Clapham Common to Bank is 17 minutes and £3.60 at peak. Journey times, zones and 2026 fares from every station in Lambeth, plus what the annual Travelcard costs.
Most commuter-town train pages are about getting to London. This one is not, because Clapham is already in it. What people here actually want to know is narrower and more useful: which line gets me to my desk fastest, which zone am I in, and what will the fare come to over a year.
Lambeth is unusually well served. Every station in the borough is in zone 2 or zone 3, none is further out, and the borough has two Underground lines, an Overground line, and Southern, Southeastern and Thameslink trains into Victoria, Blackfriars and London Bridge. This page sets out the real journey times, the zone each station sits in, and the 2026 fares, with the source for each.
The quick version
- Fastest into the West End: Brixton to Victoria in 8 minutes on the Victoria line, or Oxford Circus in 12 to 13.
- Fastest into the City: Clapham Common to Bank in 17 minutes, direct on the Northern line.
- Cheapest useful journey: Clapham High Street to Canada Water in 18 minutes for £2.30, because the Windrush line never enters zone 1.
- What a year costs: a zone 1-2 annual Travelcard is £1,788. From the zone 3 stations in the south of the borough it is £2,100.
- Night Tube runs Friday and Saturday nights from Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham North and Clapham Common.
Which zone is your station in
This matters more than journey time, because it sets the fare and it is the one thing people get wrong. Every Lambeth station is zone 2 or zone 3, with one exception: Vauxhall straddles the boundary and is listed as zone 1+2.
| Zone | Stations | Lines and operators |
|---|---|---|
| 1+2 | Vauxhall | Victoria line, South Western Railway |
| 2 | Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham North, Clapham Common, Clapham High Street, Wandsworth Road, Loughborough Junction | Victoria line, Northern line, Windrush line, Southeastern |
| 2+3 | Herne Hill | Southeastern, Thameslink |
| 3 | Streatham Hill, Streatham, Streatham Common, Tulse Hill, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill | Southern, Thameslink |
Two traps worth knowing. Clapham Junction is not in Clapham and not in Lambeth, it is in Wandsworth, about a mile west of Clapham Common. And Balham, which many people treat as the bottom of Clapham, is in Wandsworth too. If you are checking a bin day, a council tax band or a planning application, the station name will mislead you; the postcode will not.
The Underground: Victoria and Northern lines
The Victoria line starts at Brixton and runs north through Stockwell, Vauxhall, Pimlico and Victoria to Oxford Circus, Euston and King’s Cross. It is the fastest thing in the borough. TfL’s journey planner puts Brixton to Victoria at 8 minutes, Oxford Circus at 12 to 13 and King’s Cross St Pancras at 17, all without changing.
What it means for you: if your office is anywhere on the Victoria line, living near Brixton or Stockwell buys you a commute most of London cannot match. It is also why the Brixton end of the borough prices differently to the Streatham end.
The Northern line runs through Clapham Common, Clapham North, Stockwell, Oval and Kennington, where it splits for Bank and for Charing Cross. From Clapham Common the planner gives Bank in 17 minutes direct, Waterloo in 12, Oxford Circus in 16 to 17 with a change at Stockwell onto the Victoria line, and Canary Wharf in 27 by changing at London Bridge onto the Jubilee.
What it means for you: the Northern line is the City line here and the Victoria line is the West End line, and Stockwell is where you swap between them. For anything north of Oxford Circus, changing at Stockwell is usually quicker than staying on the Northern line all the way.
The Windrush line: the cheap way east
Clapham High Street is on the Windrush line, the Overground route that runs from Clapham Junction through Wandsworth Road, Clapham High Street, Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye, then under the river to Shoreditch, Dalston and Highbury & Islington.
The number that matters: Clapham High Street to Canada Water is 18 minutes and £2.30 at peak, £2.20 off-peak, because the whole journey stays in zone 2 and never touches zone 1. Shoreditch High Street is 28 minutes direct for £3.60.
What it means for you: if you work in Canary Wharf, Rotherhithe or the Shoreditch end of the City, this is both the fastest and by some distance the cheapest route out of Clapham, and it is the one route locals routinely forget exists. Cannon Street the other way, via Clapham North and the Northern line to Bank, takes 31 minutes.
The National Rail stations: Victoria in 10 to 25 minutes
The south of the borough has no Underground at all, and runs on Southern, Southeastern and Thameslink instead.
- Herne Hill (zone 2+3, Southeastern and Thameslink): around 75 trains a day to Victoria, average 12 minutes, fastest 10, first train 04:08 and last 23:28 (Trainline). Thameslink from the same platforms reaches Blackfriars in 12 minutes for £3.90 peak, £3.20 off-peak, and carries on through the City to St Pancras.
- Streatham Hill (zone 3, Southern): around 64 trains a day to Victoria, average 19 minutes, fastest 16, first 04:36 and last 23:06 (Trainline).
- Streatham Common (zone 3): Victoria in 18 minutes.
- West Norwood (zone 3): Victoria in 22 minutes.
- Gipsy Hill (zone 3): Victoria in 25 minutes, the longest ride in the borough.
