West Finchley tube station

West Finchley tube station is a London Underground station in the Finchley area of north London in the London Borough of Barnet.

The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Finchley Central and Woodside Park stations, and 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. [http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/northern.html#dates Clive's Underground Line Guides - Northern Line, Dates] ] It opened to serve new housing developing in the area and was built with only modest station structures from the outset. 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 1940cite book
last=Rose
first=Douglas
title=The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History
year=1999
publisher=Douglas Rose/Capital Transport
isbn=1-85414-219-4] and, after a period where the station was serviced by both operators, LNER services ended in 1941.

Transport links

No bus route serves the station directly, but London Buses route 326 goes very near (1 minute's walk). This has encouraged use of the station, which was formerly under-used. Bus routes 82, 125, 221 and 460 stop about 10 minutes' walk from West Finchley Station.

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 north-bound platform by wheelchair and with push-chair is straight-forward, though it is necessary to cross a footbridge to reach the south-bound 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.Fact|date=November 2007 In the rush hour the station has fairly good usage.

Ticket office

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.cite web
url = http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/5267.aspx
title = Oyster success leads Tube ticket office changes
accessdate = 2007-11-19
date = 2007-06-12
publisher = Transport for London] The list of stations includes West Finchley.

References

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
**ltmcollection|68/9887068.jpg|Station in 1935 during LNER period prior to London Transport's take over
**ltmcollection|97/9857197.jpg|Station in 1944 showing LNER and London Underground signs

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