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Cockfosters tube station

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Cockfosters is a London Underground station. It is located on Cockfosters Road (A111) approximately nine miles (14 km) from central London and serves Cockfosters. It is on the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Enfield. It is the northern terminus of the Piccadilly line and the next station towards south is Oakwood. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5.

Cockfosters London Underground
Cockfosters is located in Greater London
Cockfosters
Cockfosters
Location of Cockfosters in Greater London
LocationCockfosters
Local authorityLondon Borough of Enfield/London Borough of Barnet
Managed byLondon Underground
Number of platforms4 (facing 3 tracks)
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Decrease 1.86 million[2]
2020Decrease 0.89 million[3]
2021Decrease 0.84 million[4]
2022Increase 1.41 million[5]
2023Increase 1.45 million[6]
Key dates
31 July 1933 (1933-07-31)Opened (Piccadilly line)
Listed status
Listing gradeII
Entry number1358718[7]
Added to list26 May 1987
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°39′06″N 0°08′56″W / 51.6516°N 0.1488°W / 51.6516; -0.1488
London transport portal

History

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The station opened on 31 July 1933, the last of the stations on the extension of the line from Finsbury Park to do so and four months after Oakwood station (then called Enfield West) opened.[8] Prior to its opening, Trent Park and Cock Fosters (an early spelling of the area's name) were suggested as alternative station names. The original site hoarding displayed the name as a single word.[citation needed]

The station was designed by Charles Holden in a modern European style using brick, glass and reinforced concrete.[9] Compared with the other new stations Holden designed for the extension, Cockfosters' street buildings are modest in scale, lacking the mass of Oakwood or Arnos Grove or the avant-garde flourish of Southgate. Holden's early design sketches show the station with two towers.[10] The most striking feature of the station is the tall concrete and glass trainshed roof and platform canopies, which are supported by portal frames of narrow blade-like concrete columns and beams rising from the platforms and spanning across the tracks. The trainshed roof constructed at Uxbridge from 1937 to 1938 was built to a similar design. Cockfosters station is a Grade II listed building.[7]

The station has three tracks with platforms numbered 1 to 4, the centre track being served from both sides by platforms 2 and 3. This is an example of the so-called Spanish solution. Most eastbound Piccadilly trains terminate here, although some terminate at Arnos Grove or Oakwood, particularly in peak hours or in the evenings. Some trains may even terminate at Wood Green; however, this is only used very early in the morning or in emergency situations. Cockfosters depot is located between Oakwood and Cockfosters and trains can enter or leave it from either direction.[11]

In September 2020, works to provide step-free access were completed with a lift providing access to the platform, making Cockfosters the 80th accessible Tube station.[12][13][14]

Future property development

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In the late 2010s, the station car park at Cockfosters was proposed by Transport for London's property arm Places for London for property development, as part of TfL's plans to increase the amount of income generated from land in their ownership.[15][16] By September 2020, it was proposed that over 350 new homes (with 40% affordable homes) would be built on the current car park at the station by TfL and Grainger.[17] The plans also included new public space, cycle parking and dedicated disabled car parking spaces.[18] The proposal was criticised due to the loss of Tube car parking and the amount of new homes proposed on the site.[19][20]

Despite approval from the local council, the development was blocked by Conservative Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in 2022, following campaigning by local residents and MP Theresa Villiers.[21][22] In September 2024, Labour Transport Secretary Louise Haigh approved the development.[23]

Services

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Preceding station   London Underground Following station
Oakwood
towards Uxbridge, Rayners Lane or Heathrow Airport (Terminal 4 or Terminal 5)
 Piccadilly line Terminus

Nearby attractions

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Cockfosters tube station features prominently in the novel While England Sleeps by American author David Leavitt. One of the novel's protagonists is writing a book entitled The Train to Cockfosters.[24]

A commercial for Foster's lager shown on UK television in the 1980s features Paul Hogan sitting in an Underground station near to a Japanese man who is looking at the Tube map on the wall. The man asks Hogan, "Can you tell me the way to Cockfosters?", to which Hogan replies, "Drink it warm, mate".[25]

Connections

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London Buses routes 298, 299, 384, school routes 692, 699 and night bus N91 serve the station.[26]

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  •  
    Main (east) entrance
  •  
    Main entrance
  •  
    West entrance
  •  
    Subway leading to west entrance
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    Concourse with original ticket booth
  •  
    Concourse with original clock
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    Platform 3

References

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Citations

  1. ^ Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. April 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b Historic England. "COCKFOSTERS LONDON REGIONAL TRANSPORT STATION INCLUDING PLATFORMS AND PLATFORM CANOPIES (1358718)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  8. ^ Horne 2007, p. 90.
  9. ^ Paulsen, Ingvild (14 June 2003). "Undergrunnsarkitektur". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). p. 28.
  10. ^ "Underground Journeys: Cockfosters". Royal Institute of British Architects. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  11. ^ Jarrier, Franklin. "Greater London Transport Tracks Map" (PDF) (Map). CartoMetro London Edition. 3.7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  12. ^ Desborough, Jenny (30 June 2017). "Two stations in north London to go step-free by 2020". Times Series. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Step free access". London Assembly. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Cockfosters becomes 80th step-free London Underground station". Transport for London. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Property Development - Projects and communities". Transport for London. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  16. ^ "TfL in rental flats debut with homes above Tube stations". London Evening Standard. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Give My View - Cockfosters". Give my view. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Cockfosters Station car park plans revealed". Enfield Dispatch. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  19. ^ Villiers, Theresa (27 June 2019). "Villiers to fight TfL plan to build over Cockfosters station car park". Theresa Villiers MP. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  20. ^ Elvery, Martin (7 July 2020). "'Atrocious' towers on Cockfosters Tube station car park would 'destroy the area'". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  21. ^ Lees, Martina (2023). "Theresa Villiers interview: If we keep building, we'll turn our suburbs into east Berlin". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460.
  22. ^ Salisbury, Josh (11 March 2022). "Grant Shapps blocks TfL proposal for flats by Cockfosters Tube". Evening Standard. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  23. ^ Prior, Grant (2 September 2024). "Tube station housing plan gets Government green light". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  24. ^ Max, D.T. (3 October 1993). "The Lost Language of Leavitt : WHILE ENGLAND SLEEPS By David Leavitt (Viking: $22; 304 pp.) ". Los Angeles Times.
  25. ^ "Paul Hogan Cockfosters commercial". YouTube.
  26. ^ "Buses from Cockfosters" (PDF). TfL. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2021.

Sources

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