I writing for a FOI request to see the subway from White City Estate that was next to Bloemfontein Road was: 1. Originally built (date) 2. Sealed up (date) 3. What happened to the White City exhibition mural that was displayed on the subway walls? Are they buried behind the sealed up entrances of the subway or have they been relocated elsewhere?

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TfL Ref 1829-2021

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10 December 2020 asking for information about a subway from the White City Estate under Western Avenue (next to Bloemfontein Road).

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require.

What little information we have is that this subway (A40/11.70 Bloemfontain Road) was closed prior to 2007.

We believe the subway was built as a part of Westway Section 1(c.1970), the drawings are dated between 1963 and 1965.

The entrances were not just closed but the whole subway was filled in (this being the case as if the entrances were just sealed TfL would still maintain the barrel below the road) TfL no longer record the structures existence and perform no maintenance- therefore it must have been pumped with concrete, the mosaic tiles would not have been removed prior to this happening.

We are unaware of their having been a White City mural within the subway (we attach photos of the tiles lining the subway- this is from one of only two files with photographs we appear to have for the subway (PI2002)) the mural if it existed may have been removed before TfL’s existence.  We do not have record of these mosaic tiles portraying a picture (as in Hyde Park Corner subways).

We have also provided some information below from our Corporate Archives department.

The archives catalogue is publicly available online and the database can be searched for various terms which could prove fruitful: The link to the Online catalogue is as below:

http://www.tflcorporatearchivescatalogue.co.uk/CalmViewA/?intcmp=35536

Further tips and guidance and how to search can be found: http://www.tflcorporatearchivescatalogue.co.uk/CalmViewA/How.aspx and http://www.tflcorporatearchivescatalogue.co.uk/CalmViewA/Searches.aspx

We have searched the catalogue for various terms including:

Western Avenue – please see attached results Excel spreadsheet

White City Estate* - results returned are staff records, the majority of which are closed for data protection reasons

Bloemfontein – 0 results

White City* > mural* – 0 results

You may want to look through these results and see which records could be of interest. Some of these files could be closed which means before access can be provided a member of the archive’s team will be required to review its contents first. Closed status signifies that these records contain i) commercially confidential information ii) personal data iii) security concerns. Access is provided on a case by case basis.

We have searched the digital collections located in our digital repository (Preservica) for "white city mural" and unfortunately 0 results are returned. However, a search for “white city exhibition” generated one result that mentions a passenger subway in one sentence (see jpegs attached for full article dated July 1970. Passenger subway is referenced at the very end of the first page).

Unfortunately, the Corporate Archives reading room is currently closed due to Covid-19 and an office move. Any physical files cannot be accessed at this time. If any items are of interest, please let the Corporate Archives team know which items you’d like to access at: [email protected] – they will get in touch with you once the onsite research service is operational. At present they do not believe they will be able to open to the public before 2021 but this remains under constant review.

An internet search resulted in the location of the following document which also may be of interest to you:  https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/sites/default/files/section_attachments/3_low_res_october_tcm21-184085.pdf. You may also want to contact the Hammersmith & Fulham archive service direct at: https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/libraries/local-studies-and-archives

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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