One of London's busiest Tube stations will become exit-only on weekends and bank holidays from early next year.

Angel station in Islington, which handles almost 12 million passengers a year, will introduce the restrictions from January 2.

The move comes as engineers grapple with repairs to the station's 35-year-old escalators, which include the longest on the London Underground network.

Angel has two sets of escalators connecting the ticket hall, intermediate concourse and platforms.

The longest escalator stretches more than 60 metres and climb over 27 metres.

Years of Government funding shortfalls means TfL has been unable to replace the station's ageing escalators.

TfL says it is exploring ways to repair or replace the ageing escalators but says ongoing funding pressures are limiting its options.

Instead, engineers are focusing their efforts on keeping the escalators running for as long as possible.

One of the escalators in the station from ticket hall to mid-concourse level has been out of service since April 2026 due to its deteriorated condition.

This means that only two escalators are currently in working order.

If both of these other escalators were to be out of service at the same time, the station would have to close completely as there would not be another safe way to clear the station.

The escalators are too long to safely operate as a fixed staircase.

Richard Jones, Director of Asset Performance Delivery for London Underground, 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.”

Angel station will be open as normal on weekdays and passengers will be able to enter and exit the station at all times.

Anyone who usually accesses Angel station at the weekend can start their journeys at King’s Cross St Pancras Tube station which is around 1km away. Bus routes 30, 73, 205, 214 and 476 connect to Angel.

Old Street Tube station is around 1.5km away and can be reached by bus routes 43, 205 and 214.

Highbury & Islington station can be reached using bus routes 4, 19, 30 and 43.

Earlier this year, The Standard revealed that over a quarter of escalators on the Underground are past their expected lifespan.

FOI data revealed that 153 out of 566 escalators on the Underground are operating beyond their shelf life (around 27 per cent).

Many are found at some of London’s busiest stations and on key commuter lines, including the Bakerloo, Northern, Victoria and Jubilee lines.