Trivia: Most attractive London station?

[DarloRich]

As for the comment about being a bit of a warren of corridors - I completely get that, and why it can feel awkward (personally I get a bit of excitement about secret corridors and mothballed industrial facilities, but then again I'm a bit weird like that). However, most large or medium-sized stations have hidden areas, disused rooms and that sort of thing. It's not new, and indeed even in older and more pleasant locations, it's not necessarily any better. In fact, to be honest, even some of the smallest stations on my routes have their secret cubby-holes and although it can be fun for me to find out a bit more about them, frankly it doesn't mean they'd actually look or feel any better than Euston.

Euston is the worst of the lot - There are buildings on the roof, rooms seemingly in the walls, passageways all over the shop, meeting rooms under stairs! God knows what the service areas are like under the concourse!

 

[najaB]

Euston is the worst of the lot - There are buildings on the roof, rooms seemingly in the walls, passageways all over the shop, meeting rooms under stairs!

M C Escher would be proud!

 

[DarloRich]

M C Escher would be proud!

his designs are much less complicated!

 

[APTnerd\Effwon]

In your opinion, which is the most attractive and impressive looking station in London?

For me, it is probably St. Pancras.

Paddington.But I think St pancras does look nice. I quite like kew gardens too.

 

[Philip C]

Paddington is a firm favourite
Also Blackfriars for the view up the Thames to Tower Bridge

Surely down the Thames!

 

[yorksrob]

And by that token, Charing Cross - for the view up or down the Thames (but never both at the same time due to the bulkiness of Hungerford bridge.

 

[urbophile]

St Pancras for the train shed (and the Scott fantasy in front of it isn't bad either). But a pity that Eurostar passengers only get a brief glimpse of it as they join or leave the train, having to wait underground.

Marylebone (loved by Sir John Betjeman) used to be one of my favourites, but I don't really know it recently and some comments above suggest it's been spoilt.

The H & C terminus at Hammersmith looks as if it has strayed from a Wiltshire market town: it is lovely.

Just about every one of the Charles Holden designs on the Piccadilly line and similar later ones. His earlier stations on the Northern line in South London are not as good in my opinion.

Southern Railway art deco at Wimbledon, Richmond, Raynes Park etc.

Barking.

The cute rural stations taken over by the Central Line on the Epping extension (though I suppose most of those are in Essex, not London).

 

[Mikey C]

Liverpool Street is a good compromise between keeping the historical architecture, being grand and airy, having easy access to the Tube AND easy access to outside, It's so easy to get in and out of it, or to use the concourse as a cut through from Bishopsgate to Moorgate.

I remember using in the late 1980s when it was being rebuilt, and being so impressed with the results (especially when compared with the horrible Cannon St and Fenchurch St rebuilds)

Marylebone is the most picturesque of the London termini, St Pancras is stunning, but would have been so much more attractive as a conventional railway station...

 

[yorksrob]

Liverpool Street is a good compromise between keeping the historical architecture, being grand and airy, having easy access to the Tube AND easy access to outside, It's so easy to get in and out of it, or to use the concourse as a cut through from Bishopsgate to Moorgate.

I remember using in the late 1980s when it was being rebuilt, and being so impressed with the results (especially when compared with the horrible Cannon St and Fenchurch St rebuilds)

Marylebone is the most picturesque of the London termini, St Pancras is stunning, but would have been so much more attractive as a conventional railway station...

It would have been better if they'd kept the Eastern trainshed though. The elevated tea room would have made an excellent 'Tap' type bar, going by the pictures.

 

[JW16]

As a curveball, I quite like York Road, even though it's disused.

 

[47271]

I don't mind Euston from the point of view that it's brutalist and pretty much does exactly the job it was designed to do 50 years ago. Once I've finally got there.

But maybe someone can help me here. I use the station a lot and have never understood how to approach it on foot from the Euston Road on the Bloomsbury side? You either walk across the gardens and unexpectedly end up in the middle of a bus station, or go up Eversholt Street and have to haul your luggage up those steps towards Marks & Spencers. What exactly were they thinking about in the sixties, did they expect everyone to arrive by tube or car?

