Trivia: stations facing the wrong way for the town they serve

[TheGrew]

My immediate thought was in the previous thread of Southampton Central. But with the recent redevelopment, I would argue Newton-le-Willows has its main building facing away from the high street, in practice, though many commuters heading to Manchester (myself included) use the access on the other side.

Looking at the map, Telford faces away from the town on account of the A442 being on the side facing the town centre.

 

[Metrolink]

Warrington Central is a contender with the A57 inbetween the main shopping area and the station.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Off the beaten track, Whyteleafe (which also has a level crossing to get over to get from the "village" side to the booking office - though there is a footbridge on the platforms which are accessible either side).

If we're allowed smaller places, then Lockwood would qualify. The surviving in-use platform is the down one, which faces the area of Crosland Hill rather than the centre of Lockwood itself. Using the staircase lessens the impact of this.

Sowerby Bridge station is also accessed from the opposite side of the line from the town centre.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bletchley. Faced the town in 1925. Doesn't in 2025 because of the 1960's changes to the town layout.

Disagree. It's primarily a commuter station, and it presently faces the vast majority of the housing.

I'm not opposed to adding an entrance on the other side, and to be honest I think it's mad that one wasn't included in the P7/8 work, but if there was to be only one it's on the correct side for the majority of the demand both on foot and by car. (Almost nobody arrives by bus to change to rail there; if doing a rail<->bus journey they'd change at MKC).

There is almost nothing in Bletchley town centre that people will commute to by rail - pretty much all the work is low-wage retail and manufacturing, and people arrive for that by bus or car, by and large. The former exceptions to that would have been the Cable and Wireless site and the Abbey National/Santander site (the former now flats, the latter just abandoned for now) and both are on the correct side for the current entrance.

If anything the 60s/70s changes have put even more residential property on the current entrance side - my house for example was built in 1970, as was the entire Rivers Estate - yes, the town centre moved (previously around the Three Trees area, and one could argue it's moved again, this time to the Stadium development) but the station isn't about the town centre and never really was.

 

[infobleep]

The previous thread mentioned Woking and if it hadn't, I was going to mentioned it here.

 

[PeterC]

Billericay had the entrance built facing open country, now an industrial estate. To reach the up platforms from the town centre involves crossing the railway twice.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Windermere: Exit as well as bus stops etc. to the East. Town centre to the West (the direct route involves cutting through the Booths car park then clambering down a bank, and I would suspect almost no non-locals know about it)

Crayford: Town centre immediately to the North of the station with no direct access. Entrance on the South.

Kendal: Yes I know the entrance is on the South side - the right direction for the town centre, but it's at the Western end of the platform, where access is only via a longish cul-de-sac. Whereas at the Eastern end of the platform, the track passes over a main road that would have given far more convenient access to the station from most directions, if the entrance had been put there.

Euston Square. Exit at totally the wrong end of the station for the connection to Euston, which is probably where most people are likely to be heading.

And can we have special votes for South Bermondsey, for which, it's not so much a case of the entrance being on the wrong side, as the entrance being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no access other than via a long foot/cycle path, despite the station being in the middle of London with loads of nearby housing. And Canada Water, where the station seems to have been designed as a spiral with the main entrance at one end of the spiral, and you have to keep walking round in circles to get to any trains

 

[Western Sunset]

Historically, Derby Friargate had its entrance on the "wrong" side for the town. The initial plans had it on the "correct" side.

 

[davart]

I'd argue Barnsley.

Before the 2006-7 reconfiguration, the main entrance and booking office was on the same side as the old bus station and town side. When the bus station was redeveloped the booking office was moved to the other platform and so was the main entrance, opposite to the bus station and the town!

I was about to post a similar comment.

The ticket office could have remained in it's original location. I wonder if it's something to do with accessibility since the current entrance is at ground level and goes past the ticket office with the lift to the opposite platform just past that?

I'd have flattened the station when they built the new bus station and moved it closer to what was the former level crossing, essentially building it where the new bridge is...