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Kew Gardens station (London)

Coordinates: 51°28′38″N 0°17′07″W / 51.4771°N 0.2853°W / 51.4771; -0.2853
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Kew Gardens London Underground London Overground
Main entrance on the eastbound side, 2014
Kew Gardens is located in Greater London
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens
Location of Kew Gardens in Greater London
LocationKew
Local authorityLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Managed byLondon Underground[1]
OwnerNetwork Rail
Station code(s)KWG
DfT categoryD
Number of platforms2
AccessibleYes[2]
Fare zone3 and 4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Decrease 3.83 million[3]
2020Decrease 1.81 million[4]
2021Increase 2.15 million[5]
2022Increase 3.97 million[6]
2023Decrease 3.94 million[7]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20Decrease 1.281 million[8]
2020–21Decrease 0.412 million[8]
2021–22Increase 0.972 million[8]
2022–23Increase 1.223 million[8]
2023–24Increase 1.382 million[8]
Key dates
1 January 1869Opened (L&SWR)
1869Started (NLR)
1870Started and Ended (GWR)
1 June 1877Started (MR and DR)
1 January 1894Started (GWR)
31 December 1906Ended (MR)
31 December 1910Ended (GWR)
3 June 1916Ended (L&SWR)
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°28′38″N 0°17′07″W / 51.4771°N 0.2853°W / 51.4771; -0.2853
London transport portal
Designations
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameKew Gardens station
Designated26 September 2002; 22 years ago (2002-09-26)
Reference no.1031878

Kew Gardens is a Grade II–listed[9] interchange station on the District line of the London Underground and the Mildmay line of the London Overground. Located in Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, it first opened in 1869 and is now managed by London Underground. The station, which is in Travelcard Zones 3 and 4, is situated midway between Gunnersbury and Richmond stations.

The station is the nearest to Kew Gardens, about 500 yards (460 m) to the west, and The National Archives, about 600 yards (550 m) to the north east. Kew Gardens Station Footbridge, also a Grade II-listed structure,[10][11] is next to the station, on the southern side.

Access

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The main entrance to the station is at the junction of Station Parade, Station Avenue and Station Approach, about 100 yards (90 m) from Sandycombe Road (B353). There is also an entrance, which is wheelchair-accessible, on North Road, on the other side of the railway line; the two entrances are connected by a pedestrian subway.

History

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The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) on 1 January 1869,[12] in an area of market gardens and orchards.[13] The station was located on a new L&SWR branch line to Richmond built from the West London Joint Railway starting north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia)). The line ran through Shepherd's Bush and Hammersmith via a now closed curve and Grove Road station (also now closed) in Hammersmith. Via a short connection from the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) to Gunnersbury the line was also served by the North London Railway (NLR).

Between 1 June 1870 and 31 October 1870, the Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly ran services from Paddington to Richmond via Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City line) tracks to Grove Road then on the L&SWR tracks through Kew Gardens.[14]

On 1 June 1877, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR tracks east of Ravenscourt Park station.[12] The DR then began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway (MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the GWR's former service to Richmond via Grove Road station.[14]

The DR's service between Richmond, Hammersmith and central London was more direct than the NLR's route via Willesden Junction, the L&SWR's or the MR's routes via Grove Road station or the L&SWR's other route from Richmond via Clapham Junction. From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR's Richmond service and served Kew Gardens once again,[14] meaning that passengers from Kew Gardens could travel on the services of five operators.

Following the electrification of the DR's own tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the DR funded the electrification of the tracks on the Richmond branch, including those through Kew Gardens. This was completed on 1 August 1905[12] and DR services on the line were then operated with electric trains. However, the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam-hauled.

MR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1906 and GWR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1910,[14] leaving operations at Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury to the DR (by then known as the District Railway), the NLR and L&SWR. By 1916, the L&SWR's route through Hammersmith was being out-competed by the District to such a degree that the L&SWR withdrew its service between Richmond and Addison Road on 3 June 1916, leaving the District as the sole operator over that route.[15]

A brass plaque at the station commemorates its reopening on 7 October 1989 by Michael Portillo MP, Minister of State for Transport, after it had been refurbished.

