Westminster Underground Station: 'Ingenious, These Muggles'

Westminster Underground Station in London was the site of the first complete station closure by Transport for London for a movie shoot, featured in the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Built just 34 metres from Big Ben, engineers injected grout 22 times into surrounding ground between 1996 and 1997 to prevent structural damage. Its Jubilee line tracks were vertically stacked to protect the tower from vibrations.

London Β· from the walk β€œMuggle London, Wizarding Secrets” Β· audio ~3 min Β· Generated

Westminster Underground Station, Bridge Street, London SW1A 2JR

Which Harry Potter film features scenes shot inside London's Westminster Underground Station?

"Trains. Underground. Ingenious, these Muggles."

...... That single line, delivered by actor Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley, was filmed right here... inside Westminster Underground Station. And this was no ordinary day of shooting. This was reportedly the First time Transport for London shut down a tube station specifically for filming a movie scene. Westminster Station had to be closed, infuriating commuters everywhere. It was used for its rather long escalator, as well as its ticket barrier, which completely bemuses Mister Weasley.......... The scene appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in two thousand seven. On the twelfth of August, nineteen ninety-five β€” in the story's timeline β€” Harry rides with Arthur Weasley on the Underground to get to the Ministry of Magic for his disciplinary hearing. Arthur is very excited about the Muggle technology... the escalators, the automatic ticket machines, even though they're out of order.......... But here's a detail even keen-eyed fans might miss. The scene is actually anachronistic β€” the yellow circles visible on the ticket barriers are electronic Oyster card readers, which were not introduced until two thousand three. The story is set in nineteen ninety-five! So the magic of cinema quietly broke its own timeline.......... Now... look around you. This station is not just a film set. It's an engineering marvel that nearly Toppled Big Ben. Seriously. The construction of this deep-level station came within just thirty-four metres of the famous clock tower's foundation. To protect it, engineers installed a series of fifty-metre-long steel tubes horizontally around and beneath the tower's three-metre-thick foundation. Between January nineteen ninety-six and September nineteen ninety-seven, grout was injected on twenty-two occasions. The process limited the clock tower's movement to an acceptable maximum of thirty-five millimetres. Without it, the movement would have been at least a hundred and twenty millimetres β€” enough to crack the Houses of Parliament.......... And that's why the Jubilee line tracks here are stacked one on top of the other, rather than side by side as everywhere else on the Underground. It was designed specifically to protect Big Ben from vibrations.......... The station's architecture won multiple awards, including the Royal Fine Art Commission Millennium Building of the Year in two thousand, and was short-listed for the prestigious Stirling Prize in two thousand one. Not bad for a place Arthur Weasley thought was run by clever Muggles, is it?......... So next time you tap your Oyster card at these very barriers... remember β€” a wizard once stood here, utterly Baffled by how they work.

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