London Loves Business Article

The mayor’s office revealed that Boris Johnson had discussed the plans with Chambers at the weekend, with the conclusion that more details would be put forward on potential sites and the level of work required for the renovation plans.

Chambers, 38, said: “We’ve set up the construction teams, the finance availability and the investment to renovate underground space.”

He revealed that he is aiming for a pre-London 2012 opening for the first site - Brompton Road station, which has been out-of-use for several decades. The MoD-owned site served as an anti-aircraft base during the Second World War.

The Old London Underground was founded by Chambers two years ago in a bid to breathe new life into forgotten sites.

The renovation plans would see a members’ club opened at the site.

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/tycoon-plots-200m-renewal-of-londons-ghost-tube-stations/470.article

Caterer.com - Restaurants planned for disused Tube stations

A former banker has unveiled plans to transform London's abandoned Tube stations into tourist attractions, which could see restaurant jobs being created in the capital.

Ajit Chambers has teamed up with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which owns the disused London Underground stations, to try leasing some of the sites, the BBC reports.

He is also in talks with London mayor Boris Johnson over plans to redevelop the likes of Brompton Road, which closed in 1934.

As well as creating chef jobs with underground restaurants, the stations deep-drop shafts could be used to install climbing walls, said Mr Chambers.

"Imagine the history and the historic meetings that went on here," he told the BBC. It is thought that Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess was brought to Brompton Road station to be debriefed after his capture in Scotland in 1941.

This month the official opening of Nigel Mendham's restaurant THIRTY SIX has created several waiter and chef jobs in the capital.

-Axel Esquinno

http://news.caterer.com/article/view/london/800724379/restaurants-planned-for-disused-tube-stations/

London Loves Business runs a story on us

London's ghost tube stations

7th September 2011

By Shruti Tripathi, Gabriella Griffith

London’s got many ghost stations that you won’t spot on the tube map. Shruti Tripathi took an exclusive tour of the disused Brompton Road station- which might well be the next coolest pub or wedding venue.

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/londons-ghost-tube-stations/421.article

Bloomberg Story 'Banker Sees Gold Mine in Unused London Tube'

A former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive aims to turn 26 unused London subway stations and bomb shelters into shops and tourist attractions after raising 200 million pounds ($319 million) from investors.

Ajit Chambers, chief executive officer of Old London Underground Co., met Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday to discuss the plan. Chambers agreed to provide more information on potential sites, costs and the work needed to convert the stations, according to an e-mail from Johnson’s office.

“We’ve set up the construction teams, the finance availability and the investment to renovate underground space,” Chambers said in an interview. He declined to identify the investors.

Old London Underground plans to open the first site, Brompton Road station, in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in east London, Chambers said. The station, owned by the Ministry of Defence, has been shuttered since the mid-1950s after serving as the headquarters of southern England’s anti-aircraft defenses during World War II.

Each station would cost 17 million pounds to 34 million pounds to renovate and they would all be opened within five years, according to Chambers. That’s if he can convince Johnson that developing empty parts of the London Underground network, also known as the Tube, won’t come at public expense.

‘Safety Challenges’

Transport for London, the Tube’s operator, “has already looked closely at these proposals and highlighted the huge safety challenges and massive potential costs they involve,” the mayor’s office said. Johnson’s priority is “the upgrade of the Tube and delivering the passenger improvements that Londoners require.”

Chambers, 38, said he could generate more than 300 million pounds in annual revenue from turning the derelict sites into restaurants, gyms, museums and art galleries.

At the Brompton Road station he aims to open a members club on the roof of the above-ground portion and house the London Fire Brigade museum in its tunnels and shafts, he said in the interview inside the disused property.

The London Underground is the world’s oldest subterranean rail network, according to Transport for London. Brompton Road station opened in 1906 to ferry passengers along the Piccadilly Line until its temporary closure during World War II, when it was used as a war room.

Interrogation Room

Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, was interrogated there by the Defence Ministry after he crash-landed his plane in Scotland in 1941 seeking to broker a peace deal, said Glenn Purkis, a Ministry of Defence employee who manages offices above the defunct station.

The station, nestled between the affluent neighborhoods of Knightsbridge and South Kensington, reopened after the war before its use as a station ceased in 1955, Purkis said.

Aldwych in central London’s theater district would be among the next stations to be developed, according to Chambers. The stop, which was used as a bomb shelter during both world wars, has been closed since 1994.

Chambers founded Old London Underground in 2009. He said his plan will unlock the value of historic underground real estate that had largely been forgotten.

“The investors are helping the U.K. put health and safety into these spaces and in return they get to make money,” Chambers said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-08/london-entrepreneur-sees-a-gold-mine-in-developing-unused-subway-stations.html

The Swiss Newspaper 'Le Temps' runs a story on the founder of The Old London Underground Company

"Ajit Chambers, the Genevan who is reviving the ghost stations of London"

Ajit Chambers left working for a financial organisation in Geneva to dive into the rehabilitation of London's disused Underground stations. He founded for this purpose the Old London Underground Company and has spent two and a half years shooting down 'one by one' the obstacles to make available 26 new abandoned underground sites to benefit London's tourism economy.

Last week 'Le Temps' followed him in the depths of the Brompton Road station, where no train has passed since the 30's.

Between his trips to Geneva he has spent serious time preparing his financial model ready for the worlds investors to see on the 2nd of September. Ajit has also received a pledge from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that the project will go ahead ''as long as it doesnt cost a penny of public money''. The Mayor has regularly renewed his support for the project, notably last spring on BBC Parliament TV in his own office he called Ajit ''A brilliant Gentleman''. In parallel, Ajit Chambers began negotiations with L.U. (London Underground), the local government entity responsible for the transport system in Greater London to obtain leases of these "ghost stations" to create a group of tourist attractions that will benefit London's economy and pay directly back into London Undergrounds budgets.

...then there is no doubt that in a few years, these abandoned spaces will be included in the circuit of every tourist that visits London.

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/85ad4a9e-caa5-11e0-b417-0e5b26dd3a7b

The Financial Times (UK) runs a story on The Old London Underground Company

Mr Chambers, who will put his case to the Mayor in September, is optimistic. “I have a feasibility team ready to go in. All we need is a green light from Boris.” he says.

Similar projects abroad have proved successful. For example, Xiuli Hawken, ranked 61st in the Sunday Times rich list, made her money by turning Chinese air-raid shelters into underground shopping centres. Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, says ''other countries make much more of their abandoned transport infrastructure than we do, City Hall seems to find it hard to bend TfL to its will.''

To read the article from the FT page spend a minute registering, then use the search bar to find the story by typing in ' the old london underground company'.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d75b39c-bd61-11e0-89fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1TvM7qj9K

The Financial Times (Germany) runs a story on The Old London Underground Company

While property prices explode in London, premium space sits in decay Underground.

Whoever ventures down the disused underground stations in London starts a sinister journey back in time. After the first steps there is a misty smell that envelops the nose coming from the damp concrete walls that have been dormant for 60 years. Under the shimmering lights there is an old underground map dated 1942

‘That’s how long it has been empty ‘ says Ajit Chambers. The 38 year old ex-banker is one of London’s most famous entrepreneurs breathing life back in to the desolate veins of London.

http://www.ftd.de/lifestyle/outofoffice/:out-of-office-londons-zukunft-liegt-unter-der-erde/60084461.html