A Tube station that has been closed for the last 16 months will not reopen until December.

Northern line trains have not been able to stop at Kentish Town Tube station since June 26 last year while work to replace two "unreliable" 26-year-old escalators takes place.

TfL committee papers have confirmed that the station is now due to reopen in December, months after the initial target date by which works were meant to be completed.

The new escalators have now been enclosed and operational inspections completed, but work to replace some “structural elements” of the station continues.

The transport body said that these structural elements could not be inspected prior to works starting, but have since been assessed as being “beyond repair”.

This has increased the scope of the project, and led to the reopening date being pushed back.

Platform tiling works, including cleaning and painting, are nearly completed and works in the ticket hall are described by TfL as “progressing well”.

This involves removing the "redundant" ticket office and realigning the ticket barriers to provide more space for customers and additional ticket gates.

The existing escalators at the station were installed in 1997 and are bespoke to the station, making it difficult to source parts for maintenance and repairs.

They weigh around 40 tonnes each and carry millions of people each year. A typical 15-metre high escalator has approximately 15,000 moving parts.

The station’s new escalators will be the same model as those used on the Elizabeth line, which are more energy efficient and should last for around 40 years.