic it all looks! The platform is quite narrow, penned behind a screen of glass doors, but that's the inevitable result of a very restricted site in an exceptionally challenging location.
Your challenge is to buy a cup of coffee and then exit the station through the ticket barriers. Which way will you go?
To turn right and follow the signs to "Way Out" click 2
To turn left and follow the signs to "District and Circle lines" click 3
(2) Wow, what a fabulous space. You've entered a pillared concourse at the bottom of a deep illuminated cavern filled with escalators, staircases and concrete beams interlocking at strange angles with Escher-like precision. Imagine how astonishing this looked when people first stepped into it 25 years ago.
To return to the westbound platform click 1
To glide up the escalators to the next level click 4
To climb the staircase alongside the escalators click 4
To take the lift click 14
(3) You're in a large chamber with one semicircular wall. The far side of the concourse is essentially a lot of wasted space. A grey ceiling protrudes above you, concealing whatever's above. It feels both spacious and quite hemmed in.
To return to the westbound platform click 1
To glide up the escalators to the next level click 5
To climb the staircase alongside the escalators click 5
(4) You're on a metallic landing, high above the lower level but deep below whatever's above. It's like being at the heart of a seething machine. A long escalator launches upwards across the void. The recessed rough concrete walls are gorgeously uplit. A large advert for the cablecar covers a pillar by the emergency exit.
To enter the eastbound platform click 6
To glide up the escalators to the next level click 7
To descend back to the depths click 2
(5) You're on a busy landing with considerable headspace above. A lift shaft creates a blind corner round which previously-invisible people suddenly emerge. A labyrinth is on the wall. The metal floorplates occasionally bounce in a disturbingly springy way. The view from those escalators looks like it would be spectacular.
To enter the eastbound platform click 6
To glide up the escalators to the next level click 8
To descend back to the depths click 3
To take the lift click 14
(6) The eastbound platform looks very much like the westbound platform but is stacked in a separate bore above it. When trains from Stanmore stopped here 25 years ago they finally completed the Jubilee line we know and love today. You pause and consult a tube map on the wall.
To turn left and follow the signs to "Way Out" click 4
To turn right and follow the signs to "District and Circle lines" click 5
(7) You've reached a curved landing accessible only by escalator. There's a help point on the wall if it all gets too much for you. I wonder how quickly the station would collapse if those horizontal braces weren't there.
(8) This landing is the jumping off point for the two District and Circle line platforms. It has multiple exits. Choose carefully and you might still find that cup of coffee before you exit the station.
To turn left and take the escalators to the westbound platform click 10
To turn right and take the escalators to the eastbound platform click 11
To climb the mystery narrow staircase on the back wall click 12
(9) It feels a bit creepy that the advert above the escalators is always for a UK arms dealer, as if they're trying to impress MPs or something. A separate plaque on the top landing commemorates the station's links with HMS Westminster. The station also won the 2000 Building of the Year award from the Civic Trust. Keep walking past the card shop (which is probably not here to impress MPs).
(10) This is the westbound District line platform which curves gently under the seat of our democracy. If you remembered the platform has a branch of Costa Coffee sorry, that's closed and the unit under the stairs is currently to let. You'll need to take the stairs to get out.
To climb the stairs to the ticket hall click 13
To descend the mystery staircase on the back wall click 8
To take the lift click 14
(11) This is the eastbound District line platform opened in 1868 although it looks a lot more modern these days, especially down the far end. Hurrah there's a Bagel Factory outlet at the foot of the stairs and they sell double espressos, cappuccinos and flat whites. Grab yourself a coffee and maybe a sausage and egg bagel too.
(12) Oh this staircase is a bit secret, and very concretey, and quite long and steep. Nobody else is here, as ever.
To see where the secret steps emerge, click 10 (13) Well done, you've found your way to the Way Out and you can see a branch of Greggs on the other side of the gateline. Unfortunately you were asked to get a coffee before leaving the station so you have failed. Maybe grab a festive bake to console yourself.
(14) Sadly the lift isn't working, try something else. (15) Well done, you've found your way to the Way Out and you have a cup of coffee in your hand so you have successfully completed this challenge. Exit the station and take a selfie in front of Big Ben to celebrate 25 years of the Jubilee line at Westminster. You're a winner (and so is the station)!
