Brent Cross tube station

Brent Cross
Brent Cross Location of Brent Cross in Greater London
Location	Brent Cross
Local authority	London Borough of Barnet
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	2.21 million
2012	2.13 million
2013	2.14 million
2014	2.40 million
Railway companies
Original company	London Electric Railway
Key dates
19 November 1923	Opened as Brent
20 July 1976	Renamed Brent Cross
Listed status
Listing grade	II
Entry number	1401123
Added to list	20 July 2011
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portal

Brent Cross is a London Underground station located on Highfield Avenue in the Golders Green area of north west London. The station is a Grade II listed building.

The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, between Hendon Central and Golders Green stations, and in Travelcard Zone 3. The Brent Cross shopping centre is some distance away. However, the bus route 210 stops outside the station on Highfield Avenue and the bus route 232 stops near the exit of station on Heathfield Gardens.

History

The station was designed by architect Stanley Heaps and opened as Brent, the name of the nearby river, on 19 November 1923. It was the first station of the extension of what was then known as the Hampstead & Highgate Line, which was built through undeveloped rural areas to Edgware.

The extension had first been planned prior to World War I when the station had been due to be called Woodstock. It was renamed from Brent to its current name on the 20 July 1976 opening of the shopping centre.

Two passing loops were built at the station, not long after it opened, to allow fast trains to overtake slower ones here, but these extra tracks were removed in the 1930s. The bridges over Highfield Avenue reflect this extra width, although both north and south of the station the alignment narrows again.

Development

A planning application, registered in March 2008, for the nearby Brent Cross area would improve bus services passing the station. A turning circle for buses outside the tube station is proposed, needing the demolition of nearby housing.

In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published the North and West London Light Railway Proposal (q.v.) for a rapid transit scheme through the Brent Cross site, terminating at the tube station.

Gallery

• 

  View westward, towards Edgware in 1961

• 

  View NW towards Edgware from station entrance in 1961

• 

  Island platform looking north

• 

  Island platform looking south

• 

  Roundel on southbound platform face

• 

  Alternative entrance to the rear (north) of the main building

External links

• A History of London Tube Maps - 1914 map showing proposed station name as Woodstock
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Site of Brent station, 1922
  • Station Platforms on opening day, 19 November 1923
  • Booking hall, 1923

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Hendon Central towards Edgware		Northern line		Golders Green towards Morden or Kennington