Waterloo Station

We had a late morning after yesterday's evening dinner in Streatham. We had booked the Historic Tour of Waterloo Station for today. The ticket said “please meet under the clock on the main concourse” and so we did. It was relatively easy to spot other tour goers. 

We learned that this wasn’t the original location of the terminus station in this area, the original station of the London & Southampton Railway was back towards Nine Elms. This station opened in 1848  (then it was the London & South Western Railway) and was a few miles nearer the city. But it was a much smaller station. It was only expanded in the early 1900s to be more like what we see today (although the Eurostar terminal was a late 20th century add-on that has now been absorbed by the domestic services).  While we have been in London there’s been some extensive refurbishment to introduce the shops and balcony where the railway's offices used to be. There appears to be some more work planned with several of the shops and restaurants shutting up.  


We didn’t really hear a great deal about the work that’s been undertaken below the old Eurostar terminals.  It’s all been opened up and, I thought, there were plans for a shopping complex but there are only a few shops now. I guess the pandemic lockdowns may have changed some of those plans.  The picture is a view towards the old International terminal which has all been refurbished and the old departure space behind security has been cleared out to create a much lighter space.

Afterwards we headed off for a lovely Sunday evening dinner with at Mel and Rich. Always nice conversation, delicious food and good wine.