West Finchley tube station

West Finchley
Station entrance
West Finchley Location of West Finchley in Greater London
Location	Finchley
Local authority	London Borough of Barnet
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	1.37 million
2012	1.37 million
2013	1.37 million
2014	1.54 million
Railway companies
Original company	London and North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1 March 1933	Opened by LNER
14 April 1940	Northern line service commences
2 March 1941	LNER service ceased
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portal

West Finchley is a London Underground station in the Finchley area of the London Borough of Barnet, north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Finchley Central and Woodside Park stations and is in Travelcard Zone 4.

History

The station was opened by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) on 1 March 1933 on its line to High Barnet. It opened to serve new housing developing in the area and was built with only modest station structures from the outset. Many fittings were taken from stations in the north of England. The footbridge has been claimed to come from Wintersett and Ryhill station in Yorkshire, which had closed in 1930, although its station footbridge does not look the same in photographs.

The section of the High Barnet branch north of East Finchley was incorporated into the London Underground network through the "Northern Heights" project begun in the late 1930s. West Finchley station was first served by Northern line trains on 14 April 1940 and, after a period where the station was serviced by both operators, LNER services ended in 1941.

Local information

The main entrance is in Nether Street; there is a small front garden between the pavement and the building containing the booking office, though it is not accessible to the public (there are high fences on each side of the path). Access to the northbound platform by wheelchair and with push-chair is straightforward, though it is necessary to cross a footbridge to reach the southbound platform. Although there is an entrance directly onto the south-bound platform, it is only open during the morning rush hour. This small entrance was closed for security reasons during the weeks following the 7 July 2005 London bombings although it has now reopened.

The area surrounding the station is mainly residential, though there is a parade of shops just outside, as well as local play- and infant schools. The station is not particularly well attended, with the ticket office often closed, due to the low usage of the station, situated as it is in a relatively wealthy middle-class area, where most people prefer to use their own transport. In the rush hours the station has fairly good usage.

Ticket office closure

London Underground Limited announced in June 2007 that due to reduced demand for tickets bought from ticket offices (as opposed to from machines) around 40 of the most lightly used ticket offices at Tube stations will close from March 2008. The list of stations includes West Finchley.

Services and connections

Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–7 minutes between 06:09 and 00:13 in both directions.

London Bus routes 82, 125, 221, 326 and 460 and night routes N13 and N20 serve the station.

Gallery

• 

  Northbound platform looking north with a Northern line train leaving the station

• 

  Southbound platform looking south

• 

  Roundel on the southbound platform

External links

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "West Finchley tube station" article dated 2007-11-19, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station in 1935 during LNER period prior to London Transport's take over
  • Station in 1944 showing LNER and London Underground signs

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Woodside Park towards High Barnet		Northern line		Finchley Central towards Morden or Kennington