 

[Busaholic]

I suppose we are probably talking about slightly different things, which to be fair is probably my fault. I was really responding to the comments on its design, rather than how it feels today.

I do completely agree that it will probably turn out that drastic measures now will be the only way to make it feel pleasant. I guess my main point really was that this was not how it was designed to be. Indeed I think the reason the natural light is mostly (if not pretty much all) in the concourse/holding area is that this section of the station was always meant to give a feeling of being the section used as a departure lounge and destination, the focal point, and I don't think anyone ever anticipated precisely how many people would need to queue on/off the platforms, at the barriers or run around with 2mins to go in quite an enclosed environment. Because of the cluttered atmosphere on the concourse, I think the apathy has spread to maintaining a pleasant atmosphere on the ramps and on the platforms, too, which is very unfortunate. Even things like the tone of the lighting and the way you approach basic facilities such as the Tube station entrances don't feel right. These things could have been maintained in a better way. They weren't.

I wouldn't ever claim Euston is "beautiful", as such - that's not how it was meant to be - but it could have been kept a lot more striking, interesting and worthy of destination status.

As for the comment about being a bit of a warren of corridors - I completely get that, and why it can feel awkward (personally I get a bit of excitement about secret corridors and mothballed industrial facilities, but then again I'm a bit weird like that). However, most large or medium-sized stations have hidden areas, disused rooms and that sort of thing. It's not new, and indeed even in older and more pleasant locations, it's not necessarily any better. In fact, to be honest, even some of the smallest stations on my routes have their secret cubby-holes and although it can be fun for me to find out a bit more about them, frankly it doesn't mean they'd actually look or feel any better than Euston.

I started using Euston in 1969 when I got married to a Preston lass. A bit later I worked for London Transport in their Cobourg Street, Euston control centre and a bit later still, in a career move, for Camden Council on Euston Road. I can honestly say that the only time I ever enjoyed using Euston station was in the fabled summer of 1976 when its air-conditioned booking hall gave a respite from our non-air-conditioned offices and the searing heat outside. I spent part of several lunch hours just standing in it! The last time I visited, a year or two back, I remembered why I disliked it so much.

 

[Upton]

I was quite fond of London Bridge for many years, especially the "crypt" section and the original roof, but since it's been modernised it's lost a lot of its character.

 

[Requeststop]

The last time I visited, a year or two back, I remembered why I disliked it so much.

I really have to agree. The last 3 or 4 times I have used Euston on my visits back to the UK, I have thought Euston an embarrassment.

Totally untidy, poorly signposted, and a design mess. 60's brutalism at it's worst. To make an analogy, it's like the contemporary "classical" music played at the Prom concerts by "modernist avant-garde" composers, heard once, played once and so poor and unintelligible that it's never played again, and the applause from the audience and orchestra is way less than moderately enthusiastic.

At least the Soviets tried to make their underground stations look attractive. There was not attempt to make Euston attractive. The building got a smattering a applause and praise when HM Queen Brenda opened the station and read the peon of praise written for her to read out.

The only attractive things about Euston are the lines out the station, preferably on the Scottish sleeper, when you've had a number of Scotches to numb yourself to sleep before departure, or when on arrival, you pass out of the station into Euston Road to escape the place, or your taxi driver speeds out the underground taxi rank out into daylight to take you away from the bloody awful place.

Thinking about it, the place gives me the shudders.

 

[najaB]

...60's brutalism at it's worst...

Says it all, really. You either like Brutalism or you don't - there is not middle ground.

I quite like it, so don't have the visceral reaction to Euston that you do.

 

[MrPIC]

As has been said, Liv St, on the west anglia side is nice, but the whole gateline and shops above it is not pretty.
St. Pancras is gorgeous though and gets my vote!

 

[JW16]

I miss the "flap" display board on the main Liverpool St concourse. It was certainly a LOT easier to read from distance than the orange electronic boards now, and added a certain "old fashioned" look to the station's interior.

 

[yorksrob]

I miss the "flap" display board on the main Liverpool St concourse. It was certainly a LOT easier to read from distance than the orange electronic boards now, and added a certain "old fashioned" look to the station's interior.

I miss the ones at Victoria, Charing Cross and Waterloo as well.