Glasgow's secret train stations, lost subways and abandoned spaces

Further along the same line, there’s another abandoned station at Kelvinbridge, and there’s even a secret derelict platform hidden in Central Station.

Built during the heyday of Victorian rail travel, the Botanic Gardens station was opened in 1896. The station’s main buildings were on ground level, and the platforms underground, beneath the gardens themselves.

James Miller (a renowned Glasgow railway architect) was responsible for the station’s eye-catching design.

It was a well-known landmark in the area, and featured an ornate red brick building with two clock towers, topped with decorative domes, reminiscent of Russian architecture.

Despite its initial success, between January 1917 and March 1919 the Botanic Gardens station was forced to close due to financial struggles during the war. It wasn’t long before the station was permanently closed to passengers in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War Two.

The line remained open for a further 25 years, with trains regularly passing through the ghost station, but was closed for good in October 1964.

After the station was closed, the building was converted into shops and cafes, with the platforms remaining untouched below.

During the 1960s, the space was occupied by a popular cafe called The Silver Slipper, a nightclub known as Sgt Pepper’s, and Morton’s plumbers shop.

Disaster struck, however, in March 1970, when a fire broke out during a ‘battle of the bands’ contest in Sgt Pepper’s. It is thought that someone left a cigarette burning in the attic space, as the damage was concentrated on the roof of the building.

Luckily, no one was badly injured, but the cafe owner’s dog died from smoke inhalation.