Paddington Bakerloo entrance

[Backroom_boy]

Apparently it's open; anyone have a first hand experience of it?

 

[furlong]

It opened last Friday. Designed to make you walk further than with the two previous entrances it replaces, with extra steps and making you go down before having to going back up - but of course passing new retail opportunities on your enforced diversion. Will certainly reduce overcrowding and it's a wide new gateline.

 

[thomalex]

I’m curious if we’ll now see some improvements to be dingy existing entrance

 

[fandroid]

Step free access to the Bakerloo, apparently. Is there any evidence of this except the long way round from the Elizabeth Line?

 

[Falcon1200]

the two previous entrances it replaces

Has the passageway to the Circle & District Lines Praed Street station ticket hall been closed?

 

[Dstock7080]

Step free access to the Bakerloo, apparently. Is there any evidence of this except the long way round from the Elizabeth Line?

There are two lifts inside the newly opened ticket hall.

 

[stuu]

Has the passageway to the Circle & District Lines Praed Street statin ticket hall been closed?

No, the entrance on the north east side of the concourse and the stairs down from Praed St are both closed now

 

[Falcon1200]

No, the entrance on the north east side of the concourse and the stairs down from Praed St are both closed now

Thanks.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

No, the entrance on the north east side of the concourse and the stairs down from Praed St are both closed now

This might be a daft question but as someone who occasionally uses Paddington (i.e. once every few years) where is the new entrance?

I can see this could be useful to know if I need to head north from the ancestral home in Slough but need to go via Marylebone...

 

[stuu]

This might be a daft question but as someone who occasionally uses Paddington (i.e. once every few years) where is the new entrance?

I can see this could be useful to know if I need to head north from the ancestral home in Slough but need to go via Marylebone...

If you leave the main concourse via the entrance which used to be the taxi road, the new Bakerloo line entrance is on the left, where there used to be a blank wall and hundreds of smokers

 

[Fawkes Cat]

If you leave the main concourse via the entrance which used to be the taxi road, the new Bakerloo line entrance is on the left, where there used to be a blank wall and hundreds of smokers

Now I think about it, I suppose that is obviously where it would be. Thank you.

 

[sh24]

Used yesterday and today. It’s good to have a second exit/entrance back and one that isn’t a narrow staircase or stairs and corridor. Not sure London needs another shopping mall with the same old chains but those are the only businesses that can afford the no doubt enormous rents

Shame that the post gate line stairs leading up to the escalator landing don’t have escalators. I guess space is too constrained.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Theres been hoardings next to the exit from platforms 10&11 for years. I always thought they were something to do with the building of Paddington Square.

 

[Backroom_boy]

Theres been hoardings next to the exit from platforms 10&11 for years. I always thought they were something to do with the building of Paddington Square.

Yes so did I; what do they relate too? It makes that corner pretty dingy

 

[Sunil_P]

Some pics I took on Friday:

New entrance in Paddington Square development
Access to lifts at the southern end of the Bakerloo platforms
New entrance on Praed Street (strictly speaking to Paddington Square)
New Bakerloo line passage from the lifts
Wide view of Paddington Square
Steps leading from new gate line to the original "mezzanine" where the Bakerloo line escalators meet the narrow passage to the main station
Access to the lifts from behind the new gate line
Boarded up and long forgotten(?) - the original access from the main line station to the Bakerloo line

 

[Mojo]

Just been to the new entrance. Must admit that it seems like a bit of a scam to me. I’m sure it advised that another bank of escalators would be provided but it still uses the same old escalators to the platform which is just one up and one down, so still leads to massive crowding at platform level every time a Northbound train arrives, even at quieter times.

 

[stuu]

There was definitely a new access to the platforms in the originally publicised plans, whether it was binned because of money or complexity I don't know, but it does seem like half a job

 

[bnc2018]

Yes agreed, I was very disappointed when I realised that it was only lift access. You can see some architectural drawings here that included escalators/stairs so it was certainly planned at some point: https://www.scottbrownrigg.com/work/projects/paddington-bakerloo-line-station-upgrade/

In this photo you can see the escalator bank in the foreground that was not built

 

[Geogregor]

Some of my shots:


20241010_143707 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143724 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143638 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143602 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143532 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

Access to the new lifts:

20241010_143301 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

Via this corridor:

20241010_143318 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

Not much change on the platforms:

20241010_142923 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_142948 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143057 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143219 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143228 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


20241010_143337 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

The rolling stock is absolutely clapped out, looks like junk...

 

[Cricketer8for9]

The problem, for me at least on a rainy morning, is that it sends you out into an uncovered space, as opposed to the Lawn, which is covered.

 

[crablab]

The signage for this extrace is poor. I'm presuming it's because it's new and they haven't rolled out new signage in the NR concourse?

The only indication that there might be an Underground station is a roundal on a wall, but you need to be outside to see what and it's not clear that there's an entrance down the escalators until you've got to the bottom!

If you're inside Paddington then there's nothing to suggest that the new exit exists.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Is the Bakerloo entrance/exit off the Lawn staying open?

 

[crablab]

It's currently open and they're in the process of refurbishing the second escalator down, so I would assume so