Arsenal Station

Beware of match days, I repeat, beware of match days! If you’re visiting for a footy match at the local stadium, consider getting off at Finsbury Park instead where there’s more exits.
And I have to echo Daria’s point = this place is so freaking windy! Sometimes the gust is strong it nearly knocks me over!
The biggest dilemma I have when using this tube is whether to go left or right where the path forks to get to the platform :)

Arsenal station is OK. I mean, it’s just a station so chances are, there can’t be anything outstanding about it. There’s two things to note about it though.
Firstly, it’s terribly windy. I’d imagine that would feel nice in the summer but it’s far from pleasant in winter.
And secondly, DO NOT go to Arsenal on a match day before or after the game. You will be faced with crowds and queues and you will lose all will to live. That’s unless you’re a football fan and are going to/​from the game, of course. In which case, knock yourself out.

This is a place all Arsenal supporters who don’t live in London one day hope to alight at. It’s a terribly long walkway — partly to manage the crowds both before and after the games — but partly because of the particular location of the station. The name itself is a nod to Herbert Chapman’s early vision for Arsenal FC, as he was the one who got the name changed to Arsenal from «Gillespie Road.»
For you first time visitors to the Emirates, be prepared for an incredibly long line to leave via this station. You might be better served by going to a different one or — gasp — grabbing a pint with a friend while the crowds die down :-)

Arsenal is a zone 2 station on the Piccadilly line which serves a residential area except on match day when it is on of the hubs for Arsenal fans travelling to the Emirates. The station entrance is actually quite a long walk down a sloping tunnel to the platform edge. This might be a problem on match days (due to weight of numbers moving one way or the other) but TfL have thought of this and have installed a fenced off area to ensure that you can always get to where you want to go. I sounds a bit weird (and is) but it works.
Not much else to say other than the station is not stair free — probably about 15 steps in total to get down to the platform. Not bad. Not great.

Arsenal is one of the quieter stations on the northern part of the Piccadilly Line, but has one of the most interesting histories.
It was originally names ‘Gillespie Road’ and was opened in 1906 when the Piccadilly line (then the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway) was extended northwards. In 1913, Arsenal Football Club started playing at some nearby playing fields, and the station was renamed Arsenal (Highbury Hill) in 1932. The ‘Highbury Hill’ suffix was dropped in the 1960s.
The station was originally built with a façade in red glazed tiles (similar to the ones that still survive at Earl’s Court), which was also replaced in the 1930s when the present modernist design was adopted.
The platform areas were renovated in 2007, and the original tiling restored, revealing the original name of ‘Gillespie Road’ — somewhat confusing for visitors! Unusually, the platforms are accessed by a combination of steps and long sloping tunnels rather than lifts or escalators; the single tunnel splits half way along, although both halves go to the platforms.
One of the tunnels has a ‘cage wall’ along its length, allowing segregated two-​way flows at the beginning and end of matches. Although the new Emirates stadium is further away than the old Arsenal stadium — now a housing development — fans still use the station on match days.