High Street Kensington tube station
{{short description|London Underground station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox London station|symbol=underground
| name = High Street Kensington
| alt_name =
| manager = London Underground
| manager1 =
| manager2 =
| owner =
| owner1 =
| owner2 =
| locale = Kensington High Street
| borough = Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
| platforms = 4
| fare_zone = 1
| fare_zone_1 =
| image_name = High Street Kensington station October 2013.jpg
| image_alt =
| caption = The station entrance through Kensington Arcade
| coordinates = {{coord|51.5008|-0.1925|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| map_type = Central London
| label_position= right
| years1 = 1 October 1868
| events1 = Opened
| years2 = 25 November 1963
| events2 = Goods yard closed{{cite journal|title=How it used to be – freight on The Underground 50 years ago|journal=Underground News|date=March 2011|issue=591|pages=175–183|editor1-first=Brian|editor1-last=Hardy|publisher=London Underground Railway Society|issn=0306-8617}}
}}
High Street Kensington is a London Underground station on Kensington High Street, Kensington. It is served by the Circle and District lines and is located in Travelcard Zone 1. On the Circle line, the station is between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate stations. On the Edgware Road branch of the District line, it is between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate stations. Kensington Arcade forms the entrance to the station.
Station layout
The station itself has four platforms─two through platforms and two bay platforms. Platform 1 is used for anticlockwise Circle line and westbound District line trains towards Gloucester Road and Earl's Court respectively. Platform 2 is for clockwise Circle line and eastbound District line trains towards Edgware Road. Platforms 3 and 4 are used for terminating District line trains from Earl's Court. Platform 3 is usually used for the Olympia service, which runs weekends and for special events, and platform 4 is usually only used at the start and end of the day. There used to be a waiting room between Platform 2 and 3 for customer use, but this was turned into a staff room for drivers shortly before the Circle line extension to Hammersmith was implemented in December 2009.
On Platform 3, westbound, there is one of the few surviving K8 telephone kiosks. Now used for the TfL internal system, the kiosk is Grade II listed.{{NHLE|grade=II|desc=K8 kiosk at Chalfont and Latimer Station|num=1484974|date=31 May 2023}}
Just south of the station is the junction where the Circle and District lines diverge.
Services
High Street Kensington station is on the Circle and District lines in London fare zone 1. On the Circle line, the station is between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate. On the Edgware Road branch of the District line, it is between Earl’s Court and Notting Hill Gate.
The typical off-peak service from this station is:
- 12 tph (trains per hour) to Edgware Road via Paddington (6 tph District line, 6 tph Circle line)
- 6 tph to Wimbledon via Earl's Court (District line)
- 6 tph anticlockwise on the Circle line via Victoria and Embankment to Hammersmith
Weekends and Special Events only:
- 3 tph to Kensington (Olympia) via Earl's Court (District line)
Connections
London Buses routes 9, 23, 27, 28, 49, 52, 70, 328, 452 and C1, night routes N9, N27, N28 and N31 and Green Line route 702 serve the station.{{Cite web|url=http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/kensington-high-street-a4-121122.pdf|title=Buses from Kensington High Street|date=12 November 2022|website=TfL|access-date=24 December 2022}}{{Cite web|url=http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/kensington-high-street-night-a4-100721.pdf|title=Night buses from Kensington High Street|date=10 July 2021|website=TfL|access-date=24 December 2022|archive-date=11 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811103522/https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/kensington-high-street-night-a4-100721.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Brief history
File:High Street Kensington 1892.jpg
The station was originally built by the Metropolitan Railway after parliament passed the Metropolitan Railway's and Metropolitan District Railway's Bill in 1864. Work started in 1865, and in 1867 a barrel roof enclosed the station designed by the Metropolitan Railway's engineer Sir John Fowler.{{cite book|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol42/pp77-98|title=Survey of London: Volume 42, Kensington Square To Earl's Court|author=London County Council, London|date=1986|pages=77-98}} The station, originally titled Kensington Station, had four lines, two for the Metropolitan Railway and two for the Metropolitan District Railway. The station was further redeveloped under the plans of the Metropolitan Railway's consultant architect, George Campbell Sherrin, between 1906 and 1907.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/londonsmetropoli0000jack/page/197/mode/1up?q=%22george+campbell+sherrin%22|title=London's Metropolitan Railway|author=Jackson, Alan Arthur|date=1986|page=197|isbn=0715388398}} Sherrin's designs saw the barrel roof taken off with the platforms covered by plain wooden shelters on iron columns. The North end of the platforms saw a new superstructure built over them, which contained a new octagonal booking hall, and an arcade that led to the High Street. The space in the arcade was taken by neighbouring department stores Pontings and Derry & Toms.{{cite web|url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs/item/1998-55172|title=B/W print; Exterior view of High Street Kensington Underground station by H K Nolan, 4 Feb 1959|website=London Transport Museum|access-date=7 June 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=c48fef28-00d8-4b4c-9ec4-c9f65146cbdb&resourceID=19191|title=High Street Kensington|website=Heritage Gateway|access-date=7 June 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.housefraserarchive.ac.uk/company/?id=c0562|title=Company: Ponting Brothers|website=House of Fraser Archive at University of Glasgow|access-date=7 June 2024}} The octagonal booking hall was rebuilt by London Transport in 1937-38 to increase its capacity.
Gallery
File:Kensingtonhighstreet.jpg|Station roundel
File:High Street Kensington Tube Station 2008.jpg|Entrance from Kensington Arcade
File:High_Street_Kensington_tube_station_entranceway.jpg|Detail above entranceway
File:S7 Stock at High Street Kensington.jpg|A District line S7 Stock train on bay platform 3 for the shuttle service to Olympia.
File:K8 telephone box at HSK.jpg|The Grade II listed telephone kiosk on platform 3
See also
{{commons category|High Street Kensington tube station}}
References
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{{Adjacent stations|system=London Underground
|line1=Circle|left1=Gloucester Road|right1=Notting Hill Gate|type1=section 6
|line2=District|left2=Earl's Court|right2=Notting Hill Gate|type2=Edgware|note-mid2=Edgware Road branch
|line3=District|left3=Earl's Court|to-left3=Ealing Broadway or Kensington (Olympia)
}}
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Category:Circle line (London Underground) stations
Category:District line stations
Category:Tube stations in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Category:Former Metropolitan Railway stations
Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868
Category:Former Metropolitan District Railway stations