Kentish Town Tube station set to close for year

Kentish Town underground station will be closed as the escalators are being replaced

Kentish Town Tube station is set to close for up to a year while its 26-year-old escalators are replaced.

The closure of the Northern Line station from 26 June will allow for works like removing the ticket office and realigning ticket barriers.

Transport for London (TfL) says the London Underground station's current escalators are "the most unreliable" on the network.

Kentish Town Thameslink station will remain open throughout.

TfL says the Underground station sees frequent "last-minute station closures" due to the faulty escalators, which were installed in 1997, leading to "disruption for customers".

The station will now be fitted with new machines "expected to last around 40 years".

'Busier than usual'

The new escalators will be the same models fitted along the new Elizabeth line which, TfL says, will make sourcing parts much easier, reducing future closures.

New paintworks, flooring, wall tiling, and new signage will also be fitted.

TfL has said customers affected by the closure can go to Tufnell Park station, which is about a 10-minute walk away.

It has also warned that Kentish Town Thameslink station is expected to be "busier than usual" during the planned closure.

Esther Sharples, TfL's director of asset performance delivery, said: "We explored all possible options to keep the Tube station open during this work but safety considerations and space constraints meant it wasn't feasible."

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]