TRANSPORT for London (TFL) confirmed this week that Angel Station will be exit-only on weekends from January “until further notice”, sparking “concern” for Islington Council.

The Tribune reported last week on the swirling rumours of station closures due to the deteriorating health of its escalators and approached TfL for comment. The transport body did not respond, but this week it issued a statement confirming the closures.

Islington Council leader Una O’Halloran said: “We understand the need for TfL to carry out essential maintenance to ensure Angel tube station remains safe, but we are deeply concerned about the impact of TfL’s decision to make it exit-only at weekends for a prolonged period.

“Making it harder for people to reach Angel risks affecting local businesses, jobs, and the wider area.”

Cllr O’Halloran said she would like to see TfL “work closely” with the council and local businesses to mitigate disruption.

A spokesperson for TfL said: “The escalators at Angel have been in service for almost 35 years and are becoming less reliable and increasingly difficult to maintain. Their size means renewal or replacement is a challenging, expensive project and we are currently exploring all options possible to extend their working life.

“Making the station exit-only during specific periods will allow us to extend the working life of the escalators and give us more time to plan our next steps, with design work on replacing the escalators to begin this autumn. I understand that any disruption to the station will have an impact on customers, businesses and the local community and we will do all we can to work closely with local stakeholders to ensure that we mitigate the disruption as much as possible.”