Preston Station - really poor and needs urgent improvement

[xotGD]

Many passengers changing trains will have no idea what delights await them just outside the station. Therefore will rely on the refreshments available on the station.

I have changed at Peterborough many times, but I've never set foot off the platforms. Is there a great pub or cafe nearby? I've no idea.

 

[Acathater]

It's certainly been done a few times in the past. It's doubled as "platform 7" on a few occasions when the roof has fallen down, a not uncommon occurrence.

Doesn't that cause confusion with the real platform 7?

 

[Falcon1200]

Not even having a cafe open at 8.30pm on Sunday in summer seems bizarre. Appreciate the demand would be different on a weeknight or a Sunday night in early January....so...flex the hours?

If the catering outlets are not open later in the evening that is presumably a decision made by their operator, because it is not economically justifiable. And would/does the 'railway' have any power to dictate that they should remain open longer?

 

[Kite159]

Lancaster has a Tesco Express and a Subway not wildly further away than both of those are in Preston. Been to both from there quite often

That Tesco express in Lancaster is a good 5+ minutes walk, which in comparison with Preston is a bit further away. Especially as you need to know which way to go once outside the station heading towards the city centre.

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As for station catering closing at a particular time, they are run by a private business at the end of the day.

 

[Paul AC]

Doesn't that cause confusion with the real platform 7?

I was puzzled by that. I have seen the 'parcels' platform referred to as P, 0, or RES on public signs, including electronic, over the years.

On the other hand I have heard references to 'platform 9' instead of 'platform 7' - 9 being the old number before the 1970s electrification/rationalisation.

 

[yorksrob]

When I started my career at Preston Area Managers in the mid 1980s, one of my Area Managers big disappointments was the failure of BRB to demolish and rebuild Preston. He thought a new station building on fishergate with a commercial building on a raft over the platforms would be the way to finance and provide a better customer experience. No doubt many would disagree, (looking at the final efforts at Rugby, etc), but there does come a point when a major investment is needed at places like Crewe, Preston and others.

You can get a train undercover, and not in a dingy underground car park.

Preston is fine but the retail offer needs improving.

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Lancaster has a Tesco Express and a Subway not wildly further away than both of those are in Preston. Been to both from there quite often

Lancaster however isn't a major regional interchange.

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It's certainly been done a few times in the past. It's doubled as "platform 7" on a few occasions when the roof has fallen down, a not uncommon occurrence.

There isn't a Tesco anywhere near Lancaster station that I've ever seen.

 

[Kite159]

You can get a train undercover, and not in a dingy underground car park.

Preston is fine but the retail offer needs improving.

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There isn't a Tesco anywhere near Lancaster station that I've ever seen.

I've attached a screenshot of the map, the yellow cross is near the Tesco Express.

 

[yorksrob]

I've attached a screenshot of the map, the yellow cross is near the Tesco Express.

That's no where near the station.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Doesn't that cause confusion with the real platform 7?

The real platform 7 hasn't been used for passengers in my memory and isn't labelled as such.

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That's no where near the station.

It's about five minutes' walk if that.

 

[najaB]

The real platform 7 hasn't been used for passengers in my memory and isn't labelled as such.

Is that a recent change? When I used Preston regularly about ten years ago or so it still had Platform 7 signage.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's about five minutes' walk if that.

The Tesco Express on King Street, Lancaster is more like nine minutes walk from the station, and then that's only if you know exactly where you're going when leaving the station. Who's going to do that if there's less than half an hour until your train is due?

 

[D6130]

Many passengers changing trains will have no idea what delights await them just outside the station. Therefore will rely on the refreshments available on the station.

I have changed at Peterborough many times, but I've never set foot off the platforms. Is there a great pub or cafe nearby? I've no idea.

0/T....but the Oakham Brewery Tap is about five minutes walk from Peterborough station. Great Thai food as well as beer.

 

[The Planner]

When the open golf was on at Lytham in 2012, Northern operated a shuttle service on the Blackpool South line from the parcels platform at Preston.
Was some kind of special working authorised or would that be easy to do today?

Won't meet standards to be used now I expect in terms of lighting, signage etc..

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Tesco Express on King Street, Lancaster is more like nine minutes walk from the station, and then that's only if you know exactly where you're going when leaving the station. Who's going to do that if there's less than half an hour until your train is due?

Me, often. I've even gone as far as the Subway and Sainsbury's which is a bit further along, or occasionally the German Doner Kebab.

It's not ideal but it's close enough.

And who wouldn't know exactly where they were going in these days of Google/Apple Maps?