What it means for you: Herne Hill is the outlier. It is a two-zone station with a ten-minute run into Victoria and a Thameslink service through the City, which is a better rail offer than most of zone 2 gets, and it shows up in what homes there sell for.
What it costs in 2026
Fares below took effect on 1 March 2026. Peak means Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, between 06:30 and 09:30 and between 16:00 and 19:00 (TfL).
Single fares, from TfL’s journey planner:
- Zone 2 to zone 1 on the Tube (Clapham Common or Brixton into town): £3.60 peak, £3.10 off-peak.
- Zone 2 to zone 2 on the Windrush line (Clapham High Street to Canada Water): £2.30 peak, £2.20 off-peak.
- Zone 3 to zone 1 on Southern (Streatham Hill to Victoria): £4.60 peak, £3.70 off-peak.
- Herne Hill to Blackfriars: £3.90 peak, £3.20 off-peak.
Caps and Travelcards, from TfL’s adult fares table:
| Zones | Daily cap | Weekly cap / 7 Day Travelcard | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zones 1-2 | £8.90 | £44.70 | £171.70 | £1,788 |
| Zones 1-3 | £10.50 | £52.50 | £201.60 | £2,100 |
| Zone 2 only | £8.90 | £33.50 | £128.70 | £1,340 |
| Zones 2-3 | £10.50 | £33.50 | £128.70 | £1,340 |
Three things fall out of that table.
The daily cap does most of the work. Two zone 1-2 singles at peak come to £7.20, so an ordinary return costs you less than the £8.90 cap and the cap only protects you on a day with extra journeys. If you commute five days a week, the £44.70 weekly cap is the number to watch: it is reached after roughly six peak returns, so a five-day week does not quite get there and a five-day week plus a weekend does.
There is no off-peak discount on the caps. The daily peak and daily off-peak caps are identical in every band a Lambeth commute uses.
Avoiding zone 1 is worth £448 a year. A zone 1-2 annual Travelcard is £1,788; zone 2 only is £1,340. That is only useful if your whole journey stays in zone 2, which on the Windrush line to Canada Water and Shoreditch it does.
Night Tube, and the one line that does not run
Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on six lines, including the Victoria, Northern and Windrush (TfL). For Lambeth that means:
- Brixton and Stockwell: the Victoria line runs its full route, Brixton to Walthamstow Central, all night.
- Clapham Common and Clapham North: the Northern line runs all night on the Morden to Charing Cross side, which is the section these stations sit on. A 03:00 Saturday check on TfL’s planner returned trains every eight to ten minutes.
- Clapham High Street: no night service. The Windrush line’s night trains run on its core between Dalston and New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon, not the Clapham Junction branch. At 03:00 the planner sends you to Clapham North and round via Waterloo instead, which takes about 40 minutes to reach Shoreditch.
- The National Rail stations in the south of the borough have no night service at all. Streatham Hill’s last train to Victoria is 23:06.
Frequently asked questions
What zone is Clapham in?
Zone 2. Clapham Common, Clapham North and Clapham High Street are all zone 2 stations. Clapham Junction, despite the name, is in Wandsworth, not Clapham, and not in this borough.
How long does it take to get from Brixton to central London?
8 minutes to Victoria and 12 to 13 minutes to Oxford Circus, direct on the Victoria line, with no change. King’s Cross St Pancras is 17 minutes.
What is the fastest way from Clapham to the City?
The Northern line from Clapham Common to Bank, 17 minutes direct. For Canary Wharf, change at London Bridge onto the Jubilee line, which takes about 27 minutes in total.
How much is an annual Travelcard from Clapham?
£1,788 for zones 1-2 at 2026 prices, or £171.70 a month. From the zone 3 stations in the south of the borough, Streatham, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill and Tulse Hill, you need zones 1-3, which is £2,100 a year.
Is there a Night Tube in Brixton?
Yes. The Victoria line runs all night on Friday and Saturday nights along its full route from Brixton, and the Northern line does the same through Clapham Common, Clapham North and Stockwell.
Which Lambeth station has the best links?
On journey time, Brixton, for the Victoria line. On value, Clapham High Street, because the Windrush line reaches Canary Wharf in 18 minutes for £2.30 without ever entering zone 1.
Related
- Clapham house prices: what a zone 2 postcode costs, area by area.
- Roadworks and travel in Lambeth: what is dug up right now, and the routes to avoid.
- Things to do in Clapham, Brixton and Streatham: most of it is walkable from a station on this page.
Sources
- TfL journey planner and StopPoint data for zones, journey times and single fares. Times are the fastest returned for a weekday 08:00 departure on Tuesday 11 August 2026; off-peak fares are from a 13:00 departure the same day. Night Tube times are from a 03:00 departure on Saturday 15 August 2026.
- TfL adult caps and Travelcard prices, from 1 March 2026 for the caps and Travelcard table.
- TfL Tube and rail fares for the definition of peak times.
- TfL Night Tube for the lines and nights it runs.
- Trainline route pages for Herne Hill to Victoria and Streatham Hill to Victoria for trains per day and first and last trains.
Fares and timetables change. Check the current fare for your own journey on TfL’s single fare finder before you rely on a figure here.
Have your say
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