Present

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The two-storey yellow brick station buildings are unusually fine examples of mid-Victorian railway architecture and are protected as part of the Kew Gardens conservation area. The station is one of the few remaining 19th-century stations on the North London line and had one of the last illuminated banner signals on the London Underground, possibly because of the footbridge. This signal was replaced by an electronic version in 2011.[citation needed]

Kew Gardens is the only station on the London Underground network that has a pub attached to it.[16] The pub has a door (no longer in use) which leads out onto platform 1. Previously known as The Railway, and subsequently as "The Pig and Parrot" and as "The Flower and Firkin", the pub reopened after renovation in 2013 as The Tap on the Line.[16]

Kew Gardens Station Footbridge

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Kew Gardens Station Footbridge
Coordinates51°28′37″N 0°17′06″W / 51.476911°N 0.285107°W / 51.476911; -0.285107
CarriesPedestrians
CrossesRailway
LocaleKew, London
Characteristics
Longest span23 metres[10]
History
Opened1912
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFootbridge at Kew Gardens station
Designated26 September 2002
Reference no.1031879
Location
Map
The footbridge, from the North Road side
Heritage sign on the footbridge
Two sets of railroad tracks, both with powered third rails and middle guide rails, between elevated concrete platforms with white curved wooden canopies. In the background is a bridge with curved solid white wooden walls. A sign on the far platform, at left, says "Kew Gardens". A red train is pulling into the station's near platform.
Southbound view of the station and footbridge

The footbridge to the south of the station is also noteworthy and is Grade II-listed in its own right.[10][11] The railway line bisected Kew, but it was not until 1912[10] that the bridge was provided to allow residents to cross the tracks safely (previously, a level crossing was used, with the added disadvantage of delaying trains). It is a rare surviving example of a reinforced concrete structure built using a pioneering technique devised by the French engineer François Hennebique.[17] The bridge has a narrow deck and very high walls, originally designed to protect its users' clothing from the smoke of steam trains passing underneath. It also has protrusions on either side of the deck to deflect smoke away from the bridge structure.[18] It was restored in 2004[19] with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in a project led by The Kew Society.[18] In July 2017, concerns were expressed about the structural safety of the bridge.[20]

Services

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Plaque commemorating the station's reopening by Michael Portillo in 1989

Kew Gardens currently has the following London Underground and London Overground services, which are operated by the London Underground S7 stock and British Rail Class 378 trains respectively:

London Underground

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London Overground

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Connections

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There are no lifts. Platform 2 (going towards central London) is at ground level. Platform 1 (going towards Richmond) is reached by a short set of 10 steps; there is also a wheelchair-accessible ramp. The National Archives is on the Platform 1 side of the station. The shops of Kew village, Sandycombe Road, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are on the Platform 2 side, and visitors to those locations who alight at Platform 1 must cross the tracks via either the tunnel underneath (left of the main exit, 15 steps down, then 22 steps up) or the footbridge (right of the main exit, 30 steps up, then 30 steps down). The simplest alternative for those wishing to avoid the steps is to remain on the train while it travels one stop to Richmond and returns. Given that trains stand for up to 15 minutes at Richmond, it will be more timely to change at Richmond onto the next Kew Gardens departure.

London Buses route 110 serves the station.[22]

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Kew Gardens station appeared in the BBC comedy drama Love Soup (Series 2, Episode 1 – Smoke and Shadows, 1 March 2008) as the fictional "Hove West" station.[23]

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  8. ^ Historic England (26 September 2002). "Kew Gardens station (1031878)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d Historic England (26 September 2002). "Footbridge at Kew Gardens station (1031879)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Kew Gardens Station Footbridge". Urban Design. Transport for London. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  11. ^ a b c "District Line, Dates". Clive's Underground Line Guides. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  12. ^ The rural character of the area around the station is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1874.
  13. ^ a b c d "Hammersmith & City Line, Dates". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  14. ^ "District Line, History". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  15. ^ a b Kelly, Guy (21 March 2015). "7 things you never knew about Kew Gardens". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  16. ^ Hennebique Ferro-Concrete, Theory and Practice, A Handbook for Engineers and Architects (4th ed.). London: L.G. Mouchel & Partners. 1921. p. 381.
  17. ^ a b Thorpe, Hannah (13 September 2003). "Kew footbridge project wins £42,700 lottery grant". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  18. ^ Plaque, Kew Gardens station footbridge
  19. ^ Watts, Matt (14 July 2017). "Railway bridge in south-west London 'at risk of collapse'". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  20. ^ Table 59 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  21. ^ "Buses from Kew Gardens" (PDF). TfL. 12 December 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  22. ^ Cooper, Nick; Cooper, Claire. "Real stations – used as locations". The London Underground in Films & Television. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kew Gardens station (London).
Preceding station London Overground Following station
Richmond
Terminus
 Mildmay line
North London line 		Gunnersbury
towards Stratford
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Richmond
Terminus
 District line
Richmond branch
 Gunnersbury
towards Upminster
Former services
Richmond
Terminus
 London and South Western Railway
(1869–1916)
 Gunnersbury
towards West Brompton
Metropolitan Railway
(1877–1906)
 Gunnersbury
towards Paddington
Great Western Railway
(1894–1910)
Abandoned plans
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Richmond
Terminus
 Central line
(1913 & 1920)
 Gunnersbury
towards Liverpool Street
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