A viral video reveals a subtle colour-coding on Tube trains that most commuters had never noticed, sparking surprise across social media
Millions of people travel through London’s Underground each day, yet many remain unaware of a clever design feature woven into the Tube’s interiors — until now.
Desh Bhatt, a London-based lifestyle influencer known for his local tips, recently shared a video on social media that has sparked widespread realisation among commuters. The revelation? In many Tube lines, the colours of the poles and seat upholstery reflect the branding of the specific line.
“I only just realised the poles and seats match the line colours,” Bhatt captioned the video. He highlighted yellow for the Circle line, blue for Victoria, red for Central, and silver for Jubilee — all mirroring their respective map shades.
Though the observation seems obvious in retrospect, it had gone largely unnoticed by even the most regular passengers. One Instagram user confessed, “I get the Tube every day and didn’t know this,” while another chimed in, “Learning something new every day!”
The trend has since gone viral, but Londoners have also pointed out inconsistencies. For example, the District line, traditionally green, sometimes features yellow poles, and the Northern, Bakerloo and Metropolitan lines don’t appear to follow the same pattern.
While it may not be a hard-and-fast rule across the entire Underground system, the colour-coding appears frequently enough to surprise many and add a little charm to their commute.
With over 1.18 billion Tube journeys recorded between 2023 and 2024, this small design detail has been hiding in plain sight for years — making it one of London’s best-kept everyday secrets, now finally revealed.
