Best sited stations for town/city centre.

[tom73]

Encouraged by the "Inconveniently Sited Stations" thread.
I nominate Grimsby Town as the best sited station for the town centre. 2-3 minutes walk and you're in the town's shopping mall.

 

[Re 4/4]

Birmingham New Street would have to fall in the same category then. Some of the mall is just above the station and the rest can be reached over a footbridge.

EDIT: and from Snow Hill if I remember right, the other end of the mall is just across the road.

 

[Ken H]

Birmingham New Street would have to fall in the same category then. Some of the mall is just above the station and the rest can be reached over a footbridge.

EDIT: and from Snow Hill if I remember right, the other end of the mall is just across the road.

Snow Hill is in the business district. Moor Street is handy for the shops

 

[bionic]

Brixton. Smack bang in the heart of it. (A few years ago, before it became trendy, "smack" was a pretty visible commodity around there too!).

 

[Ken H]

Worcester Foregate Street. Smack bang in the middle.


Edit
Lancaster aint bad.

 

[gazthomas]

Welwyn Garden City. The station is part of the Howard Centre right in the centre of the town

 

[delt1c]

Edinburgh Waverly, Glasgow Central and Inverness are all in the city centres

 

[Ken H]

How about Barnsley? Next to bus stn, and just on the edge of the centre

 

[dk1]

Encouraged by the "Inconveniently Sited Stations" thread.
I nominate Grimsby Town as the best sited station for the town centre. 2-3 minutes walk and you're in the town's shopping mall.

Even better for Wetherspoon's

 

[Ianno87]

Charing Cross (London)
Cardiff Queen Street

Liverpool Central and Lime Street

Southport

Manchester Victoria is "not bad" for the shops

 

[ag51ruk]

Sunderland

 

[Matt_pool]

Bath Spa (with Bristol Temple Meads down the line being the worst!)

 

[adamedwards]

Both Glasgow termini and Argyle St.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Surprisingly - Preston IMHO

 

[Iskra]

Leeds, Sheffield, Carnforth, Morecambe and Huddersfield are all pretty good.

 

[SoccerHQ]

Leeds, Sheffield, Carnforth, Morecambe and Huddersfield are all pretty good.

Sheffield is up a steep incline and then you have to turn right for a bit (although you could get the tram up of course).

Walsall is another dead central, indeed it's below the shopping centre.

 

[Bevan Price]

I would disagree about Sheffield. The bus station is across the road, but it is at least 5 minutes walk to many of the shopping areas.
Doncaster, both Wigan stations, Bolton and St. Helens Central are fairly close to their town centres - (in contrast to St. Helens Junction which is nearly 2 miles from the town centre.)

 

[DavidGrain]

There nothing but shops between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Moor Street especially if you take the footbridge over Smallbrook Queensway and many more people will be making that walk when the HS2 station opens in Moor Street Queensway. Birmingham Snow Hill is not so convenient for shops now that the main retail area has moved south as exemplified by the fact that the House of Fraser store in Corporation street will be closing when the owners of the building get planning permission to rebuild with offices and a hotel.

 

[Matt_pool]

Liverpool Lime Street has already been mentioned, but another good thing about it is that if you need to get to the other side of the city centre (Pier Head etc) and it's chucking it down, or you've got lots of luggage, or you just can't be bothered walking, your train train ticket to Liverpool says on it "Liverpool stations" meaning you can hop on a Merseyrail train around to James Street for no extra charge.

 

[Ken H]

Leeds, Sheffield, Carnforth, Morecambe and Huddersfield are all pretty good.

morecambe was better before they truncated the line. Now it seems to be in the middle of a car park

 

[DavidGrain]

Liverpool Lime Street has already been mentioned, but another good thing about it is that if you need to get to the other side of the city centre (Pier Head etc) and it's chucking it down, or you've got lots of luggage, or you just can't be bothered walking, your train train ticket to Liverpool says on it "Liverpool stations" meaning you can hop on a Merseyrail train around to James Street for no extra charge.

I did not realise this when I booked on line (LNW website) as I was quoted a much higher price to travel to James Street so I split the tickets at Lime Street. It was only when I collected my tickets that I found out that my ticket said Liverpool Stations

 

[Scotty]

Peterborough is well sited for Waitrose (next door) and Queensgate shopping centre (few minutes walk and you're onto the footbridge into it).

 

[MarkyT]

A few on GWR:
Reading. Par excellence.
Swindon's pretty good for the modern town centre (not for the old town though!).
Bristol Temple Meads isn't as poor as it was in the sense that a thriving new business district has expanded towards the station.
Exeter Central.
Plymouth is a good example of the key to integration not being distance alone. The station is at the head of Armada Way. This pedestrian friendly wide green spine right through the city centre. The bit immediately around the station itself is a bit rubbish though.
Paignton.
If a main station can't be near a town centre, another approach is to try and develop the station as a secondary focus, closely linked to the centre and other parts of town by public transport, or a good safe attractive pedestrian walking route like Plymouth if the distance isn't too great.

 

[Adsy125]

Poole isn’t bad, unlike Bournemouth and Wareham either side. Although it would be better, I think, if it was the other side of the level crossing on the straight, both for access to the centre and being able to split trains there.

 

[lancastrian]

Bolton is pretty good. Only about 3 minutes to the new Bus Station, and you can be in the Town Hall Square with about 5/6 minutes.

 

[EM2]

Windsor & Eton Central.
Gravesend.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Eastleigh, Basingstoke, Clapham Junction, Shepherds Bush, Harrow on the Hill, Romford, Aylesbury are all close to their respective shopping centres.

 

[Mikey C]

Of the ones not mentioned, Inverness, Sunderland. Newcastle and Walsall spring to mind

 

[Ken H]

Lincoln. level crossing across the High Street just outside the station

 

[Bletchleyite]

Liverpool Central is fairly central. Preston isn't bad, being at one end of the main Fishergate shopping street and directly opposite (via the side entrance) one of the shopping centres.