It's all a similar distance away as similar stuff at Preston. A bit further to the Tesco but not uselessly so. Google Maps reckons 7 minutes but I find it tends to be pessimistic.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The Tesco Express is just across the road from the main (ramp) exit at Preston.

 

[pr1]

Won't meet standards to be used now I expect in terms of lighting, signage etc..

The ramp would have to be flatter/level for one thing!

 

[Trainfan2019]

Preston sounds so similar to Crewe these days. Both are Avanti managed. Yet Stafford in comparison, reasonably big station, managed by Avanti, doesn't seem as bad.

 

[najaB]

Is that a recent change? When I used Preston regularly about ten years ago or so it still had Platform 7 signage.

I've found what appears to be a relatively recent photo that shows that Platform 7 still had signs:

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/uktrains/comments/1hyvpx9/does_this_platform_7_at_preston_ever_get_used_if/

 

[KNN]

I'm surprised the one thing that really needs doing hasn't been mentioned. The roof is a state, I wouldn't want to be there in a big storm.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm surprised the one thing that really needs doing hasn't been mentioned. The roof is a state, I wouldn't want to be there in a big storm.

Quite! If I rightly recall, Preston station did get closed after "Storm Eunice" swept through, back in February 2022, causing damage to the roof. Did the subsequent station revamp plans ever happen?

 

[Merle Haggard]

Possibly I've become confused but Platform 7 is on the extreme East side, and the disused ex Royal Mail platforms referred to in the OP are on the West side.
Regarding the closeness or not of Tesco Express; leaving by the ramp with the taxi rank, when you reach the top of the ramp is at about 2 o'clock across the road. It couldn't really be nearer and not on railway land - assuming the ramp up to the road is that. And it's the last building before the railway over bridge, so nothing could be exactly opposite the ramp.

 

[najaB]

Possibly I've become confused but Platform 7 is on the extreme East side, and the disused ex Royal Mail platforms referred to in the OP are on the West side.

Correct. Platform 7 used to primarily serve trains heading along the curve to the East Lancs line. The RES platforms on the west side of the station aren't included in the passenger railway numbering system.

 

[The Planner]

Correct. Platform 7 used to primarily serve trains heading along the curve to the East Lancs line. The RES platforms on the west side of the station aren't included in the passenger railway numbering system.

Nothing uses P7, its a goods line. Colne trains go out of the bays.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Correct. Platform 7 used to primarily serve trains heading along the curve to the East Lancs line. The RES platforms on the west side of the station aren't included in the passenger railway numbering system.

However when they have been used as emergency platforms when the roof has been damaged by storms, they were temporarily known as Platform 7, at least the one time I actually used them for this purpose in the late 90s/early 2000s.

If actual 7 has now gained a number it may well be that if it happened again another number e.g. 0 or 8 would be used.

 

[DarloRich]

The toilets at Preston seem quite smart. They mist have been done up recently. Dont see the problem.

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I have changed at Peterborough many times, but I've never set foot off the platforms. Is there a great pub or cafe nearby? I've no idea.

you can see Waitrose from the station. It is adjacent.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Just got back and the toilets were not too bad at all. Perhaps a slight odour but goodness me they are toilets -what do you expect?

 

[Acathater]

Nothing uses P7, its a goods line. Colne trains go out of the bays.

As I said upthread, its main use now seems to be as a parking area during periods of disruption. You can sometimes see two units in there, not necessarily coupled together.

 

[KNN]

Just got back and the toilets were not too bad at all. Perhaps a slight odour but goodness me they are toilets -what do you expect?

I don't think they are great, after a weekend of disruption they might be a bit grim, but I agree they aren't noticeably worse than any other station whenever I've been.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Aug 2026 ==

Quite! If I rightly recall, Preston station did get closed after "Storm Eunice" swept through, back in February 2022, causing damage to the roof. Did the subsequent station revamp plans ever happen?

I'm not itk but they've been talking about that since forever, not sure if they are waiting for the sky to actually fall in or what...

 

[Acathater]

I'm surprised the one thing that really needs doing hasn't been mentioned. The roof is a state, I wouldn't want to be there in a big storm.

Online press reports seem to show that the glazing was replaced in 2020 but the ironwork started to shed pieces from 2022 onwards and I can't find any evidence of that being fixed
However at some point in the last few years the "gable end" (for want of a better description) at the north end, facing the taxi ramp was refurbished but I can find little in the way of records for that
Does make you wonder if the reglazing was premature and the ironwork should have been considered first

 

[najaB]

Nothing uses P7, its a goods line. Colne trains go out of the bays.

It's used as a goods line now, but it originally was used by trains that used the now lifted line that branched off to the east.