Cockfosters tube station

Cockfosters is a London Underground station on the Piccadilly line, for which it is the northern terminus. The station is located on Cockfosters Road (A111) approximately nine miles (14 km) from central London and serves Cockfosters in the London Borough of Barnet, although it is actually located a short distance across the borough boundary in the neighbouring London Borough of Enfield. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5 and the next station south-east is Oakwood.

Cockfosters
Cockfosters Location of Cockfosters in Greater London
Location	Cockfosters
Local authority	London Borough of Enfield
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	4 (facing 3 tracks)
Fare zone	5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2014	1.95 million[1]
2015	1.85 million[1]
2016	2.04 million[1]
2017	1.93 million[1]
2018	1.97 million[2]
Key dates
31 July 1933 (1933-07-31)	Opened (Piccadilly line)
Listed status
Listing grade	II
Entry number	1358718[3]
Added to list	26 May 1987
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51.6516°N 0.1488°W / 51.6516; -0.1488
London transport portal

History

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.[4] 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.

The station was designed by Charles Holden in a modern European style using brick, glass and reinforced concrete.[5] 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.[6] 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.[3]

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 access or leave it from either direction.[7]

Services

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

Nearby attractions

• Trent Park
• The "London LOOP" walk uses the station's foot tunnel to cross Cockfosters Road.

In popular culture

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.[8]

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".[9]

Connections

London Buses routes 298, 384 and 299 and night route N91 serve the station.

Gallery

• 
  Main entrance
• 
  Western entrance
• 
  Concourse
• 
  Platforms 1 & 2 looking north (platforms 3 & 4 on the far right)
• 
  Platforms 1 & 2 looking south (platforms 3 & 4 on the far left)
• 
  Platforms 3 & 4 looking north with a Piccadily line train on platform 4
• 
  Platforms 3 & 4 looking south (platforms 1 & 2 on the far right)

References

Citations

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007-2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
2. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
3. Historic England. "COCKFOSTERS LONDON REGIONAL TRANSPORT STATION INCLUDING PLATFORMS AND PLATFORM CANOPIES (1358718)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
4. Horne 2007, p. 90.
5. Paulsen, Ingvild (14 June 2003). "Undergrunnsarkitektur". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). p. 28.
6. "Underground Journeys: Cockfosters". Royal Institute of British Architects. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
7. 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.
8. Max, D.T. (3 October 1993). "The Lost Language of Leavitt : WHILE ENGLAND SLEEPS By David Leavitt (Viking: $22; 304 pp.) ". Los Angeles Times.
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOR2jGv2uc

Sources

• Horne, Mike (2007). The Piccadilly Line. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-305-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Cockfosters station, 1933
  • View of platform showing concrete structure and glazed screens, 1933
  • Long view of trainshed and canopies spanning three tracks, 1935
  • Bus shelter and subway entrance opposite station, 1935
  • Bus shelter and subway entrance opposite station with new building behind, 1966
• Early sketch design by Charles Holden, 1931, Royal Institute of British Architects