Paddington Station - The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

Historical version 10 of Paddington Station (view current version)

Postcode: W2 1AE

Categories: Rail, Shopping, Tube
Locales: Paddington

Underground Lines

Zone 1 Station / Streetmap Link / station.pl?station=Paddington Journey Planner

Lines Served

Photos by Ivor Williams 2005

Line Locations

[District Line/Circle Line/Bakerloo Line: Found in the south-east of the station, next to the seperate "Lawn" shopping area. All 3 lines are downstairs, with the Circle and District departing from the same platform and the Bakerloo further underground. There's a second Bakerloo Line entrance in the south-west of the station, by the exit to [Praed Street|Praed Street]]. There are also entrances on Praed Street for the [District Line and Circle Line (opposite side of the road from the mainline station), and the Bakerloo Line (same side of the road from the mainline station, just by the [Praed Street|Praed Street]] entrance).
Hammersmith and City Line: Found in the very north-west of the station, after platform 14. Access is either by staircase and bridge from platforms 13/14 or by the same bridge accessed from the west end of platforms 1-11 - go up the stairs at the end of the platform and turn left.

Where To Alight

District Line/Circle Line - in the centre of the train
Hammersmith and City Line - centre area of the train (more towards the front for eastbound, the back for westbound)

Where To Get On

Circle Line - Either end of the train, as most people don't seem to move far from the central entrances.
Hammersmith and City - Again, either end of the train.

A curious fact

The District and Circle line platforms are open to the sky. At the [Praed Street]? end, the track goes into a cut and cover tunnel section. The bridge over [Praed Street]? was built to conceal the railway lines, and is made to look like a house, complete with chimney stacks; it even has an address. This was a gesture by the Victorian railway pioneers; they were worried in case members of the public saw smoke coming from below the bridge, and called the fire brigade.

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Overground Section

West London's main train station, with lines leading to destinations all over the west of England.

Network Rail Link: Network Rail

Facilities

As Paddington is a major terminus, it has quite an array of facilities in the station - however the surrounding streets are also full of bars, restaurants, shops and other things.

However, in the station there are 2 sections, the main concourse (where the trains are) and The Lawn (the sectioned of shopping/eating/drinking section on the south east end of the station):

Coffee, Bars and Pubs

[Mad Bishop and Bear, W2]?: - a very nice Fuller's pub, one of the only (if not the only) in station pub in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Located on the top floor of The Lawn.
The Reef: - Alright coffee/sandwich/bar place. Part of an instation chain (I think - Billy). Located on the first floor of The Lawn, above WH Smiths.

Food

In The Lawn:

Yo Sushi!
Fusion

In the main concourse:

Burger King
Cookie and Soup Stand
Pick n Mix Stand

Shops

In The Lawn:

WH Smiths
Dixons
Body Shop
Sanity: (Formerly OurPrice)
Sainsbury's

In the main concourse:

Boots
Electronics Boutique
Tie Rack

An anecdote: the graffiti message "Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere" was once painted on the south wall, visible as trains entered or left the station. I was once on a train out of Paddington when I overhead a young woman telling her friends that her father painted it - originally as a student, and then once again only a few years previous to my overhearing the tale; he crept out of the house Christmas Day (presumably they live close enough) 'going for a walk', and repainted it.

It finally disappeared with rebuilding work.

(Latitude: 51.516314 Longitude: -0.175275)

This is version 10 (as of 2005-09-28 04:52:05). View current version. List all versions.